If you wanted more confirmation that Foursquare is becoming quite unstoppable came with news that the governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger is using the social media service highlighting how it can be used for  business as well as pleasure.

Foursqure hit a million users in half the time it took Twitter to do the same, and is boasting thousands of new registrations every day. With the addition of hte one time ‘Terminator’ star turned Republican politico you can see how far it is reaching beyond the early adopters. He’ll be these (if only Sarah Connnor had one too) so maybe it’s time businesses did the same?

Because Foursquare updates feed through to Twitter  making you or your company’s whereabouts known is a useful marketing tool, particularly if you’re an influential business with lots of followers.

The beauty for business is that because Foursquare is that unusual cross between a “friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game” it can feel much less like you’re marketing to people because of the element of fun that it is able to introduce. It is such a natural one for businesses to use as it is available on Blackberry, iPhone and Android platforms and so accessible to nearly every business person with a smartphone and a GPS signal.

Take away the ‘friend-finding’ element for a moment and replace it with ‘colleague’ and you’ll realise it can be great for promoting your business. I’m not talking about the how the local deli promotes its new meal deal to your workforce, I’m talking about companies using Foursquare can give them competitive credibility while inviting others to interact with them.

If you look at the platform from a different perspective, businesses can use it creatively to harness its potential. As yet it hasn’t taken off in the B2B sector, although considering its growing popularity its true uses will soon emerge.

Forget the idea of winning badges (please no more tweets about swarms”) or becoming the mayor of a certain location and Foursquare has more to it than the winning element.

Here are a four ideas on how using Foursquare can benefit your business.

1. Invites and RSVP
Realistically, not everyone will have the Foursquare app installed on their handset. As you can see, Haymarket is yet to buck the trend, but businesses might not stay that way for long.

The gentle way of introducing it to a company is through meetings. “We’ll be at the Ritz at 6.30pm, Thursday, please check in on Foursquare.” The map is in the recipient’s palm, leaving them to follow directions and make their way to the venue.

The use of the application here is the ability to collect an RSVP list showing who was in attendance of a particular meeting, like a digital clock-in system. Managers can then match up attendees with their invite list and guage how popular their meeting was with employees.

2. The constantly active business
Using a master account in the name of the company, Foursquare can be useful for showing off how active a business is and promote openness to others.

One way is it can be used to market the availability of a company representative, for example: “The managing director of Haymarket is currently at the media summit at Tottenham Court Road and available to answer your questions.”
This sort of openness gives the impression that your company is open to being approached, and increases the likeliness of future business. It’s publicly saying “We’re here – come and have a chat!”

3. Foursquare conferences
The use of Foursquare for conferences and events hasn’t yet reached its potential, but it is out there begging. Furthering the use of it as an RSVP tool, making the whereabouts of your conferences available to followers increases publicity surrounding an event as Foursquarers can see where your event takes place while on the move.

Broadcasting messages like “We’re at the Business Design Centre – entrance is free – come join us and have your say” can allow organisers can see how popular their event was, and using the ‘Who’s Been Here’ tab shows where delegates have traveled from to attend.

4. Awarding proactive staff
The aim of Foursquare is to earn as many ‘badges’ as possible. Although a business has no interest in which of its employees have been to the gym the most (or who has earned a ‘Crunk’ trophy for checking in several late nights in a row), it could be used to track who has been the most effective at networking. Knowing which employee has covered the most ground and attended the most networking events should give an indication for who has been helping promote the business and used to reward the best.

Personal privacy issues aside, (might I reiterate personal, as checking out of your office doesn’t advertise to burglars as it would if you were using your home address), this is a great platform for company marketing. With new developer APIs being written every day, soon there will be a rift of new internet startups making the service much more useful for businesses. One such example is an Foursquare analytics tool, due in coming weeks.

It heralds a new era for social business relations, if used with a little imagination.