Facebook has filed for an initial public offering hoping to raise in the neighborhood of $10 Billion. The IPO would value the social network between $75 – 100 Billion. In US stock market history, this puts the launch ahead of Google in size, with only Visa, General Motors, and ATT Wireless coming out with larger first day totals.

27 year old founder Mark Zuckerberg stands to benefit to the tune of an estimated $21 – 28 Billion, dependent on how the market interprets financials showing a $1 Billion profit on Revenues of $3.7 Billion, 85% of which came from advertising. Facebook measurements are largely all bigger than life, as the user base is reported to have reached 845 million users globally. Many of these users are part of the Millennial generation and have grown up accustomed to sharing detailed aspects of their daily lives with their networked friends.

Amidst the eye-popping numbers, Mr. Zuckerberg’s business perspective, as shared in the company’s S1 filing, were especially interesting. He highlighted the importance of personal relationships as being “a fundamental unit of our society”, and made clear that a key objective for Facebook is to help “extend people’s capacity to build and maintain relationships.”

The letter went on to share Zuckerberg’s view on the future of our relationship society, that “the world’s information infrastructure should resemble the social graph – a network built from the bottom up or peer to peer, rather than the monolithic, top-down structure that has existed to date.”

Reading between the lines, it seems that we’ve taken another big step away from the command and control organizational structure of the 60’s and 70’s. If Facebook has its way, we are rapidly evolving towards a wholly populist world.  At first, it was “Me, Inc.”, then we became “Free Agents”, now it’s going to be every man or woman for his/herself. Hopefully it does not result in anarchy.

Facebook of course paints this evolutionary process in a highly positive light, pointing towards the resulting “stronger economy with more authentic businesses that build better products and services” as the result of this movement.

Ironically, the instant poll at the bottom of the article revealed 42% of the 1,500-odd people which had voted at that time stating they are spending less time on Facebook now than one year ago. Apparently, all of this sharing is tiring some people out.

Sharing, fatigue and anxiety may all go hand in hand as a blog posted by a Facebook employee chronicled the importance of Facebook to every aspect of Millennial life, but worried a bit about loss of privacy, stating that “Facebook also has made us paranoid”.

How the human spirit adapts to a non-stop world of sharing is the ultimate question that will be decided over the next few years. The outcome will not only impact the market value of a more mature Facebook in the market, but also how marketing in general and social loyalty in particular evolves in the digital age.

Of all the social media communications channels I invest in, Twitter is the most enigmatic to me.

I use it and find value in posts from both followers and those I follow. At the same time, I encounter quizzical looks from friends who think I am somehow child-like and time-wasting to be spending time writing updates that are always compressed, sometimes cryptic and on occasion in-decipherable.

I’ll admit to a few things:

• Twitter presents the constant temptation to become a one-way broadcaster of self-promotional messages. All I can say is resist, resist, resist. In real life, people don’t fall in love with others who talk about themselves constantly. Why should it be any different online?
• I don’t always engage in conversations. Because there is such a thing as “real business” to attend to, I can’t sit and watch the stream all day, responding promptly to replies, DM’s, and other comments. Thankfully, there are some really great tools to help you manage your social medial channels and I use one of the best, Sprnklr. I do respond to just about everyone, but with timeliness that is often suspect.
• I’m not consistent. Social Media muse @TheDudeDean told me long ago to tweet consistently. I do my best, but there are gaps. This week is an example with cross country air travel and day-long meetings cramping my Twitter style. I acknowledge this but don’t necessarily apologize. We’ve got to have priorities and Twitter should not rule your life.

I read an article this week which mused that Twitter could be destined to “occupy a niche as addiction to few and irritant to many.”  I’m quite comfortable with this reality and take it into account when recommending communication strategies for clients.

It is not mandatory that every customer facing marketing strategy incorporate Twitter, Foursquare, or even Facebook. While it is absolutely right for some, others will find it a waste of time and resource.

If your customers are all online, talk to them through that medium. If they are sitting at the kitchen table reading their mail, you better find your way to that venue. Usually it is through a mix of several channels that you can create customer engagement. The big challenge is to identify which ones matter and to prioritize their importance.

To sum it up, there is wisdom in discerning between “everyone is doing it” and “I need to do it”.

Sounds like Twitter material to me!

Speak the word Loyalty and you get a range of predictable reactions. If you’re at any number of marketing conferences, the word association game leads to responses of “points”, “miles”, or “discounts”. If you mention loyalty to your friends on the golf course, the reactions range from conversation about one’s dog to “those crummy punch cards” that have been stashed away in a drawer at home.

