The things that social media is doing these days…

I just found out about American Express using Twitter to further enhance member rewards. Once you sync your Amex to your Twitter account and tweet using the related Amex hashtag you can take advantage of special deals involving statement credits after purchases at certain stores and online retailers. How amazing is that?

I thought the Amex/FourSquare partnership was brilliant and now this one is just as great. American Express is one of the best examples of companies using social media to enhance their business. It seems crazy to me that anyone who has an Amex and is a social media user wouldn’t use FourSquare or Twitter to get credits back on purchases. If you love to spend money and love to save money then you pretty much need to partake in these partnership deals. Sure, I’ll keep using my Amex card if I’m going to get statement credits back with my purchase. Why wouldn’t I?

This latest partnership is a win-win situation for the consumer and American Express. If you think about it, American Express is paying members to promote the company. They are not only getting members to discuss the brand in the digital world, but they are doing it with added value to the member. Plus, all the member has to do is tweet using the related hashtag and the special is loaded onto the card. That’s it! For example, if you want to get the H&M deal going on through 4/20/12 tweet #AmexHM and you get $10 back on a $50 purchase. I plan on tweeting away when deals I like comes up. I admire American Express as a company and have been happy with my experience thus far, so I have no problem promoting the brand.

Companies being able to come up with these great ideas provide us with a look to the future of business. Social media is only going to get more advanced and companies are going to need to keep up with these trends. American Express is one company that I know will continue being a success and being innovative in the social media realm. They truly understand how to work with it to connect with customers on a deeper and more meaningful level.

Elisa Freese
NYU PRSSA VP of Chapter Development