14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips - Tip #9: Use Check-In Deals To Get People To Your Location
Welcome to 14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips, on the occasion of the upcoming launch of “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing†(Wiley) by Ramon Ray, of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft.
Buy Ramon’s latest book on February 19th and get a digital box of goodies as your gift for buying the book, educating yourself and growing your business with Facebook.
In The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing, you will overall learn how to get more customers and keep the ones you have. You’ll also learn how to leverage overall online marketing, how to better use social media and, more specifically, how to use the power of Facebook for YOUR business.
Tip #9: Use Check-In Deals To Get People To Your Location
The reality is that just about everyone these days has a smartphone and a very large majority of those have the Facebook application downloaded on it.  You see it all the time - your standing in the line at Starbucks and the guy in front of you is ‘checking in’ and letting everyone know where he is and what he’ll be having for breakfast this morning. Because he did this, now all of his friends on Facebook not only know a bit too much about his morning, but they also know about this local Starbucks, which they may not have known existed before. Furthermore, if this guy is credible and all his friends know he only frequents great restaurants and stores, then they are even more apt to visit and give it a try. Talk about GREAT advertising and an EASY way to spread the word about your business!
By creating your Facebook Place Page, you can open a whole new world of marketing opportunities. This includes creating Facebook Check-in Deals, which are incentives you can offer to your customers that ‘check-in’ to your location. Check-in Deals are a great way to generate more local foot traffic and increase engagement and interactions on Facebook, because they require that the user follow a specific action to redeem. There are four types of Check-in deals you can choose from; Individual (a one-time offer for new or existing customers), Loyalty (available to only your loyal customers), Friend (a deal that requires a ‘group’ of people to check-in to redeem) and Charity (a deal that makes a donation to a charity of your choice).
Like any promotional campaign, you’ll want to do a bit of homework and strategizing before setting up a deal to ensure that it fits your desired outcome.  Here are a few tips to consider when creating a Check-in Deal:
- Keep It Clear and Simple - Make sure what you are offering is clear and simple.  For example, ‘Check-in To Receive A 10% Discount on Today’s Purchase’.  This makes it obvious to both the customer and your staff what is being offered.
- Educate Your Staff - Make sure your entire staff is aware of the deal you are offering and how to process it properly for the customer so their interaction is quick and positive.
- Promote the Deal At Your Location - Let everyone that visits your store know about the Check-in Deal. This further encourages engagement and interaction.
For more great tips on how to market your business with Facebook, check out ‘The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing’. And don’t forget - buy it on Feb. 19th and you’ll get the great digital ‘Goody Bag’ of special discounts and gifts!
