Do You Buddy, Inc. started out over two years ago as a solution to the "problem" of monetizing social media. Banner advertising wasn't working. Coupons were relics from the print age and it seemed no one could come up with anything better. So we conceived of a shopping rewards program to incentivize people in an online shopping environment to engage their social media friends and share information on the purchases they make. While that had already been done—there was no incentive—no reason for people to share their purchase details. So we added motivation: Buddy Bucks. Then we thought, let's make it interesting. Let's reward shoppers with a discount + Buddy Bucks when they make a purchase—and also when their Facebook friends whom they've referred make a purchase from the same store. Then again when friends of friends make a purchase, and then finally AGAIN when friends of friends of friends make a purchase. We ended up with with one terrific online shopping tool whose concept led us to the name: Buddy Buddy Buddy. The final twist was to make Buddy Bucks portable. Buddy Bucks earned from purchases and friends' purchases can be redeemed against the purchase of selected items at any participating "We Buddy" online store. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see "Featured Buddy Products" for sale at any of several participating "We Buddy" online stores.
Over 2 Million Possible Chances to Earn More Buddy Bucks From One Sale The average Facebook user has about 130 friends. When you do the math, that's 130 X 130 X 130 which is over 2 million points of contact potentially met with one sale alone. To the shopper, that means that when they refer a Buddy item to their Facebook friends, they have over 2 MILLION chances to be rewarded with more Buddy Bucks. To the store owner, there's the possibility of over 2 MILLION motivated shopper leads to their store—and that's just from one single sale. A true Win-Win!
So we developed spreadsheets and models all trying to find the weakness of the concept. And you know what? There are none! That's when we realized we really had something here. The more we looked around, the more we saw that no one was doing anything at all like this. BBB is in fact the first true social media marketing tool. Nothing else out there—with respect to eCommerce—motivates the deep interconnected network of friends like BBB.
Every "We Buddy" Store Issues & Redeems Buddy Bucks We then realized that in order to maintain the value of Buddy Bucks, stores would benefit from providing both types of sales items. That is, what we call "Buddy Premium" sale items which reward the shopper with a discount and Buddy Bucks, and "Buddy Redeem" sales which redeem Buddy Bucks while offering steep discounts in the process.
Buddy Bucks Redeemed at Any Participating Store We also felt that Buddy Bucks would need to be "portable" in the sense that Buddy Bucks earned at one store can be redeemed for products at any participating We Buddy online merchant. This is a powerful feature that sets the BBB Rewards model apart from all others in that it serves to "cross-pollenate" shoppers from one participating "We Buddy" store to another which makes the program even more attractive to store owners and shoppers alike.
Easiest Way In The World for Stores to "Get Social" Another plus for store owners is that BBB is almost a "Set-It-and-Forget-It" marketing tool as it "shifts" the SM Marketing efforts from the store owner to the consumer by way of incentivized referrals. The result is less "disingenuous social activities" aka "marketing pollution" within the social sphere and more "friends helping friends" instead. In essence a social solution to a social problem.
The Buddy Train One last amazing feature of BBB is the "Buddy Train". The Buddy Train is a name we give to the "motion" or "movement" of the referral stream. As explained, referrals are paid three levels down—friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends. So as the initial shopper makes a purchase and refers their purchase to their Facebook friends, they "get on the train". When their referred friends who also make a Buddy Item purchase from the same Buddy store, they too "get on the same train" as the initial shopper. As the second and third levels of referred friends get on the train and the initial shopper gets their Buddy Bucks rewards from these levels (friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends) they "get off the train", BUT... the train continues on as the next set of friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends get on the train and so on. So the Buddy Train from a single purchase could continue on without end as shoppers get on and get off. And get this:Trains spawn other trains... which spawn other trains and on and on!
Then as we began to polish the concept we've added some extras like: ⇒ Loonie Buddy
Loonie Buddy is a promotion whereby ALL shoppers on ALL participating We Buddy Stores will have a 33% (or 20%, or 44%, etc.) chance of getting Double Buddy Bucks TODAY ONLY!! Or we might offer Double BBucks for all shoppers at a particular store. Or we might go Loonie Buddy for a limited time with a store that just signed up.
⇒ Super Buddy
Super Buddy is a promotion that allows for a FOURTH LEVEL on certain products, or "Until Midnight tonight!" for example. That would equate to earning Buddy Bucks through tiered Facebook referrals from not only the regular three levels of Buddy:
• Friends
• Friends of Friends
• Friends of Friends of Friends...
... But ALSO a fourth level: • Friends of Friends of Friends of Friends!
That brings the number of opportunities the shopper has of earning Buddy Bucks from over 2 million to OVER 285 MILLION! That's one powerful incentive!
We like to think of ourselves as folks with a sense of humor too, so we prepared this little video to help explain and promote our social media marketing product:
So here it is. We hope you have fun Buddying! We have some pretty exciting things up our sleeve as well. Stay with us....
