Facebook Deals

The biggest news of the day is from Facebook who will be launching their Facebook Deals service that will offer businesses the opportunity to promote coupons via Facebook. The service is being offered initially to 20,000 small and medium sized businesses in the US with rollout over the next couple of months. The deal check-in feature uses Facebook Places and seems similar to the Foursquare process.

Foursquare Getting Smarter

And speaking of Foursquare, CEO and co-founder Dennis Crowley gave us a glimpse of the future of his location based checkin app. Little surprise that smarter algorithms that make customised recommendations based on checkin activity is part of the plan. Other features include ‘automatic checkin’ and more of a focus on deals.

Groupon Embraces Smartphones

Groupon now have a mobile redemption tracking app that helps users access deals and allows businesses to track redemptions in real time.

Facebook Page Coupons Tab

Rounding off the the coupon news of the day is a new feature by Myzerr that allows any group or business with a Facebook page to add a tab to their page with exclusive coupons available to page fans. This has relevance to businesses with a page on Facebook that want to give fans a reason to come back to their page, or to local chamber of commerce groups that have a page on Facebook and want to promote deals on their Facebook page.

So what does this mean for your business?

Businesses have more opportunity than ever before to connect with customers via Social Networks and location based apps. If you don’t have a Facebook page then you may be missing out on the opportunity to connect with your customers who may be fans or advocates. If you are not using location based services (the ability for people to find your business on the map using their smartphone or mobile device) then you may be missing out on business.

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Here are some good reasons for you to get started:

1. It’s Free. Services like Facebook, Foursquare, Google Local, Myzerr and others don’t charge you to setup a page. This means you can generate leads with location based apps for free.
2. Monitoring. Good location based services monitor activity and provide real time statistics on your business and promotions.
3. The Early Bird Catches the Worm. Because these services are still very new, most businesses haven’t yet taken advantage. First mover advantage will put your business on the map before the competition.
4. Connect with the Community. Social networks are a fantastic generator of buzz. If you have something special and people want your deal then sites like Facebook and Twitter make it easier than ever for customers to share information about your business promotions. You can also promote exclusive deals to groups or associations to better target your deals.
5. Targeting. Social Networks and location based services are focused on developing better algorithms and recommendation tools that help you connect with customers based on relevance.

If your business isn’t already thinking about social networks and location based services it’s time to get your head out of the sand. Using these tools is easy, even for the technically challenged, and if it seems too hard then call on your 12 year old neighbour to help you get started.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Foursquare, Groupon, Myzerr

Brendan, our Myzerr CTO, posted an article today on his view of these limitations and a little project we have been working on called Crowdsauce.com. Brendan explains ‘CrowdSauce aims to use the power of the people to get great deals from Businesses that YOU love. You put the pressure on them, get the numbers and we’ll ask them to provide you with a discount. It’s Groupon in reverse, it’s Foursquare that’s been rewired to benefit YOU.’

Have a look at the post and join the Crowdsauce crowd today.

Technorati Tags: CrowdSauce, Foursquare, Groupon

I think this development is great for businesses and every small business should be considering promoting on social media for a number of reasons:

1. The only cost in promoting is your time.
2. Most social networks like Facebook, Foursquare and Myzerr offer excellent targeting options.
3. In many cases social networks are ‘open social’ and allow promotions on one network to be easily shared allowing for promotions to go viral.
4. As the web becomes more mobile, people will be searching for your business ‘on the move’ using their phone / ipad etc, and you need to be on the map for these mobile savvy customers to find you.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Foursquare, Myzerr, Social Media, Web2.0 Weapons

Groupon:

Groupon bands thousands of users together to get bulk discount deals from local businesses in various cities. They have managed the most successful execution of this strategy to date and have become profitable by taking a cut from each business that offers goods or services on the site. The ability for Groupon is to tap into the concept of ‘collective buying power’ is very valuable and makes Groupon a great company.

While Groupon are very good at using social media tools to build their database, they are not a social network and their growth is limited by a number of factors. Firstly, there are reportedly over 150 competitors to Groupon and copying the model is as easy as putting on sales people in a city and developing the software (I have heard of developers quoting under $5000). Secondly, because there is only one deal per day per city, the deal is based more on what offer the advertiser of the day has and this doesn’t necessarily apply to ‘me’. Finally, as a web business their network growth is tied to theiractivity and the principle of Metcalfe’s law does not apply. So in my opinion their long term value is limited by these factors of ease of competition, relevance and limited exponential growth opportunity.

Fourqsuare:

Foursquare is a location-based game and social networking website for mobile devices. Users “check-in” at venues on their mobile handset and they are then awarded points and sometimes “badges” for their activity. The company has received much attention because marketing campaigns with popular brands like Starbucks that allow for special offers and coupons to be promoted to users. In addition to benefits like checkin validation, in-store redemption, businesses can view stats on visitors and get detailed breakdown of their activity.

When compared with Groupon I believe that as a social network, Foursquare have a much brighter future. Their value is in the database of “check-in” activity and the ability potential advertisers will have to target promotions based on this activity. Like Facebook they do face issues around privacy and the use of this information, but the ability to promote time sensitive special deals liked to location is highly valuable provided deals are relevant to the user. When assessing long-term business value, (1) it’s difficult to copy Foursquare as their value is in the network and the “check-in” activity, (2) because of the volumes of data being collected, the promotions in Foursquare will have greater user relevance and (3) as a social network there is much greater opportunity for exponential growth of their network.

One limitation of Foursquare is the low average age of its’ users. As a consumer in my 30s i can think of many of my peers who “check-in” and use their service but with over a million checkins each day I’m sure that they are happy with their niche in the market.

Technorati Tags: Foursquare, Groupon, Local Business