Quiznos sent out an email to their subscribers inviting them to “meet the new Quiznos Toaster.” In order to do this, however, you must first “like” their Facebook page.

5 Reasons this is a good strategy:

1. By emailing those who have subscribed to their mailing list, Quiznos knows they’re reaching their target audience. This isn’t a random sample to whom they’ve reached; they’ve contacted those who’ve opted to receive Quiznos promotions, and are thus more than likely a past, present AND future customer.
2. By hosting the offer exclusively on Facebook, they will easily widen their fanbase as people will want access to coupon, and, in order to do so, they must first become a fan.
3. Another perk to having the offer be exclusively on Facebook is that it draws attention to the fact that they’re there. For bigger brands that people probably frequent more mindlessly than unique favorites, it could be easy to forget to seek them out online.
4. The verbiage chosen is noteworthy: “Meet the new…” MEET. Quiznos is personifying their sandwich. They could have said “Try the new Quiznos Toaster”, but instead, they invited consumers to “meet” it. There’s a more enticing quality to “meeting” than simply sampling a food.
5. Cross-promoting each portion of your online presence is a great way to reach a more massive audience. While it’s not that difficult to send an email out to your subscribers, by doing so, you’re not going to gain many new Facebook fans, but the people those folks are connected to on Facebook are now going to see that they’ve “liked” your page. So, now, in addition to these brand-new people “liking” the page also, they could additionally subscribe to your newsletter so that they can feel they’ll also be in the loop for future promotions. By virtue of pushing one portal, it’s easy to now inadvertently draw attention back to several.

Has a restaurant’s pro-activity on social media heightened your propensity to go there?