Einstein Bros. Bagels is giving all of its Facebook fans a “buy one bagel, get one free” coupon today. The promotion echoes a January campaign that increased the company’s Facebook fan base from 4,700 to more than 378,000.
Einstein Bros. worked with advertising agency Creative Alliance on both initiatives. For the January campaign Einstein bought a one-day Facebook advertising roadblock. That meant that Einstein Bros.’s promotion of its offer-if a Facebook user became a fan she received a coupon for a free bagel and cream cheese-was the only advertiser on the network for consumers on Jan. 25. Today’s offer was promoted only on the restaurant chain’s Facebook fan page.
Even after the January promotion ended, Einstein Bros.’s fan base continued to grow by nearly 10,000 individuals per day, says James O’Reilly, chief concept officer. And with more coupons, the company hopes the growth continues.
The promotions are aimed at building relationships with customers, as well as potential customers, says O’Reilly. “We want to use the Facebook medium to communicate with our fans in such a way that they feel like we’re listening to them. We want to be able to react to the things they think are important.”
To help that growth, Einstein Bros. has two employees dedicated to social media efforts. They’re tasked with using social media, and Facebook in particular, as a sounding board to hear what customers like and dislike on the Einstein Bros. menu, what they’d like to see added to the menu and if there are any problems at Einstein Bros. stores, says O’Reilly.
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