Social media is an excellent way for local companies to extend their appeal to a wider variety of customers. Many of the tools that are developing on the internet are hybrid devices that are perfect for connecting people, saving them money and reaching out to an entirely new pool of consumers who may not normally have known about a company or its products and services.
One such platform is LivingSocial, which essentially rewards customers for being brand ambassadors. LivingSocial sells deals or discounts to individuals, who then convince others to hop on board the savings. The more people who join the group and eventually make a purchase, the more the original user saves. This motivates them to get as many people involved as possible.
The reason that such a pattern is so appealing for companies is that even if a deal represents a loss for an organization, the number of people it will purportedly draw in should more than make up for the cost of the discount. In fact, LivingSocial is such a great marketing tool because everyone involved is a winner – the original user gets tremendous savings, the additional consumers that she adds receive moderate savings and a small business finds a host of new customers.