After a long wait, Facebook deals is finally here -  it is currently being tested with some of the leading brands A|Wear, AXA, Champion, Guinness Storehouse, Insomnia, Meteor, Milano and SuperValu.    Facebook Deals means that (when out of the test stage) you will be able to offer freebies and discounts to people who check into your business using Facebook Places.

Out of the 500m Facebook users, over 200m of them access their Facebook page via a mobile device making deals an ideal way to build loyalty, get new customers and spread the word fast.  

Think of someone on the street near your business, lets say you are a restaurant.  If this person uses Facebook Places to check out what restaurants are nearby and you are using deals, they will see your listing with an icon beside it which will let them know that you are running a promotion.  Now you have given them a reason to drop in and make a purchase.  To avail of the offer they will check in using Facebook Places and as a result their friends will be made aware of their location. You can then build loyalty by offering your most loyal customers specific discounts.

There will be 4 types of deals available:

• Individual Deals – one time deals. You can offer this to new and existing customers to launch a new product, offer a new gift etc.
• Loyalty Deals –  the promotion can be claimed after a certain number of checking. This is a great way to build loyalty.
• Friends Deals –  offer discounts of groups of up to 8 people when they check in together. In order to claim your deal, your customers need to introduce what you have to offer to their friends and family.  Great way to build exposure.
• Charity Deals –  every time a user checks in, you donate to your favourite charity.  Let them know you care.

This is a great move by Facebook and I look forward to checking in and claiming my deal.   I hope it does not take too long for deals to be rolled out to everyone.

For more information visit http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Deals_businesses_US.pdf .

Yesterday Facebook Places finally went live in Ireland.  Now we await the launch of Facebook Deals.  This will allow you to make deals & discounts available to people who are using Facebook Places. It is very simple, click the check in button on your Facebook mobile app and a list of local businesses will appear (only ones that have set up a Places page).  If they have a deal available there will be an icon to show this and it will help drive people to your door.  You mange the deals, there are 4 types:

• Individual deals
• Loyalty deals
• Friend deals
• Charity deals

I am an avid user of Foursquare so I wonder if Facebook Places & Deals (when/if launched in Ireland) can convince me to change loyalty.  We will have to wait and see, for now if you want more information on Facebook deals visit http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Deals_businesses_US.pdf

Here’s hoping that Facebook don’t wait another few months before launching Deals in Ireland, how can businesses in Ireland compete online when these new tools are not made available until months later than everyone else.