Foursquare, a location-based services company, said in a blog post today that it’s expanding a pilot program to encourage businesses to buy ads through its self-service platform.

The platform allow local businesses to connect with people nearby by building their ad  on Foursquare’s website : frousquare.com/ads. The ads will live for people nearby to see.

Meanwhile, Foursquare also provide data for merchant to know how many people access their ads, how many have tapped on it, and how many actually came into their store.

Jeremy Kagan, chief executive officer at online marketing firm Pricing Engine, who has been keeping tabs on the beta version of the ad program. “It’s about as close as social media can get to measuring return on investment without going into the point-of-sale system,” he says.

Reference:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-14/foursquare-uses-skepticism-about-online-ads-to-lure-main-street

http://blog.foursquare.com/2013/10/14/big-news-today-were-opening-up-foursquare-ads-to-all-small-businesses-around-the-world/