Facebook-Offers

The New Facebook Offers are a Huge Opportunity for Businesses

Facebook-Offers

Facebook Offers are the new advertisements occasionally appearing on the News Feed section of some viewers. When someone “claims” their Offer, it will show up on the newsfeed of their Facebook friends. Now it not only demonstrates a high level of interest and action (ie purchasing or “claiming” the offer by a friend) but may inspire viewers to follow along. Once that viewer clicks to claim their offer, it also shows up on the newsfeed of all their friends and so forth.

This allows businesses and organizations to share discounts with customers by posting offers to their Facebook Pages. It is similar to coupons; you don’t have to pay anything to create. Just click “offer, Event+” in Facebook sharing tool, indicate a headline, a photo thumbnail, duration of the offer, and terms and conditions. When a customer claims an offer, they will get an email to show at the physical location of the certain business to get their discount. Whether they do this via mobile or through desktop it is most convenient at any given time.

In the case of Macy’s, it generated a fair amount of buzz in it’s initial Offer which shows of how effective this new Facebook product for businesses is. Macy’s first posted the Offer on February 23rd at 7:11am Pacific with an expiration date of February 26th. The Offer was headlining: “Get 25% off your purchase of $100 or more.”

Some key pointers about Macy’s offer:

  • Their offer was clean, simple, and obvious using a “%” sign and a “$dollar” amount.
  • Macy’s chose an extremely eye-catching image of a red shoe and a blue shoe on a white background, clearly chosen very strategically (red, white and blue = power color combo!). It especially made appeal to all females out there who love shoes.
  • The choice of language in the Offer was compelling: starting with “Get” (mirrored with the “Get Offer”), and the use of “save” and “BIG.” Clever!
  • Macy’s first posted the Offer on February 23rd, and posted it again on February 25th with the the description ìJust two days left to get a head start on spring shopping!
  • Ultimately, 41,602 people claimed the Macyís Offer. And the original Offer post was shared a total of 2,491 times and the reminder of the Offer shared 374 times. That’s an awesome social engagement!

This is the wave of the future and yet another clear insight into how major brands like Macy’s are using social media marketing to reach consumers 24/7.

Also this new Facebook advertising feature is a great example of the power of exponential growth to reach both current clients and new prospects. It is also a promising way for businesses to experiment with offers to find out what customers respond to best.

Furthermore, the inclusion of this new Offer via mobile is an important step in the evolution of one-click mobile marketing especially for the nearly 450 million mobile users currently on Facebook. It’s also an early example of how Facebook views mobile marketing – convenient, timely, and highly effective.

Facebook Offers for Online Retailers

The redemption of the Offers uses email as an intermediary thus requiring a user to physically go to a retail location. Now Facebook just recently began testing a different kind of Offers that includes redemption codes for online retailers.

They are testing a version of Offers that will use a promo code or special link to click through for a discount on off-site purchases. The codes and links may show up in more than just offers, though, and could be included in ads and sponsored stories. Facebook is testing the feature in a closed beta, and there is no word on when it could be made public in the way Facebook Offers now is.

Here’s a tip: Sign up for Facebook Advertising if you want the feature to appear on your wall.

Now, more than ever Facebook users have more reasons to “Likeî a businesses” Facebook page, providing retailers the opportunity to build a community of shoppers. It’s also a way for Facebook to insert ads into user’s news feeds without forcing them on users. When businesses realize how effective the Offers can be just in user’s news feeds, that should definitely translate into ad.