I am lovin’ Groupon!

If you like saving money, hop on over to Groupon.com and sign up for e-mail alerts now. If you run a business, hop on over to Groupon.com and sign up for e-mail alerts now. If you like watching success stories in action, hop on over to Groupon.com and sign up for e-mail alerts now.

Personally, I’m a sucker for the site. I love the simplicity of it. I love the colors. I love the hidden menu at the top. And, of course, I love the deals. Here’s how it works.

Every day you will receive an e-mail alerting you of a 24 hour Groupon deal in your city. For example, two weeks ago I was notified of a 10 class yoga pass at a local studio for 50% off, or $50 ($5 for a yoga class, btw, is crazy awesome).

If you want to take part in the deal, sign up. If a pre-determined minimum is reached (25 was the minimum for the yoga studio), the deal goes through. Your credit card will be charged and you’ll receive a certificate for your purchase. If that minimum isn’t reached, the deal is a no-go. No harm, no foul.

Businesses benefit by getting new customers through the door (priceless), and a nice wad of cash from all who signed up. And, keep in mind, businesses set the minimum, meaning, if it’s only worth their time for a guaranteed $1000, they can make that happen.

Returning to that yoga studio (link to the deal here), 132 certificates were purchased. At $50 a pop, that studio brought in an extra $6600 in that 24 hour period (minus Groupon’s percentage, which changes depending on the business, but seems quite reasonable). That’s 132 customers trying out that studio, and $6600 they didn’t have at the beginning of the day. Not too shabby.

So, what are you waiting for? If you’re looking to save money or find some great holiday gifts, sign up for Groupon alerts now! If you’re looking to expose your business to a large audience and, perhaps, get some extra cash flowing, contact Groupon today.

Social Media for Small Business (Training Kit)

Lunabean Media’s Social Media Training Kit for Small Business

It’s time to join the conversation. Features Instantly downloadable 117-page eBook. Read it on your computer or print it out and create your own hard copy. Written by 10-year social media veterans who specialize in small business. More info… Broken into three sections: Strategies, Facebook, and Twitter. 9 how-to videos. Actionable marketing ideas that you can implement now! More info below $29.99

Details

Included in Lunabean Media’s “Social Media Training Kit for Small Business” is everything we offer in our small business media training sessions with the exclusion of our happy faces. Training comes in the form of Downloadable PDF documents and several easy-to-access training videos.

Whether you are completely new to social media or you just aren’t getting the results you need with your current social media campaigns, this Training Kit will help you!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Included you will find:

Social Media Strategies for Small Business (eBook – PDF).

This manual provides an overview of social media, best practices, brand reputation management, how to measure success, and most importantly over easily executable social media marketing ideas that you can use at your small business to engage customers, build a fan base, and create brand evangelists.

Facebook for Small Business (eBook – PDF).

Facebook is a powerful tool for small business, but you have to know how to use it effectively. This manual covers every detail of Facebook from creating a Fan Page to adding custom applications to creating a Facebook ad. Most importantly it details the type of content to post and how to effectively post it. In addition, it includes best practices and 7 how-to videos that will save you time and help to focus your efforts.

Twitter for Small Business (eBook – PDF).

Twitter provides small businesses a unique opportunity to not only engage their customers but, perhaps more importantly, to listen in to conversations about their product or service and your industry in general. The problem is there are many misconceptions about Twitter and many businesses get overwhelmed by the plethora of Twitter options and opinions. Our Twitter manual for small business explains Twitter and teaches you how to use it. You’ll be retweeting, tagging with hashtags, and using Twitter advanced search faster that you can say treding topic. In addition, it will teach you how to search effectively, create a following, and use tools that will help to manage and simplify your Twitter efforts. This manual also includes 2 how-two videos (Twitter basics and advanced practices).

Our social media reads of the day 11/03/09

1. Social Media in Healthcare Cheat Sheet – Just a quick blog post that got my wheels turning. Doctors using social media? I find it creepy and fantastic at the same time.

2. Six Social Media Trends for 2010 – BusinessWeek and HarvardBusiness.org present a list of social media trends to look out for in 2010. There’s nothing mind blowing to be found in the list, but it’s worth a glance. I do hope to see #4 happen, as we’ve seen a lot of damage done to various brands due to lack of social media policy.

3. Five Ways to Make your E-Mail Marketing Campaign Shine – The reason I like this one is because it focuses on e-mail marketing, and we’ve seen this most effective means of communicating with customers overlooked in this new world of “social media marketing”. Social media is about reaching out to the people. Why would you ignore the people who have voluntarily signed up for your e-mail newsletter, essentially saying, “Please contact me anytime you have anything to sell…because I am interested”???

These are your best customers. Don’t ignore them.