Many small and medium sized businesses may have an interest in maintaining a presence on social networks, but don’t the time, money, or resources to do so. For them, a new service provided by a company called Bizzlr can help. For a small monthly fee, companies can use Bizzlr’s solution to connect with customers on many of the major social networks.
About Bizzlr
With the top social networks having 183 million users, 70% of them being 15-34 year olds, Bizzlr realized there was a real need to provide tools to businesses that wouldn’t otherwise have the ability to reach their customers on these platforms.
To aid these businesses in expanding their reach, Bizzlr has just launched their turnkey solution, which comes in the form of an social network application and is currently available on Facebook, MySpace, and Hi5. Support for Bebo, LinkedIn, and Ning is said to be coming soon. The application supports both the Facebook API and the OpenSocial API, so it will work on most of the major social networks.
With Bizzlr, companies, even small ones that don’t have their own web site, can connect with their customers quickly and easily on the social networks where their customers spend their time. The fee for doing so is an affordable $19.95/month (or $199/year), so it’s not out of the reach of any mom-and-pop shop.
How It Works
Bizzlr uses proprietary algorithms to target customers based on their tastes and preferences. These customers can then easily share the business with their friends, via a modern-day word-of-mouth referral.
For the company using Bizzlr, the app can be a promotional tool used post specials and coupons for their customers to enjoy, as well as a way to maintain a profile page listing their information, phone number, and other news about their company.
Bizzlr in Action
For customers, there’s no need to worry about unwanted spam or tracking from these Bizzlr or the companies using it – you have the choice to install the Bizzlr app or not, just like you do with anything else on a social network.
The New Word-of-Mouth
At the moment, Bizzlr focuses on the food and restaurant industry, but will soon be expanding into healthcare, childcare, nightlife, and more.
When trying the tool today, I actually found that it could be pretty useful. I added it on Facebook and entered in my city in the Location box. I could then search for restaurants and add them to “My Restaurants.” When adding a new restaurant, you’re prompted to tag it, but suggested tags are displayed and pre-checked for you. (Nice!)
Adding a Restaurant
On the next screen that appears, you can then see the restaurant’s current popularity (both on Bizzlr and with your friends), see it on the map, read news & find coupons (if available), follow the restaurant’s activity on Bizzlr, rate the restaurant, add your own comments, and discover similar restaurants. As a final, and optional, step, you can choose to tell a friend about the restaurant. Heck, this is a whole Web 2.0 app built within a social network!
Rating a Restaurant
Of course, like so many things, the value in Bizzlr will be directly related to how many people start using it, but if the company can break through that barrier and get enough customers and businesses on board, this could certainly take off.
You were sick of throwing sheep at each other on Facebook anyway, weren’t you?
