3 ways to drive local retail promotions with Social Media

Last week, Sarah Needleman published a terrific article in the Wall Street Journal on some new services that make it easier to combine social media and marketing, especially for the local retailer.


She mentioned a bevy of new services that help merchants create one day promotions, but cautioned that some of these services could be expensive if the promo flopped.

1) Groupon Inc.
A Chicago men’s suit retailer used Groupon to run a one day promotion last Fall. During this one day promotion, customers could buy a $95 gift certificate online using Groupon and the retailer would honor that certificate at a $225 value for up to one year. Now the catch was, at least 50 cards needed to be purchased before any would become valid. However, this was not a problem as the company sold 850 gift certificates that day.

The retailer said their promotion was shared all over Twitter and Facebook that day and over half of the cards were purchased by first-time customers. Groupon’s cut was about 50% of the revenue for each card. That sounds high, but assuming there will be “breakage” from unused cards that simply expire and that the retailer can convert at least half of the new customers to returning customers; this promotion set the retailer up nicely for business in the coming year.


2) FourSquare
FourSquare is becoming all the rage with people who what their social media to I.D. where they are when out. Using the FourSquare app downloaded to a smart phone, a FourSquare user can “check in” when at their favorite restaurant or merchant. The more you visit that retailer, the more points you can accumulate; eventually giving you the status of “mayor” of that establishment. Needleman gave the example, a Milwaukee burger joint offering free burger and fries to anyone who “dethroned” its current mayor to become the new mayor. The restaurant also ran a promotion where customer could get a free cookie by posting a recommendation on their FourSquare profiles of a menu item they like or something they do while at the restaurant like play cards.


The concept of this automated tracking is great when it is semi-private between the loyal customer and merchant; think grocery stores, Starbucks, airline programs – and yes, I know it is not completely private as database marketers are tracking your buying habits. However, time will tell if people will stop playing with FourSquare because of sites like Please Rob Me, which largely reveal the whereabouts of FourSquare users not at home…hence "go break into my house."

3) Twitter
Less automated and more like traditional advertising or word-of-mouth are the many shops and restaurants around the country just using Twitter and Facebook to promote their daily lunch specials or upcoming sales. For the most loyal customers, the enticement of a discount or promotion is not necessary. Sometimes just know what is in stock or what’s on the menu is enough. A few months ago, I met Melani Gordon, the founder of http://www.taphunter.com/ which lets micro-breweries tell customers via Twitter and smart phone apps which beers are on tap for the night and when the kegs of a specialty beer run out. She said, she has seen lines of people waiting to get into a micro-brewery for a new beer unveiling, frequently checking the app to see if the keg will still be pouring enough for them to have a few by the time they get through the door.


These days are a Guerrilla Marketers dream. As long as you have a great product or service, a loyal customer based and a good imagination, the sky is the limit. Because as many are learning, with Social Media you don’t market too an audience you market through an audience.