Because the “L” word evokes such biased responses, thought leaders in our industry have worked hard to redefine the game we are playing. Formal descriptions of “data driven marketing strategy designed to change customer purchase behavior on a sustainable basis” are accurate, though not inspiring. Over the past several years, I’ve move towards Customer Strategy as a broader term that speaks to the need for any company to address the needs of its customer base in a systematic and measurable manner.

My preferred tagline is to say that “everyone needs a customer strategy, but not everyone needs a loyalty program”.

That’s just me, and I have several colleagues who have chosen different paths, either sticking with Loyalty as the descriptor to keep it simple or who have taken up a seat under the big tent of CRM or Customer Management to describe our business.

Then came Twitter. My early web sherpa, The Dude Dean, taught me how to use hashtags effectively among other little pearls of wisdom to create “Google juice”. To create a conversation about our corner of the direct marketing world, it seemed common sense to use #Loyalty after each tweet. Searching on the term a few months ago, I discovered it was time for a change.

#Loyalty denoted a stream of passionate epithets that looked like a painfully assembled chat room for people looking for dating advice. I consulted with other loyalty marketers active in social media and we agreed to use #Lmktg as a way to separate business from personal “loyalty” matters. Thanks to Barry Kirk for his leadership in this effort.

Occasionally though, I check in with the old term to see if anything has changed. Today the #Loyalty Twitter stream offered these bursts of passion for our consumption:

#LOYALTY is the key to a successful friendship or any relationship

show me #Honesty …. ill show u Loyalty

#Loyalty is non existent these days

#Loyalty is so rare these days

Finally I was able to find one Tweet that hit closer to a business related take on Loyalty:

#Loyalty is not about some card an airline gives you for miles. Loyalty is wanting to do business with you, not having to

Reading the comments in the stream, I realized that what these people were talking about is indicative of why its so hard for brands to create long term value with customers. Business has to behave sincerely, as it if really wants to build a relationship, not just manipulate the customer into some form of behavior that is more beneficial to brand than human being.

There are lessons to be learned, even in the Twitter stream. All business owners and managers should revisit the purpose behind his/her marketing efforts. If it is to treat the customer as they wish to be treated, to offer tangible value for repeat purchase, to treat customer data collected like the gold that it is, and to provide customer service to match, then the foundation for success is in place.

If anything less than this, a shift in focus is heartily recommended. Why? Because as the last Tweet of note today said:

The moment you find #loyalty is the moment you’ve found everything!!!

One of the primary reasons for a company to be on social media is to build relationships and engage customers in a dialogue. So why are a lot of big-time pharmaceutical companies about to walk away from their Facebook pages?

It seems that up to this point, Facebook gave pharma companies the ability to “turn off” commenting on their pages, a privilege they didn’t grant to other industries. This suited the risk-adverse pharma folks just fine as it gave them the ability to “block” comments they didn’t like.

But all that came to an end on Monday, August 15. You see, a few months ago Facebook sent an e-mail notifying all pharma page administrators that the social media site was changing the rules and that “pages that currently have commenting disabled will no longer have this entitlement after August 15th.”

As reported on ClickZ, this poses a major problem:

Pharma marketers are required to report adverse effects of their drugs, so if someone posts a comment about an adverse effect on a Facebook page, the company is responsible to report that to the Food and Drug Administration. Also, when they become aware of online conversations including incorrect or off-label information about their drugs and products, they need to notify the FDA.

Can anyone say big can of worms? It also means the pharma companies can no longer prevent those who have had adverse side effects from a drug from posting their comments online for all to see.

As pointed out in the Pharma Marketing Blog, all it takes is one disgruntled customer to cause havoc. The European drug company Sanofi-aventis chose to shut down its Facebook page after a string of negative comments from a cancer survivor who had permanent hair loss after taking the drug Taxotere.

So what’s next? As pointed out in the blog Pharma Exec, companies now have three choices:

1. Go dark and wait for the FDA to issue guidelines on how to report potential adverse events they may discover on their Facebook pages.
2. Go dark temporarily and build the infrastructure to cope with the real time flow of consumer commentary.
3. Continue on with Facebook, backed by the staff to monitor Facebook and other social networking sites.

A few major drug makers have already chosen options one and two. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, have decided to remove their Facebook pages as a consequence of the policy change. Other companies said they will monitor their pages more closely now that the changes have taken effect.

