LivingSocial offers a system similar to Groupon where users can jot in their local zip code and browse over offers that can be purchased online for personal use, or even sent to others as gifts. This social discovery and networking tool allows business owners to read and review what others are saying about their business, and cater their advertising and promotional ventures accordingly.
LivingSocial isn’t limited to any specific area of commerce. Commonly movie tickets, books and even pet store coupons appear on the LivingSocial site in chosen local areas. As of early 2011, LivingSocial may not have the coverage that larger sites like Groupon currently has, but they are definitely growing, sometimes with cities expanding coverage in just a matter of days.
LivingSocial.com claims to be the most comprehensive and interest-based community online that is helping over 6.4 million users to catalogue their interest. And where would they get such incredible numbers? It seems LivingSocial has been using Facebook.
Full Facebook integration makes LivingSocial easy to use and even easier to share with family and friends. As they also promise the bigger the crowd, the better the deal, this encourages all users to share and equally encourage others to participate. Top notch marketing ideas like this on LivingSocial.com may indeed make it far more widely recognized and used once the traffic starts to bring in more deals, with better coverage.
So What is the Encouragement to Share?
Really, doesn’t every site online these days encourage you to share? And sometimes, when you see a great deal, you may share it, and just as often, you may mean to but forget, or just have no intention of sharing what you think may interest only you. So how does LivingSocial.com succeed in nudging users into sharing?
Simple. Each day a new discount deal will be available, either by viewing the site or by signing up for their daily emails. If this deal interest you, click the Buy Now option. Once you have purchased the deal you will receive a unique link to share with friends, family and those coveted Facebook followers and if three people also purchase the deal using your link, your originally purchased deal is entirely free.
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Who Likes LivingSocial.com?
Alexa says that LivingSocial.com has a global traffic ranking of 514 and a US traffic rank of 147. In comparison to race based internet statistics, LivingSocial.com’s users are disproportionately white, moderately college educated, and childless females over the age of 65, who earn over $30,000 per year and are most likely browsing from work. The sites regional traffic ranks actually show that 79% of its users are logging in from the United States. With a solid page ranking of 6 across multiple Google datacenters, over half of the daily page views are simple one page bounces.
Although the site is nearly four years old, trends in daily deal sites recently have certainly improved significantly since just after the beginning of 2011.
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Basil, you said, “As of early 2011, LivingSocial may not have the coverage that larger sites like Groupon currently has, but they are definitely growing, sometimes with cities expanding coverage in just a matter of days.”
They are on a massive hiring spree right now – for sure. Looks like they are currently expanding into areas surrounding the large cities that they are in.
Right now they have a test going in DC for a new product that they will be launching all across the USA – a way for restaurants and other businesses to post deals in real time. So if you are in Chicago and hungry, you could go on the page and see all of the restaurants around you offering deals that day – in real time. Restaurants can tweak their offer based on what others are doing around them.
See one offering a free beer… and one down the street offering two beers… well, it’s a no brainer!
Sounds like they are on the location band wagon next, FourSquare and GOwalla better look out!