Twitter is putting a spin on the coupon and it’s rolling out a new feature that helps customers redeem a coupon via a tweet. These Twitter coupons, Twoupons, will be available via promoted Tweets and might prove to be a fierce competitor for traditional coupons and Groupons. Watch this Daily Brown Bag to learn about these Twitter Offers, how social media can be linked right to purchasing decisions, and see how Twitter is maturing as a business.
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TRANSCRIPTION:
Hello and welcome to the daily brown bag. Today we're talking about Twitter Twoupons. I'm Chad Hill and I'm joined by Adams Stetzer.
Good afternoon, Chad. Yeah, we’re covering Twitter Offers, a new feature from Twitter that's trying to edge in on the coupon, or perhaps the Groupon space. And that 140 characters that we've gotten used to is actually a little more crowded here, Chad, as Twitter rolls out these offers.
So, here's the overview of what's happening here and what's new in Twitter with Twoupons. Consumers can now redeem a coupon via a tweet, that's a function we have not seen before. And the idea is they would redeem these and then use these in-store as well as online. But here's the twist - this is pretty cool - once the consumer clicks on the offer, it is then linked to his or her credit card through their Twitter account, and then it is automatically attributed when that card is later used to make the purchase.
So, it's working a little differently than a traditional coupon or definitely different than a Groupon. The consumer won't actually see the discount until it appears later as a cash back or a credit on the credit card statement. A lot of G-Wiz technology behind how they're making this work, which is pretty novel. And these Twitter coupon offers will be available via promoted Tweets.
We've seen a lot of backlash to some of those promoted Tweets as advertising has edged into the Twitter platform, but this might help change some of those attitudes. There of course, will be no charge to the consumer and this will be available currently only in the U.S. and for a limited number of brands.
So, what do we make of these Twiter Offers, Chad?
Well, it's a really cool feature on Twitter because one of the things that's frustrating, at least for me, is that a lot of times you go in and you have your mobile device and have a coupon somewhere and it's just a lot of moving around to try to figure out which thing you're handing someone, a credit card, a device, and things. So, I think these Twitter Offers could be really good for local businesses, especially again that are looking for some sort of in-store activation.
So basically, anybody like a pizza store or a restaurant, any local business would be very effective for this. I also think that one of the things that's been really smart here, Adam, is that they're looking for ways to make it easier for businesses to measure and understand what return they're getting from Twitter advertising. That's been one of the big complaints, that what is the return investment of social media and then specifically of social advertising. So, here's a very, very closed loop system where someone can link social media right to a purchase decision, which is fantastic.
And I think that really what we're seeing is Twitter maturing as a business, and they're looking for ways to take and create their own unique and novel ways of creating value-added advertising services for businesses that stay true to what their niche is and what their audience is looking for. So, like you said, there will be some backlash, but Twitter has to find ways and this sounds pretty cool and novel. People love coupons so I hope this takes off, it's really cool.
Yeah, I think Twitter certainly has the reach and the audience to push this out if they do it right. I think Twitter Offers may give Groupon and others in the space a real run. So, that's our coverage of Twitter Offers. Thanks for coming to our brown bag. We'd love to hear from you and we also ask that you subscribe.