But my thinking is, as more and more consumers lean on the Web as their primary source for information, you’ve got to have the social media bases covered, including Facebook. After all, if someone has something bad to say about your product, if it doesn’t come out on Facebook, it’s bound to appear somewhere else. And it’s better to be in a venue where the playing field is level and you at least have the chance to respond.

What do you think?

I borrowed the headline above from a recent B-to-B article by Jeff Ernst, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. I think it perfectly underscores something I’ve been saying for a while now: It’s about the power of the idea, not the tactic. (My compadre @billhanifin has a similar mantra: Technology enables. Imagination wins.)

While most companies are now testing the social media waters with a presence on Facebook and Twitter, it’s best to have a strategic plan of attack before diving in. In the words of Ernst, “Starting with tools and tactics spells disaster. You need to start by understanding the social behaviors of your target audience and defining the big ideas that will attract and engage them.” But before discussing big ideas in social marketing…

First things first: you’ve got to show up.

To paraphrase Woody Allen, “90% of social marketing is just showing up”, and by that I mean being active on whatever social media tool you’re using. That means starting conversations, answering queries, and when necessary, defending your company or brand. To do this, you’ve got to set aside a small portion of your day to social media activities. (For me, its 20 minutes each morning.)

Next step: you need a big idea.

What’s a little more challenging is the next 10% of the equation—coming up with the big ideas that give your customers something to talk about. As Jillian Ney pointed out in a recent post on Social Media Today, “The motivation has been to collect fans and followers, which have resulted in many branded social spaces not actually providing any entertainment or value.” In many ways, a great social media campaign has much in common with a great traditional ad campaign—the best ones are centered around a big idea. To achieve “big” status, your idea needs to have the power to inform, entertain and/or engage your customers, while getting them to take a desired action, whether it’s signing up for e-mail, retweeting a message or checking in with you on Foursquare.

Here’s are three social media ideas that I think work hard for their brands.

Why? They go beyond simply blasting messages into the social media space, and actually get people to interact with the brand. They also leverage ideas that are natural tie-ins to the image and essence of the brands being promoted.

• Paula Deen and “the real women of Philadelphia”. A promotion for Philadelphia Cream Cheese, it invites customers to submit original recipes using Philadelphia brand products, with 16 finalists selected to join celebrity chef Deen in a live “Cook Off” where four grand prize winners will be chosen. While I’m not a big fan of celebrity endorsements, this one feels like a natural, since it’s easy to imagine the down-home Deen actually using Philadelphia Cream Cheese in her recipes. Importantly, the site has done a nice job of putting Paula’s ebullient personality to use through online videos and social media like a “live chat” on Twitter.
• Coleman, “the original social networking site”. Coleman, the camping gear company, has done a great job of tying their brand into social networking, starting with their clever “original networking site” positioning. A Facebook page promotes their easy-to-build tents with a “Summer Time in no Time” giveaway. There’s a Twitter page that could be a little more active, but does address the occasional customer query, plus a YouTube channel and Twitter app that fittingly let you check out “creepy campfire stories”.
• Fair Tweets from Ben & Jerry’s. Another big idea comes from Ben & Jerry’s. We think of Ben & Jerry’s as a very socially conscious brand and they prove it with Fair Tweets, which uses Twitter in a way I haven’t seen before to promote Fair Trade, a global organization that works to get better deals for farmers. It works like this: You go to the Ben & Jerry’s Fair Tweet page, and being typing in a tweet. The site then “puts your unused Twitter characters to use”, by turning any leftover characters (from your 140 character cap) into a message about Fair Trade. 33 characters left? A 33-character message is tacked on to the end of your tweet. Very cool and an ingenious way to spread a public service message.

How about you. Have you seen or worked on any big social media ideas lately?

It was recently reported in the trade press that Pepsi had slipped to the #3 soft drink in sales, behind Coke and new #2 Diet Coke. But most interesting was the speculation behind the drop. In an Ad Age article titled “How Pepsi Blinked, Fell Behind Diet Coke”, it was hinted that Pepsi had put too many of its marketing eggs in the social media basket.

Some background: In 2010, the company launched the Pepsi Refresh Project. As I reported in a previous Loyalty Truth post: This Web-based initiative asks customers to submit ideas that they think will have a positive impact on the world, including everything from building community playgrounds to caring for wild cats. Consumers vote on ideas they think should be funded, and to date Pepsi has committed over $15 million to nearly 400 winning ideas.

The Refresh Project was backed by a big social media presence and its launch coincided with Pepsi’s move away from traditional advertising channels, including an ad boycott of the Super Bowl and other major marketing events. (By comparison, Coke is ubiquitous, sponsoring everything from the NCAA tourney to NASCAR to the hit TV show American Idol.)

In the Ad Age article, John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, expressed his concern about Pepsi’s marketing efforts saying, “In the cola wars, the Refresh Project by itself isn’t enough to market Pepsi’s cola brands.” Sicher believes that in addition to Refresh, the company needs “more product-oriented advertising and marketing. I think that the 2010 results are probably a wake-up call for Pepsi.”

In an Ad Age editorial, Rance Crain chimed in “there’s also the danger that consumers could conceivably tire of causes or decide that Pepsi, a marketer long known for its ability to amuse and entertain, is taking itself too seriously. After all, we’re talking about fizzy soda water here.”

Julie Rohem, the ex-marketing chief of Wal-Mart, also expressed her doubts about Refresh in a recent blog post:“the message had nearly nothing to do with the product or the sale of that product. It was altruistic and admirable but it did not engage people with the drink itself—only the endeavors that the campaign supported. Pepsi at the end of the day is a mass brand and that means appealing to the masses on the product first.”

So was the Pepsi Refresh Project a mistake? A qualified yes—if the company really thought it could abandon its more traditional advertising efforts for one that pitched good vibes instead of good taste. A message of corporate benevolence is all well and good, but it feels like the company forgot the primary goal of any marketing department: move the product.

That said, Pepsi should also be commended for doing something a lot of bottom line-focused companies have ignored in recent years—giving back to the community. Handing cash to initiatives like “supporting the rescue and care of injured and orphaned wildlife ” and “getting the lowest income students in our community into college” is truly a noble endeavor.

It’s enough to make this bleeding-heart chug a cold bottle of Pepsi or two. If only I drank cola.

Tom Rapsas is a regular contributor to Loyalty Truth. You can follow him on Twitter @tomrapsas

When I first saw a QR code, I shrugged my shoulders and thought “one more piece of technology looking for a solution”.

I’m not cynical … I’ve just lived through years of expectation for smart cards and contactless cards only to see the technologists and vendors more excited about the product than consumers ever were.

Now I found myself staring at a black and white digital pattern slightly more intriguing than a bar code, and wondering what all the fuss was about. My disdain for QR codes has grown into mild fascination as I have experienced their use on a personal level and have witnessed how brands are using them to efficiently engage customers and grow their business.

Newspapers have made good use of the codes, allowing readers to instantly shift from print to online sources of content, in the process bringing a print story to life with a video or blog. Promotions and offers have been mixed in with content delivery to award readers for taking time to read the codes and explore an online version of the publication.

Retailers, especially local merchants fighting to win mind-share from the national brands, are using QR codes to effectively keep the store open “24/7″ by highlighting featured inventory or take viewers to online stores where they can shop at their leisure.

I’ve also seen the use of QR codes stretched beyond what consumers can digest. A local realtor comes to mind who substituted codes in a monthly print ad for the usual four color pictures of listed properties. The presentation was a bit too obscure and I noticed that the realtor reverted to pretty pictures the next month with one QR code in the corner directing readers to a web site.

Speaking of web sites, the most common use of QR codes I have seen in business so far is the inclusion of a code on a business card or online profile offering another way for visitors to link to a web site home page. Even though I created the code in this post with the same linkage, it’s an unimaginative use of the technology.

QR codes are much better used to send visitors to micro-sites, videos, or other dynamically changeable content that serve a specific business purpose. They could also be used in single-use format to enable reward redemption at point-of-sale.

With Nielsen projecting the penetration of smartphones in the US to exceed 50% by the end of 2011, more people will be able to easily access the information available. It might be merely an anecdotal commentary, but I’ll bet that the people who do have smartphones today represent an audience willing to take a digital shortcut to view useful content and get needed information from their phones without having to type clumsy URL’s into their browser.

Like most technology, the real fun starts when people apply their imagination to use applications in ways not anticipated by the inventors. QR codes have high potential for imaginative use and we expect to see more of them in both B2C and B2B settings.

There are two forms of brilliance in business – one displayed by people who invent things we haven’t thought about before (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare) and those that find a way to incorporate these new communications channels into mainstream business to generate revenue.

