Coupons & Likes On Facebook

According to new figures released by a joint survey between Exact Target and CoTweet,

Facebook users use the Like option for a brand for one overpowering reason – discounts and

special offers.

Surveying 1,550 U.S. respondents aged 15 and older from March 2009 to April 2010, the results

found that a whopping 40% of consumers like a brand or company on Facebook to “receive

discounts and promotions.” When it comes to getting freebies, 36% would like a brand who

offered giveaways.

Add to that 30% of those surveyed would like a brand to get updates on upcoming sales, and it’s

clear that having a Facebook page offers a great opportunity for businesses to build loyalty with

a willing customer base.

So how can you use this information for your business’s Facebook page?

Reasons Why Your Business Should Have a Facebook Fan

Page.

A Facebook Fan Page or a Landing page no doubt gives your business a professional image.

Now a days Facebook Fan Pages are not only for Big Fish’s out there in the market but also for

small business like entrepreneurs, freelancers etc.

Here are the reasons why your business should have a face book fan page.

1. You can have a large number of Fan base. This makes fan pages especially valuable for

Facebook users.

2. It’s free.

3. It gives you a platform to interact and get feedback from your target audience, because

like a user profile, you can update your fans with statuses that will appear in the news

feed.

4. You can promote events.

5. It’s an SEO boost. Facebook is currently the second most popular site on the Web

according to Alexa.

6. You can customize the design using FBML, Facebook’s version of HTML. Check out the

Static FBML app for more.

7. You can create brand advocates.

8. You can easily promote it with tools provided by Facebook.

9. The Facebook Pages Insights analytics tool gives you useful information about your fans

and their interactions.

10. You can build a community for your clients and prospects.

11. It’s another funnel to your website.

12. You can add unlimited photos and videos.

Coupons and Customer Coding

The obvious way to market would be through coupons of your own. If you have flyers or

discount coupons for your business, you can easily transfer that to your Facebook page.

Grab the content & images from your existing flyer or website and then transfer that to a tab on

your page’s navigation menu. Currently this is created using the FBML application (and some

HTML coding).

Call your tab something simple like Coupons,Discounts or offer to grab attention. Then, to

encourage prospects to Like your page, only make the coupon or discount available to people

after they like you.

Of course, getting folks to like your brand through coupons and discounts is just part of the

process – keeping them is a whole other story.

Loyalty, Lists and Like Highlights

So now you have a bunch of prospects that have liked your Facebook page because of your

discount coupons or freebie offer. But how do you stop them from un-liking as soon as they have

the coupon?

Simple – you market. But not just any old marketing – now you use the strengths of the

Facebook page platform and make it a no-brainer for prospects that like you to continue to do so.

• Facebook Insights are available for admins of any Facebook page, and will give you

information on demographics, content popularity, interaction on offers and other useful

insights into how people are acting on your page. Use this to tailor audience offers and

time-sensitive specials.

• Facebook Updates are the equivalent of email lists, and will send a targeted message to

people that like your page. The great thing with updates is that you can completely tailor

them so that instead of everyone receiving a message, only those in a certain city,

country, age range, demographic, etc, will receive the message. Perfect for gender-

specific offers, or cultural events, or national holidays – anything you like, really.

On top of these two options, rotate your coupon and offers, and make sure they’re only available

to people that like your page. Don’t settle into a routine – have an offer one week, then change

two weeks later, then 2 days, etc. Mix it up so people will always have to be connected to your

page to know when a new coupon is available.

Highlight your most valuable users as well.

Folks that interact the most; or use their coupon the most; or share your offer the most – give

them special discounts and rewards to say thank you. It shows you value them, and also offers

incentives to your other “fans” to become more involved.

And at the end of the day, isn’t that what you’re in business for?