Platforms use social, loyalty space to improve reach

First up, from Optimal, the Optimal Expander, a tool set up to help businesses better utilize the social space. Through the Expander brands have access to social data that will help them make smarter ad buys and also determine the kind of social content that will resonate more with their core customer base.

"Our goal is to provide all companies using social media - from small businesses to large enterprises and their agencies - essential consumer insights tools to drive their social media strategy," said Rob Leathern, Optimal's founder and CEO. "These insights can drive creative and content planning too: thus the ability to share and follow up on these discoveries with colleagues
and partners is crucial."

Through the toolset, social brands can collaborate between team members, target social ads based on keywords and can reach social consumers based on audience/interest based targeting.

Meanwhile, PunchTab is now powering more than 15,000 rewards programs - and awarding about 37 million weekly 'points' for loyalty-based actions.

"There's a myth that incentivized engagement programs only attract coupon and sweepstakes hunters, but we're seeing that the right combination of audience, actions, and rewards can engage and retain the right audience," said Ranjith Kumaran, CEO of Punchtab. "The growth of PunchTab's customer base and the increase in the number of active loyalty programs shows that the right consumers are responding to these types of programs, and are staying engaged, particularly as they understand that their participation is valuable to advertisers. Likewise, brands such as Con-Agra's Alexia Foods and WalMart Labs are seeing value in incorporating loyalty initiatives into their broader marketing programs and also realizing that incentive programs are a critical marketing strategy for launches and major initiatives."

The PunchTab platform powers incentive and loyalty based programs across online verticals; using on-demand software, brands can create and manage loyalty campaigns throughout the marketing cycle.

Tags: loyalty marketing, loyalty trends, Optimal, PunchTab, social marketing, social marketing trends