Getting A Good Deal

Back in the day, (and still today, actually) coupon clipping was a great way to save money. I can remember my mom buying the Sunday paper simply to get the coupons.  She’d go through them, cut out the ones she wanted to use, and then wait for a double coupon day at the local grocery mart.

Today we’ve got so much information to sift through, it’s hard to keep up.  But thanks to social media websites like Twitter, (can Twitter really be called a ‘website’? It’s more of a tool) the ability to watch some of your favorite brands has become easier.  Getting information and savings is at your fingertips.

For example, my wife has been wanting to take the family to Six Flags this summer.  But at $35+ a ticket, a family of six needs a small loan just to get through the gates.  Then, yesterday around lunchtime I stumbled across this tweet from @martinbowling, which led me to become a follower of @SixFlags.  Martin’s tweet led me to a special link where I could buy 2 tickets to any Six Flags park for only $10 bucks each. Dude.  A quick phone call to my wife and son and we just saved a ton of money.  And just in time, too.

This is just one example of how social media can save you money.  There were no coupons to clip, no waiting in line at 5 in the morning (or overnight).  Simply follow a brand that you like and sooner or later you’ll get a good deal.

Geeks Win (or at least save)

Hopefully by reading this it is apparent that you can save money on Twitter.  Or if you’re a business owner, it is a bit more apparent that you can leverage a huge audience of followers to generate revenue (if you do it right).

But there’s a problem – if you’re reading this, you aren’t my target audience for this post anyway. Why? Because you’re online.  Even worse, you may be reading this from an RSS feed. So you’re probably already geeky enough to know about these savings.

And knowing is half the battle.  Thanks for using up my bandwidth, geek.

Today I met with a potential client who owns several Italian restaurants here in the St. Louis area.  They are (just like every other restaurant) wondering how they can tap into the search engine and social media fields to gain new clients.  With the down economy, people are being more and more select about where they spend their money for dining.  Here’s where Twitter can come to the rescue.

I don’t want to go into the whole explain-twitter-to-me thing, but here’s something cool that many people may not know – twitter can link up to your cell phone, and you can receive updates about whatever it is you choose to see updates about.  You can see what friends are saying, or you can get notified anytime someone uses a certain phrase, etc.

So let’s say I’m looking for a good Italian restaurant in St. Louis and I post a quick note to Twitter via my cell. (Just a note here – if you don’t use your cell phone to do that, don’t think others don’t.  A *lot* of people are using their phones for this and a lot more.)

Using their API and search tools, Mr. Restaurant Owner can watch for phrases like “italian food” and “st louis”, “saint louis”, etc.  Anytime one of those phrases come across twitter, Mr Restaurant Owner immediately (or through automation) sends out a coupon for a free drink at his restaurant.  Or a free appetizer.  Whatever.

Using social media, getting clients that may have otherwise never known about you will get easier and easier.  But if you don’t know how to use the social media platforms to do these things, you’re going to be stuck standing on the front porch hoping customers see your sign.