• the sheer volume of business from the group of consumers

• the exposure, both through the consumers themselves and the word-of-mouth buzz if the experience was good

The method for setting up such a deal is through a broker of the service itself.  These companies operate by signing companies up to offer a deal to their subscribers, and then taking a cut of the deal to make a profit.  Enter the core of the group buying phenomenon: the group buying website.

Group buying websites (such as Groupon, featured in my post earlier this week) were started in big, social media savvy cities with a city-wide scope.  Since then, they have spread to nearly every urban centre in North America and Europe.  Not only that, the trend shows no sign of slowing down or becoming yesterday’s fad.  In fact, the coupon conoisseur has a range of options, with many cities represented by multiple deal-brokering group buying websites.

Here are a few players in what has become a very saturated market.  Deal lovers should have more than their fill of discounts after signing up for a few of these services:

• Groupon
• Citydeal (operated in Europe; subsequently bought out by Groupon)
• Shnoop
• Grooster
• CheapToday
• LivingSocial
• Tippr
• OfferMint
• DealOn
• Offermatic
• 8Coupons
• StealTheDeal
  

The group buying concept has proven to be so popular with consumers that there is even a website where you can sell your unused coupons – CoupRecoup.com claims to be the Craigslist of Groupons, so consumers can buy coupons that are sold out, or that they didn’t  purchase before the deadline.

Group buying sites are here to stay – particularly with the young, newly-affluent professional urban crowd.  Part of the success of the concept is the willingness of businesses to offer deals in exchange for large-scale exposure.  Knowing that the population segments they are going to reach are actively looking for interesting venues, these businesses offer great deals that they hope will generate regular customers, as well as a lot of word-of-mouth advertising.  Young urbanites in turn love the selection of hip, new places to choose from, and purchase coupons.  As more and more of this demographic continues to sign up, the draw for young or little-known businesses becomes even greater, and selling a coupon becomes a more integral part of their advertising strategy – and so on, and so forth.

In short, if you’re a city-dweller looking for fun – look no further than group-bought coupons; if you’re a small business owner looking for cheap exposure, group coupons should be part of your marketing strategy.

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The premise is simple:  A website has a piece of code on its site that will display a Facebook box.  When you are logged into Facebook, this frame will use your social network to show you relevant things your social network think and feels, that is related to the website you’re visiting.

For example, say you’re looking at the website of a new restaurant you want to try out.  On the page, you see the Facebook Plugin – and 8 of your friends have Liked it.  Will this influence your likelihood of going to the restaurant (or buying a product or service online)?  Facebook seems to think so.  Put in the Facebook Team’s own words.

Rather than seeing popular stories, products or reviews from people you don’t know, you’ll now see content that matters to you the most–from your friends–displayed prominently.

This definitely registers as an attempt to one-up Google – how better to customize someone’s online experience than by tailoring it around their social network?

While Facebook Plugins may be a great way to customize your internet browsing experience, there are many people who ‘dislike’ this new development.  More than a few Facebook users – and some politicians, security officials, etc – are worried about the implications for personal privacy.  Facebook has rushed to dispel these worries, citing that only people you’re already friends with – who can already see what you’re doing through Facebook, anyway – will be able to see what sites you like.  This may be true, but displaying it on a website makes the information more easily available.  Furthermore, critics worry, there is no telling what additional information may be displayed as Facebook continues to develop its plugins.

Privacy issues aside, the ultimate litmus test for Facebook Plugins is whether or not people find them to be genuinely useful.  If you’re using a service or buying a product you’ve never used before, does it make you more comfortable knowing your friends have tried it and liked it?  If you’re thinking of heading to a bar and you see that only certain members of your social circle recommend it – will this be useful in deciding whether or not to go?  Facebook thinks so.  And time will tell if legions of online consumers think so, too.

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Also, be sure to check out these 3 social media marketing case studies from Ford, Coke and Dell.

Have a look and have a great weekend!

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In response to that moment I did a quick search on Google and came up with a few case studies that will help those of you interested in learning about what the big boys are doing in regards to Twitter, Facebook and social media in general.

I particularly like Dell’s story because they got off to a rocky start with their foray into blogging and were able to recover and then create some big wins with their Idea Storm site (run on the Salesforce.com Ideas platform which I recommend checking out). If you’ve read “What Would Google Do?” then you know what I’m talking about.

Here are the Case Studies:

• Dell and Social Media by Brand Autopsy
• Coke Gets in Sync with Social Media & What Coke knows about Social Media That You Don’t
• Why Ford is Winning on the Social Web

Comments welcome as always and don’t forget to Tweet This!

UPDATE: I posted presentation on July 17th from Blog World that covers three more social media marketing case studies. Enjoy!