In many aspects of social media, we are waiting for the dots to be connected and for business to understand how to put the tools to use to enhance existing business models, engage customers, and make money. Location based marketing has been a head-scratcher from this perspective. Foursquare launched at SXSW only two years ago in March 2009 and now has an estimated 5.7 Million registered users. Many of these users are interested in doing more than becoming the “mayor” of a location, yet merchants have been slow to take advantage of the platform to deliver targeted and inexpensive marketing. Many people think that 2011 will be the year that Location Based marketing takes off and the predictions here are indicative of the potential.

The launch of SNAP (Social Network Appreciation Platform) today was covered by Mashable in an article here and has my full attention as it represents the second form of brilliance and is a legitimate tool to make any loyalty program “social”. In the spirit of full disclosure, Hanifin Loyalty has been named an agency partner of SNAP and will be advocating SNAP to the market.

In the SNAP press release, capabilities are explained and it is clear that the application can connect any existing loyalty program membership base to local merchants to enable “passive check-in” using Foursquare, Facebook Places, and Twitter. Leaderboards and Badges are supported as are more sophisticated bonusing elements.

“Social Loyalty” using passive social network check-in was pioneered by Tasti D-Lite and Loyalty Truth applauded its launch about this time last year. The work done between Tasti D-Lite and PC America has evolved to become SNAP and can enable social loyalty on a standalone basis for smaller merchants and even work within a gift card platform. You can get the idea even better via this clever video.

To my knowledge, TopGuest is the only other application in market that converts check-ins to rewards points, but they approach the subject from a different angle. TopGuest is a mobile application that enables consumers to check-in and earn extra points with designated rewards programs, principally in the hospitality segment. The fact that TopGuest quickly affiliated with brands such as Virgin America, Hilton, and Intercontinental speaks to the high level of interest by business in bringing a social element to their staid rewards programs.

SNAP is an open platform that can be used by any business – small or large – to enable social check-in, reward word of mouth marketing, and generate referrals and recommendations across a trusted network of friends. It can be integrated to loyalty processing software packages and with POS systems in merchant locations.

I’ve only recently realized that the conversation isn’t about Millennials or Generation Y anymore. It’s about “Consumer 2.0″, those consumers who have grown up with technology and live in an “always on” environment, preferring to communicate with friends and brands through digital channels.

The significance of this realization is that Consumer 2.0 probably numbers about 150 Million, or half of the US population. The figure includes all the Millennials (so you’re not forgotten) and accounts for those of us (Boomer, Gen X, and other groups) influenced by the Millennials we know and the increasing importance of digital marketing.

SNAP opens up many doors to allow brands to connect with their customers and adds a critical component to any loyalty program if it is to stay relevant with Consumer 2.0.

According to USA Today, on Monday, pizza chain Papa Johns will announce plans to give a free large pizza to every American — if the Super Bowl goes into its first-ever overtime. The catch: You must sign up for its online loyalty program before game day (Feb. 6).

“We’d rather give away millions in free pizzas than spend millions on a spot,” says Andrew Varga, Papa John’s marketing chief.

Because Papa John’s is an NFL sponsor — advertising in games all season, he says, “We don’t feel the need to make the investment in the game.” The free pizza deal — which he estimates could cost Papa John’s 100,000 pizzas — will be promoted digitally, he says. The chain also will randomly give away pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday to folks who order online.

According to Papa John’s Facebook page, customers simply need to go to papajohns.com, open an account and register for Papa Points to “get in the game.”  If Superbowl XLV goes into overtime, Papa Johns will offer everyone who registers a free large pizza.  You can see the official rules HERE.

Loyalty marketing publication COLLOQUY wrote a cover story about restaurant loyalty programs in 1997 noting that most frequent-diner programs were still “missing some key ingredients.”  The COLLOQUY article noted:

The fact that customers by the hundreds of thousands are ready and eager to enroll in these programs underlines and confirms their appetite for the value-added, interactive relationships these programs promise either explicitly or implicitly. But most of these programs fail to deliver on their relationship promises.

The current frequent-diner template is simple and superficial. Customers join and earn points based on dollars spent in the restaurant. Mag-striped membership cards are swiped by cashiers to capture visit dates, times, locations and dollars spent. Points are redeemed for gift certificates which can be used for discounts and/or free items in the restaurant. Point earnings and totals are printed on the dining receipt and/or on quarterly account statements mailed to the member. A toll-free number permits members to inquire about their account balances or about program features and benefits. What’s wrong with this picture? Lots.

More than a decade later, loyalty in the fast-food segment still hasn’t reached its full potential although social and mobile media are making it simpler and easier for customers to participate.

