Plink is even making use of the popular Facebook Credits, which have been already used as a medium of promoting business by many marketers. But this is the first time that the Facebook Credits loyalty program will be used as an offline virtual currency.
Those Facebook users, who want to be rewarded with Facebook Credits via Plink, will have to dine and make purchases at their favorite restaurants and offline retailers. The move from Plink, will only motivate other marketers to even bring the virtual currency in the real world. Earlier, consumers have only used Facebook Credits to buy virtual goods in Facebook games, as well as to download music, movies, and TV episodes, restricting things to virtual buy and sell.
So, how does it work? Firstly, one will have to register with Plink, using Facebook Connect. The registration will have to be via their Facebook accounts only. Next, they will have to register a credit or debit card of their choice. Nothing more to be done. One can begin earning Facebook Credits by dining-out or making purchases at participating national restaurants and offline retailers. For the restaurants and offline retailers, they will have to pay Plink a percentage of the sales generated by Plink members.
As of now, Plink’s online-to-offline (O2O) loyalty program includes the Dunkin’ Donuts, Quiznos, Red Robin, Taco Bell, and a few more. For the count, Plink members can now earn Facebook Credits at more than 25,000 locations nationwide.
Plink’s focus is on national restaurant chains, as they represent nearly one-third of the total restaurants in the U.S. Additionally, these restaurant chains spend significant dollars on marketing and advertising.
Plink, by design, was easy to implement and quite simple. The program does not require any POS (Point-of-Sale) integration, no paper coupons to be collected, no staff training, no interruption or slow-down to the normal customer transaction process, no tracking conducted by the restaurant or offline retailer, and no set-up fees, print costs, or other merchandise to purchase.
Plink’s co-founder Peter Vogel stated, “Facebook Credits is the missing ingredient that’s been needed to connect social media to offline sales.” He further added, “Now with the ‘glue’ of Facebook Credits our national restaurant and offline retailer partners have a way to tap into the nearly 800 million users on Facebook, motivate them to become loyal customers, and reward them.”
With reference to this scheme, Brett King, author of Bank 2.0 said in a Forbes article that the possibilities are endless. He said, “For example, every time you take a poll, watch an advertisement, or tell your friends about a purchase you made, you could receive Credits from that company that would then be redeemable for goods or discounts.”