What is the Deal with Check-In Deals?

Most mobile Facebook users are familiar with Facebook’s Check-In feature. Facebook users can use the Facebook app on their smart phone, to let their friends know where they are, what they are doing and who they are with. Why is this important to businesses? Because there are  200 million active Facebook mobile users using Facebook’s Check-In feature and each Facebook user has an average of 130 friends, many have quite a bit more and that is a lot of word-of-mouth advertising.

In April 2011, Facebook experimented with Daily Deals, similar to Groupon, where users had to Check-In to redeem their Daily Deal on Facebook. After four months of testing, Facebook decided to do away with its Daily Deals but decided to keep the Facebook Check-In Deals program for businesses to use as a marketing tool to reach mobile Facebook users and gain more exposure. “Check-in Deals gives businesses the opportunity to reward customers when they check in on Facebook, and this helps generate awareness, encourage in-store traffic and build customer loyalty. And right now, check-in deals are free for businesses to create.” When a consumer visits a companies physical location, such as a retail store, restaurant, etc., that company can offer the users Check-In deal that will entice them to Check-In and spread the word to all of their friends. Voila – viral marketing! Consumers receive an incentive and companies receive free advertising.

There are four types of Check-In Deals:

Individual Check-In Deals is a one time deal for new & existing customers.

Loyalty Check-In Deals is a deal where you can reward frequent customers after a set number of Check-Ins.

Friend Check-In Deals is a deal to reward groups of up to 8 people, when they check in together.

Charity Check-In Deals can be set up to help companies build community by donating a set amount of money to a charity of their choosing when a customer Checks-In at their business.

Check out Facebook’s Check-In Deals guide to learn how to set one up for your business. Get in on the action early though, Facebook is not yet charging for this service but that is subject to change.

Here is how it works for consumers: