Really interesting Facebook post from a small business that didn’t think through the pros and cons of Groupon and it almost put them out of business. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=443354298928&id=700068178 

One commenter stated they wouldn’t use Groupon again. But it’s not Groupon’s fault. Before entering any social media or shared coupon offer as a business you better know your costs and set up limits.

With traditional offers, you can estimate your reach or set limits. But with social media offers, business owners don’t often understand the potential reach. One potential pitfall, is trying to generate new customers through existing social media channels, and then having your regular customers who would normally pay full price, pay a heavy discount. Of course rewarding good customers is a good strategy. But using the same tools for rewarding and attracting new customers usually doesn’t work.