Last week we looked into the importance of using clear communication when selling through social media channels. Today I wanted to share an experience that ended very well for me (the buyer) and the seller.

I am busy doing some work on a wednesday morning last week when an email pops into my inbox from a friend:

Hi Guys

Check this out. I just got a voucher for a R500 seafood platter for R99.

http://www.twangoo.co.za/invite/b74a5ebf

Selling Sefood with Social MediaNormally I would mark this as spam but considering the source of the email I decided to follow the link. To my surprise I had stumbled into a “crowdsourcing” sales exercise. These sales exercises work on the premise that if enough buyers club together they canĀ  sell a product for cheaper due to the economies of scale that start to take place.

I decided to treat my mother to a seafood dish, considering that my wife would rather die than be subjected to the smell of fish all night. I paid for the special on my credit card and then started to spread the word. You see the special is only “unlocked” once the total number of units had been sold. In this case the resturant needed to sell 100 platters before they could “unlock” the special. I was still hearing my friends talk about the special I posted to facebook and twitter for days afterwards.

Once the special was unlocked I phoned the resturant to make a booking. I told the person on the phone that I wanted to make a booking and that I had one of “these R99 vouchers” (I was half expecting another Global Wrapps saga). She simply laughed and asked which day I would like to book for. The curiosity in me decided to find out why she laughed and she replied that she had been inundated with request for bookings due to this special.

Why does this work?

The resturant did not use their facebook page or twitter profile to promote a special but rather posted a great special (great products do well online) onto a website called Twangoo (recently bought by Groupon). Thanks to a great advertising ethos from Twangoo the word got out fast and within a few days the resturant had sold 103 seafood platters.

I love this type of sales approach inside social media. It appeals to the Aspirers, Communicators and Influencers on the internet and communicates its message using technologies in a way that each digital lifestyle can appreciate.

TomorrowToday Global