Facebook’s Launch of the ‘New Deal’ being trialled in five US cities is a direct rival to the service provided by Groupon. Basically, as detailed on the Facebook page the ‘Deal’ is that you can now set up discount, voucher-driven offers for real world goods which can be redeemed against purchases in a bricks-and-mortar shop, somewhere.
Facebook has, for some time now, been looking at a way to capitalize on the social factor in shopping and its introduction of the Deals along with the growing profile of Facebook Places is setting the stage for an epic battle to follow.
On one side Google with Google Places and a failed bid to buy Groupon (plus hints they might create their own network). On the other Groupon, having resisted the power of Google’s purse and emerged all the stronger because of it.
Facebook is right in the middle. A contender who has stature (its growing number of users continues to give it might) but which is, as yet, untested in the ring. A true slugfest against two opponents will soon show who is fit to wear the crown. Either way Facebook's increased presence on social marketing and social buying is now giving an additional, affordable option to small business owners looking to target customers locally.
The strength of Facebook's superb segmentation process of demographics evident in Facebook Ads and the social 'ingredient' which is central to its existence make it the perfect way to use friends, relatives and acquaintances to capitalize on driving business to your doorstep. At the moment, the deal is limited as Facebook trials their system but, should it prove as successful as they expect, it will not be long before it rolls out to a city near you. Stay alert for updates and start thinking how to best use it.
After Microsoft Yahoo! is the other company we all love to hate. A pioneer of the internet age with as many ‘firsts’ under its belt as MS had on the personal computing side it nevertheless has lurched from...
14-04-2011 Hits:326 WEB View
One of the strangest things I come across when I talk to people who have an online business is the fact that many of the online business owners are afraid. It’s strange because it is such a common...
14-04-2011 Hits:821 WEB View
The days when someone who needed to follow you on Twitter had to click on the ‘lill’ blue bird’ button, get on to Twitter and then click on ‘Follow’ are gone. Following in the steps of Facebook and Google, Twitter...
21-06-2011 Hits:1382 Social Media News
When it comes to SEO and your website many a search engine optimizer will argue that there should be no difference in what you should do. SEO is an activity which you should be engaged in all year round, not...
14-04-2011 Hits:757 SEO Tips
Duplicate content is one of those issues on the web which persist. Many times it can be the cause of improper canonicalization (when you have implemented .htaccess code at server level to redirect a www- and non-www domain into each...
24-11-2011 Hits:927 Google News
A piece of news published today signals perhaps the first real move for Google dominance of the mobile telephone browser market. Let’s look at why this is important and why, if you’re online and want to make money from your website...
14-04-2011 Hits:406 WEB View
When I set out to write SEO Help: 20 steps to get your website to Google’s #1 page I have to admit I was unsure on how successful I would be. I knew, from my day-to-day dealings with SEO clients...
07-12-2011 Hits:1446 WEB View
Andrey Markov was a 19th century Russian mathematician who excelled at predictive probability mathematics (called stochastic processes) and whose work on a mathematical process now known as Markov Chains has become the foundation upon which many aspects of the Google...
14-04-2011 Hits:884 WEB View
“If you want something done right you’d better do it yourself” goes the old adage and it is not far from the truth. When applied to SEO you need to understand that anything you don’t know something about...
14-04-2011 Hits:270 WEB View
Every week you will get an email newsletter with my personal recommendations on social media marketing tips and crucial SEO advice to help your business succeed faster, at a lower cost.
Subscribe to HelpMySEO via 
email.
I’ve led the discussion on how social media and SEO are changing the processes we use to work and live, online, with the publication of my book ‘The Social Media Mind’. I combine experience in journalism and blue-chip corporate management with a penchant for explaining complex issues in simple terms. Contact me for media interviews, presentations and panel discussions