Hardees and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains recently launched their own loyalty mobile apps for iPhone and Android phones that reward customers for “checking in” at any of their 3,000 locations.  The Happy Star Rewards application, available through iTunes, allows users to reveal their locations in exchange for free food and prizes.

Social shopping is one of the new terms being circulated today among business people and consumers. Shopping has always been a social activity, so the name doesn’t define anything that we don’t understand intuitively.

Not so long ago, the term might have conjured up images of two friends going to the mall together, discussing stores, brands and products, and ultimately influencing – and helping with – purchasing decisions.

What does Social Shopping mean in 2011?

To understand the concept and gain vision on where this movement is heading, break down the thought into activities that make up a social shopping experience.

1. There has to be a purchase transaction at some point. The question is, does “Social”, as it is currently being used, refer to online, offline, or both?

2. Regardless of channel, “social” implies that a sharing of information takes place. We somehow recommend favorite products and brands to each other. We might even make a formal referral of a friend to brand.

3. There is probably a role for incentives in a Social Shopping network. Sure, the engine can run on Word of Mouth marketing, but referrals in particular need to be driven with incentive and there needs to be some value offered by merchants to ignite the movement of a social network of people towards their brand.

Given the components mentioned, I’m not sure I buy the introduction of shopping carts on Facebook pages as “Social Shopping”. In my book, F-Commerce is just one aspect of the equation. In fact, one could argue that F-Commerce is just good old e-commerce delivered through a new channel and facilitated by a new payment currency, in this case, Facebook Credits.

Social shopping is better defined as an eco-system where value for shoppers and merchants is generated as networked shoppers share opinions, recommendations, and make referrals to drive an increased share of their spend to the merchants participating in the network. Shoppers are provided incentive in the form of rewards (cash back or other means) and will continue to patronize merchants in their network as long as the merchants play the game.

The fruits of “search and discover” will be on display as shoppers will recommend merchants they want to see in-network and prune out those that jumped in, but don’t deliver satisfactory product or service. For merchants, the model is highly evolved from a new customer acquisition and retention standpoint and they can be assured that their marketing dollars are well placed and have measurable return.

To provide a tangible example of a social shopping scheme that works, have a look at Zavee.com. Zavee is designed to encourage shoppers to patronize a participating group of local merchants. Their tagline of Simple, Local, Social is an apt description of the value proposition for consumers and merchants.

Zavee merchants can create their own highly flexible promotional offers, with cash back awarded on purchases. Zavee pays out cash rewards to its shoppers on a quarterly basis. Merchants pay only on activity, which rationalizes the relationship between marketing expense and revenue, and obviously reduces risk to the merchant. There are no sign-up or ongoing maintenance fees for merchants, nor are there complicated changes to point-of-sale systems.

In fact, there is not even a membership card needing to be swiped as Zavee works on a registered card basis. Shoppers enrolling can register as many of their favored payment cards as they wish. From that point, smart shoppers visit the Zavee site to identify merchants, review the available offers, and then do what they do best – shop.

On the social track, Zavee shoppers leave reviews and comments about Zavee merchants on the web site. The remarks are relevant as only shoppers making a purchase with a merchant may comment on that merchant. That squeezes out the troll-like nature of some reviews seen on line today – both falsely negative reviews from competitors and falsely positive ones from the merchants themselves (or their publicists) – and spikes the timeliness, relevancy and reliability of reviews on Zavee for other shoppers.

To complete the value generated within Zavee, each purchase made by a shopper generates not only the cash back reward, but “Care Shares™”, i.e. a unit of value that can be accumulated by the shopper and given to benefit one of the local charities affiliated with Zavee in its network. Care Shares are triggered by shopping and funded jointly by the merchant and Zavee itself, giving rise to a new take on “Social Giving”, another term being tossed about today and with multiple implications.

Zavee is focused on serving the local merchant market. It is being piloted in South Florida and early results are positive. The Zavee model and bonusing engine could easily be adapted to serve an online community or a cross-channel set of  merchants, but Zavee is about connecting local shoppers with merchants within the community and creating value for all parties including charities. It might also represent a bridge between traditional loyalty marketing programs and the way Millennials wish to engage with brands as well as the way forward for coalition loyalty in the U.S.

Given the challenges that small-medium businesses have in today’s market, Zavee is a great asset for a business owner and a more much efficient step up from spending marketing dollars on the Yellow Pages and coupon packs where the investment is non-targeted, funded up-front and the results hard to measure.

People have always engaged shopping as a social activity. Now, they have a vehicle to shop, earn, share, and give all while supporting the local merchants that are vital to our communities and the fabric of our nation.