Creating a Facebook Check-in Deal is easy and it can provide a powerful way for customers to engage with your brand as well as share your business with their social media marketing graph.
So how does it work.
When someone check-in on Facebook to a place with a deal a story is created about it. The magic of deals lie in the fact that that deal is broadcast to that customer’s social graph. This means that not only do you have the opportunity to influence the behavior of the individual who checked-in but their friends on Facebook as well.
To create a check in deal follow the steps below.
1. Claim your place
The first step in claiming a place is to find out if your place already exists. To find your place go to Facebook and search for your place. If you don’t see your place in the listing you will need to create it. If it does show up skip to the next step. Creating your place is easy. All you will need to do is use your smartphone to access Facebook and search for your place. When it doesn’t show up just click the “+” or “add” and fill out the form.
Once you find your place you must claim it (you will need to use facebook.com to do this not the mobile version or an app) by clicking the “Is this your business?” link.
You will then need to check the box to certify that you are an official representative of the place the page represents
Facebook will verify the place by calling the phone number listed for it. Make sure you are near the phone to answer the call. You will need the PIN number given on that call to complete the next step.
The final step will be to enter the pin that you heard on the phone call. Once entered the you have claimed your place
2. Create your Check-in Deal
First locate your page and click the edit page button. From there you will see the deals link in the left hand menu. Click that link to start the process.
From there you will need to select the correct type of deal. Individual deals are offered to anyone that checks in at your location. Friend deals allow you to offer deals to customers who check-in at your location together. Loyalty Deals reward those who check-in a certain number of times at your location. Charity deals are a pledge that a certain amount of money will be donated to a charity for each check-in at your location.
Once you have selected the type of deal you will need to fill out the rest of the details. Facebook allows you to add a start and end date, max number of redemptions, and other settings to your deal.
After your deal has been created you will need wait for the deal to be approved by Facebook. Facebook suggests that you submit your deal 48 hours ahead of when you need it to go live but I would give them as much time as possible to make sure there aren’t any issues.
3. Promote your deal
Once the deal has been approved you will get an email from Facebook telling you how to begin promoting the deal on Facebook. You promote it via status updates of course but don’t forget about taking out a Facebook ad for your deal as well.
In addition to advertising on Facebook there are a lot of other ways to promote your deal.
- Put an “ad” in your email newsletter
- Put a sign on your front door
- Add a violator to your display or print media ads
- Print it on the bottom of your reciepts
For more information about Facebook Check in Deals you can download the PDF from Facebook. Download Check-in Deals PDF