Facebook “Offers”: SkyVu Drive-In Case Study

If you haven’t heard, this past week Facebook rolled out a new feature for pages that’s got Social Media interns everywhere pretty excited. A little thing called Facebook Offers. And if your company is marketing with Facebook, you should be excited too. Why? According to ExactTarget, 58% of Facebook users that like a page expect to receive discounts or promotions.

Now Facebook Offers is the easy way to give fans the exclusive deals they crave.

What Exactly Are Facebook Offers?
‘Offers’ are a quick and simple way to give a deal/coupon/offer to your Facebook fans. The best part? This feature costs you a grand total of…nothing!

I should let you know that this feature is currently in beta and only available to a limited group of established Facebook pages listed as a Local Business. If your Local Business wasn’t chosen, don’t worry, Facebook assures us it will be more widely available in the near future.

How Do I Set Up a Facebook Offer?
Setting up a Facebook offer is as easy as pie.

1. In the status box of your page select the Offer, Event+ option
2. Click Offer
3. Upload a compelling image (90x90 px)
4. Insert Headline Text (90 characters)
5. Set the Claim Limit & Expiration Date
6. Add Terms & Conditions (900 characters)
7. Click Preview
8. Click Post
9. Your offer is live!

How Does The Customer Claim The Offer?
If you’re on the other side as a fan, when a page provides an offer, claiming it is even easier than setting it up. Here’s how it works:

1. Click Get Offer
2. The offer is automatically sent to the email attached up to your Facebook account
3. Check your email
4. Print the offer or show it on your phone

SkyVu Drive-In: Real-Life Example of Facebook Offers
SkyVu Drive-In is the only outdoor movies theater within 200 miles of the Red River Valley of Minnesota and North Dakota. It is also happens to be owned by the father of CWS team member, Tom.

The weather was going to be bit chilly that evening in Warren, MN. Not quite what you’d hope for at an outdoor theater. As I sat at my intern desk, I overheard a call made by Tom suggesting that they try this new Offers thing with a Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal. Keep in mind Tom's dad is 70 years old and not quite sold on Facebook marketing.

Now I don’t know exactly what the voice on the other line said, but from the reaction I can only assume it was something along the lines of “I don’t know about this Facebook stuff” or “What if nobody uses it?” or “What are you, some kind of idiot”. Despite Dad's resistance to Facebook, the offer was placed and the experiment began.

Within the first hour about 20 fans had already claimed the offer. Every time we checked the number went up and up. By the time the offer closed, 89 people had claimed it (SkyVu Facebook page has about 2500 fans. That is fantastic engagement for 1 post)

When all of the cars had finally rolled in, several people had their phone displayed or a printed copy of the Facebook Offer.

Would You Consider This A Success?
I would. And here’s why:

1. 89 people engaging with a post is spectacular for a small business
2. Tom and his father estimated business doubled compared to other bad weather days.
3. The Offer took about 5 minutes to set up
4. With this many fans claiming the offer, it shows a high level of interest for the future.
5. Nobody goes to the drive-in with an empty car. Though 1 person in the car got a freebie, each additional person inside the vehicle was a sale.
6. This is most important. Each one of these claimed Offers can be traced back directly to the SkyVU Facebook page. In other words Facebook Offers may soon be an important factor to determine the ROI of Facebook marketing.

I think it's safe to say that with double the usual amount of cars for a bad weather day, Tom's dad is now sold on Facebook marketing.

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