American Express launched an aggressive and innovative Twitter campaign Tuesday night, allowing customers to link their credit cards to their Twitter handles.
In return for promoting offers from American Express and retailers on Twitter, cardholders get steep discounts. In some cases, American Express will seek out influential users in certain space.
For example, if a cardholder with a linked account uses the hashtag #AmexMcDonalds and then uses their American Express card at a McDonald’s restaurant, they’ll get a $5 credit on their next statement. American Express is tweeting the various deals on its own Twitter page, giving users an incentive to follow the account.
Among the deals announced so far, with their corresponding hashtags:
You only have to tweet the hash tag, meaning users are allowed to say what they want about the company, promotion or purchase, or say nothing at all.
- $20 off a $75 purchase from Whole Foods #AmexWholefoods
- $10 off a purchase of $75 or more at Zappos.com #AmexZappos
- $10 off an online purchase of $50 or more from 1-800-Flowers #Amex1800flowers
- $10 off an online purchase of $50 or at H&M #AmexHM
- $5 off a Gulf Oil purchase of $25 or more #AmexGulfOil
- $10 off a $50 purchase from Century 21 Stores #AmexC21stores
- $10 off a $25 online purchase from Seamless #AmexSeamless10
- 10% off airfare on Virgin America (limited quantity) #AmexVirginAmer
- $5 off $20 in-store purchase from FedEx #AmexFedEx
- $10 off $50 purchase at the Cheesecake Factory #AmexCheesecake
- $15 off a $50 online purchase from FTD Flowers #AmexFTDflowers
- $10 off a $100 purchase from Best Buy #AmexBestBuy
- $100 off a $599 online purchase from Dell #AmexDell
Ed Gilligan, vice chairman at American Express, told the New York Times American Express is not sharing user data but it will give participating retailers overall stats on the promotion, including average spending.
“We are trying to bring more value to our card members, and we are also trying to help merchants with their digital marketing,” he said.