Who doesn’t love free stuff? If your business has a loyalty program that allows customers to accrue rewards points, one of the best ways to encourage people to sign up is the promise of free stuff and/or valuable discounts down the road.
Customers who come into your business for products and services or who make purchases online are ideal prospects for a loyalty program, but what about the customers who haven’t visited your shop lately? What about friends of your customers?
Social media is a great way to spread the word about your loyalty program to potential customers who don’t know much about your business and who aren’t on your email lists. A loyalty program has the same appeal to them as it does to the customers who visit your store: free stuff! So promote the free stuff you do give away! Here are a few tips on how to do that:
1) Conduct a Facebook Poll: If your customers interact with your Facebook page, ask them what types of rewards they would prefer. People love to fantasize about getting stuff for free! Here’s an example:
Q: If you were a member of a loyalty program, which reward would you redeem your points to receive?
A. Restaurant gift certificate
B. Spa treatment
C. Rental car credits
D. Special members-only discounts
Another suggestion is to announce that you’re going to add a new rewards option and that you’re going to let your Facebook fans choose which reward it’s going to be. Then list the options in a poll.
2) Tweet About Point Redemptions: Send a tweet every time a customer redeems their loyalty points for a reward. For example, “Mrs. Jones just received 30% off her oil change,” or “Congrats to Sara J. who just received a $100 gift certificate to Outback steakhouse!” Add a link to information about your loyalty rewards program on your website. The idea here is to encourage your other Twitter followers to think, “Hey wait a minute! I want discounts. I want gift certificates. How do I get that?”
3) Employ Gamification: Run a Facebook contest for your loyalty program members. Encourage them to send in a photo of themselves enjoying their reward or ask them a question like, “If you could have any reward in the world, what would it be?” and have them post a photo of that reward. Whoever is selected as the winner gets more rewards points, of course. And all your Facebook fans who aren’t loyalty program members may just be tempted to sign up.
4) Award Your Fans: Run a loyalty program special just for your social media fans. Offer free rewards points to your Twitter followers and/or Facebook fans just for signing up (within a certain time frame) for your loyalty rewards program. The great thing about this type of promotion is that there is no obligation to buy anything up front, but once somebody signs up there’s a good chance they will want to continue to accrue more points. For your social media fans that are already loyalty program members, offer them extra rewards points if they come in to your store for a purchase within the next month.
It’s a proven fact: Loyalty program members spend more and add more revenue to a business’ bottom line every year, compared to non-members. So the more people you sign up, the more revenue you will get!
Do you have any additional ideas on how to use social media to promote your loyalty rewards program?
Have you ever used social media to promote your program? If so, what type of results did you get?