Two of the biggest American corporations have joined forces to bring local, relevant information to the nearly nine million Walmart Facebook fans.
The retail giant’s new initiative is called My Local Walmart, which aims to get back to the early days of the company’s history.
“With early Walmarts, customers would walk in and ask the store manager to get a product,” said the retailer’s chief marketing officer Stephen Quinn, as quoted by Reuters.
But in today’s environment, where there are thousands of Walmart stores throughout the country, it’s pretty tough if not impossible to keep that local connection.
That changes with the new Facebook deal, which will offer Walmart fans local offers and specials tailored to their specific location – so if there’s a blizzard in New Jersey, New Jerseyans will receive deals on snow blowers. If there’s a heat wave in Miami, Miamians will be offered specials on air conditioners.
And it goes hyper local, giving shoppers specific information about their closest Walmart store, including individual store maps for events like Black Friday.
This partnership shows just how powerful Facebook is for targeted advertising campaigns. For Walmart to specifically target people who have chosen to “Like” the company, and offer them specific messages about their own local stores, it will market to a captive audience that most companies only dream of.
“This is going to allow this kind of communication at national scale. Stores become more relevant on a local level because of interaction with customers,” said Quinn.