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Some key takeaways from the video:

• Social media is like a big party, if all you do is talk about what you do the whole time, you end up being the biggest asshole at the party! So talk about lots of stuff you’re interested in and you’ll connect with more people.
• Don’t push stuff in people’s face. Meet a lot of people and connect with them as they will in turn know a lot of people and as your network grows these people will potentially refer business to you. It’s not about making money directly it’s about meeting people and building a network. (Couldn’t agree more Perry!)
• Spread other people’s info around (like I am doing with this video) and help other people out by connecting them. Just like you’d do a real world networking event.

If I’ve piqued your interest, have a look at the video below. You’ll learn a lot!

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1. A T.V / Movie star
2. Have an in with a traditional mass media company with great distribution
3. And have a Twitter account of course!

The story I am referencing above is in regards to Ashton Kutcher’s (@aplusk on Twitter) recent publicity stunt of generating 1 Million followers on Twitter and beating CNN in the race to boot.

How did he do it and why should you care? For an explanation of how he did it, see this article on Advertising Age, complete with images of Kutcher’s billboard promo. (whoops did I give it away?)

Now for the answer to the question: “Why should you care?”

For one this is a great example of how online marketing and offline marketing can be merged with excellent results.

Now, the value to Kutcher of having a million fans, and the resulting publicity at this stage may be hard to measure (sure beats stories about DUI’s, divorce or drug abuse!), but for the average person or company, it’s a great reminder that relying on one source of marketing is never a sound strategy and often online and offline can work together to give you extra bang for your buck.

Another thing this story reminded me of was: to be original. Or at any rate, the ploy was a great example of taking an old concept (billboard advertising) and mixing it with something new (Twitter) to create buzz and increase one’s reach in the marketplace.

Those are my thoughts on this story. I’m now heading out with some spray paint to post @adamkillam on everything in sight I can get my hands on. I figure if I work hard over the weekend I should be able to ad at least another 200-300 followers!

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The 1st Vancouver Twestival is taking place tomorrow (Feb 12th) at 6:00 PM. I was one of the lucky fast movers who got a ticket and NOW I CAN’T GO! Seems a course I booked myself in for a couple of months back decided to start this week on the 12th and attending the first session is mandatory.

In light of these recent developments, I would like to give my ticket away – with a small catch.

What’s the catch you say?

What I would like in return for the ticket is some help with my website. Yes, I work in Internet marketing and yes I am web savvy but the plain truth is that I have neglected this site for some time now. It seems I am always doing work for my clients (god love them) and  never enough on my own site (can you relate?).  

I am currently working to overhaul the content of the site and all sections are being worked on. Visitor feedback is incredibly valuable in my eyes which is where this mini contest comes into play.

Here’s how you can help, AND WIN BIG!

1. Post a mini review of this site with 3 helpful tips/suggestions/comments. 
2. Add your post to the comments section of this article 
3. By 8:00 PM I will choose a winner and announce it on this site and on Twitter.
4. Be sure to include a link back to your site and your email address or @ so I can get in touch

Let the races begin!

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Here are 7 easy steps:

1. Create a free account at www.budurl.com
2. Find a newsworthy story/blog post and shrink the story’s URL using Budurl
3. Paste the shortened link into Twitter and write a catchy intro
4. Post the story
5. Monitor clicks via your bud account
6. Rinse and repeat to test various copy/stories
7. Divide total number of clicks by total number of followers to determine what percentage of followers respond to each link/post

Bonus tip: use the notes section of Bud to better track the URLs and stories you’re following

Bonus tip #2: in the notes section, paste in the exact wording you used when posting to Twitter to keep track of Twitter copy that your followers respond to

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I wore a less flashy watch to a meeting today and will be tweaking the site in the coming week or so to see if I can simplify it a bit (yes, it’s already quite simple and I can do better!).

With all the talk lately of recession, marketing in tough economic times etc etc, it makes sense for marketers to be a little less flashy and focus their messages more on the bottom line and how they can make and save their clients money.

For me, that means the site needs to be less about adding widgets and more about focusing on good, solid, valuable content that my clients will find applicable to their businesses.

On that note today’s tip is:  go back to basics.

Practical applications:

• Update and simplify your web site’s theme / design 
• Don’t be afraid to use or go back to plain text emails or simplified HTML
• If blogging or using Twitter, focus on practical tips and less theory (marketers are the most guilty of breaking this one)

I think going frugal is a trend we’re going to see catch on and stick for the next couple of years. As more ideas on this topic come to mind, I’ll post them here.

What steps are you taking to “go frugal”  in 2009″ 

Post thoughts to comments.

Update: Read about the New Frugal Google

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