How can Facebook deals work for me?

An introduction to Facebook Deals

I hope you all enjoyed my blog last week; I have to tell you I was incredibly nervous about putting it out there. Thank you to all those who fed back to me, your comments are invaluable.

From the feedback I have had, it seems that what my audience would appreciate most is simple and easy to use information that can have real impact on their business.

I think this is otherwise known as quick wins!

I remembered  an article that I had recently read in a local magazine and it  made me think about the number of different ways in which business’s use money off coupons, discount vouchers and deals to entice and reward their customers.

Facebook has recently introduced a similar scheme ‘Facebook Deals’ this is free to businesses in Europe and is really easy to set up. Unlike the other more familiar coupon sites like Groupon, they do not solely rely on groups and the deals can be individually tailored to suit your specific business and the customers you are trying to attract. Have a look at this clip on you tube to see how it works click on  Facebook Deals.

So why use Facebook deals?

Facebook has over 650 million members and the average facebook user has over 130 friends, this makes it a great platform to run a reward based system. There is real flexibility with the deal offerings and there are no minimum offers and no minimum purchases required. Currently this is all free of charge and this makes it especially attractive to small business's who would be hard pushed to hand over between 20% and 50% of their commission should they use an organisation such as Groupon to facilitate their deal offerings. 'Google Offers' will also be promoteing a reward based system but without the membership base that facebook has aquired, and the minimum requirement of a 50% reduction I dont see that this is yet the market place for the small business. If you want to read more about the strategy behind this new facebook scheme have a look at this article in the guardian http://bit.ly/hDOrm7 . I have highlighted below some of the more tangible benefits to running Facebook Deals.

• Hassle free word of mouth marketing


• Builds loyalty and drives repeat business


• Enables you to reach new customers


• Gets people to reccomend your business to their friends

What are Facebook deals?

There are four different types of deal:

Individual Deals

Individual Deals will create lots of attention in a short space of time. A one off offer like 20% off your   purchases for a limited time  can be offered to both new and existing customers.

Friend Deals

Friend Deals is a great way to get people to either buy from your business or visit your venue as a group. Friend Deals allow you to offer discounts to groups of up to 8 people when they check in together. Since every deal claimed will be posted to the users’ profile, this is an excellent way to spread the word.



Loyalty Deals

This kind of deal is to reward your most loyal customers and may encourage your occasional customers to visit you or buy from you more often. This type of deal can be very flexible, it can simply be a reward that   customers can claim after a certain number of check ins or purchases.

Charity Deals

This is a great deal if you or your business cares about poverty, the homeless, disease or abandonded puppies for example. If this is the case you could consider setting up a Facebook Charity Deal for your business. As an example of how this could work, you could promise  to donate a certain sum to your chosen charity, every time a new customer checks-in at your venue.

To see how to use the deals click here.

What should I do next?

Facebook Deals could really work for your business, if you take the right approach.

• Register your 'Place' on facebook, use the clip above for guidance.


• Until you have a 'place' your customers will not be able to 'check in' with you or search for rewards that may be available.


• Who are your customers,  what kind of rewards would they use and recommend.


• Run a series of different deals and change them regularly to keep your content fresh and your customers interested.


• Use other media to create awareness - window posters, newsletters, email... to raise awareness


• Vary your deals to suit individuals, groups and loyal customers.


• Make it fun!

I would love to know if you have found this helpful and if it has given you some fresh ideas, if you do set up a facebook place or deal please let me know about it. What do you think about Facebook Deals, a replacement for Groupon or not?

Until next week, Alison!