Back at the FMC earlier this year, Facebook announced the launch of facebook offers, only problem was that it was only available to a select few “big name” companies. Well, the wait is over, Facebook Offers are now available for “local” fan pages.
Does this mean you have to be a local, brick and mortar store? Not necessarily. The only fan pages that show the offer tab are “local” places. Any fan page can be setup as a local place, whether or not it has a traditional brick and mortar store. The way offers are delivered is that someone clicks on “claim offer” and they are sent an email from facebook telling them to take the coupon to your establishment to redeem. You can also simply put in the rules (which are setup along with the offer by you) how your offer needs to be claimed. Example: ”Go to www.mywebsite.com to claim your free gift” or send them to your fan page.
Today any local U.S. business can start using Facebook’s Offers product – free-to-create coupons that businesses can share to the news feed, and that users can bring to brick-and-mortar stores for redemptions. First announced in February at the Facebook Marketing Conference, the product has been in private testing with a select group of brands who worked with Facebook reps to run the offers. Now the promotional product is available in a self-serve interface.
While it doesn’t cost businesses anything to run offers, Facebook could still make money on them. If they perform well in the news feed and drive business to physical stores, those stores may spend more on Facebook ads that increase their Page fan counts — and the subscriber bases for the coupons.
To create and distribute an Offer, U.S. businesses that list a local address can go to the post composer on their Page’s Timeline. There they’ll be walked through a tour of the product. Then they can add a thumbnail, headline, and fine print before being able to post the coupon to their fans. Originally published by Tech Crunch.
You can share this facebook offer on your timeline, on your fan page, and everyone that claims your offer will be able to do the same. To increase exposure to your offer, you can simply setup a facebook ad that sends people to your offer. Make sure to target this to a group that is likely to be interested in your offer. If you are offering weight loss tips for senior women, don’t target me in your ad;)
Would love to hear how you are going to use facebook offers for your business. Please share any interesting or unique ideas on my facebook page.
