Foursquare's New Way To Make Money Just Rolled Out, Here's How It Works

In April, a leaked Foursquare pitch deck revealed how the local exploring app planned to make money through new ad units this summer.

Today, one of those units launched.

Foursquare now enables advertisers to target users based on relevant check-ins. Specifically, it is selling post check-in ad units on a CPC (or Cost Per Action) basis.

Captain Morgan is one of the first brands to test the new Foursquare ads, Ad Age reports. The hope is users will check-in before they order at bars and be persuaded by a Captain-based drink. Captain Morgan ads will only show when a user is at a bar, club or restaurant and they're displayed in a timely manner.

Other brands are using post-checkin ads to lure nearby Foursquare users into their stores. If you check-in at a restaurant near Toys R Us, for example, you may get hit with a 20% off ad for the retailer.

Foursquare has tried a number of less obvious, "native" ad solutions. So far they haven't been enough to sustain the company. Last summer Foursquare hired its first VP of Sales, Rob Wilk and Chief Revenue Officer, Steven Rosenblatt. Shortly after it launched Promoted Updates, ads that show up at the top of Explore searches.

For a refresher on Foursquare's monetization strategy, here's the leaked pitch deck Valleywag dug up.

Foursquare's Plan to Woo Advertisers