Groupon’s smashing success has spawned hundreds of clones and, given its relatively simple technology and the absence of entry barriers, buoyed those imitators that they too may strike it rich in social commerce. Wildfire Promotion Builder comes at it from a different angle. Rather than wrangle with the behemoth head-on, the start-up sees itself as a complement that enables businesses of all sizes to design full-scale social media marketing campaigns.

CEO Victoria Ransom told BIA/Kelsey that whereas a business may enlist Groupon once or twice in a year to generate a flurry of activity, Wildfire works more regularly with its clients to drive them to interact with and reward their customers through “continual engagement” over social networks.

Ransom also stressed that Wildfire is far more than just deals. In fact, it began in 2008 as a platform that used sweepstakes on Facebook fan pages to build engagement. Now, contests, giveaways, quizzes, voting, trivia and other activities are all part of the portfolio. And, of course, deals. “Deals have been great for us in generating buzz and attention,” Ransom acknowledged.

Wildfire gives marketers and merchants of all sizes a six-step self-serve process to build their own campaign. Once developed, it is published to Facebook and Twitter and posted on the company’s own Web site (or for those without a Web site, to a microsite connected to Facebook through Facebook Connect).

Aside from giving brands the kind of social media integration that they hear is vital but don’t know how to execute, Wildfire’s most inviting feature is its flexibility. Campaign designs can be customized or templated. Pricing packages (an upfront-plus-daily-fee hybrid) range from $5 upfront/99 cents per day to $250/$4.99, based on the level of brand control and depth of analytics desired. A full white-label offering is available for those seeking full brand control.

Whereas many online advertising platforms initially cater to national and regional brands seeking specialized targeting and then attempt to migrate down market, Wildfire actually began as a social media service for SMBs. Ransom quickly discovered that “big businesses also didn’t have expertise and needed a scalable option.” Now, Wildfire works with brands as big as Target and the W Hotel, and as small as a local laser tag company near its Palo Alto headquarters.

To date, Wildfire has relied on positive word-of-mouth P.R. to create a viral effect and reach small businesses. But Ransom knows that continuing to grow this revenue stream will require additional channels, and that it “definitely would make sense to consider reseller partners” (though none is presently in place).

Back to the issue of Wildfire’s position in the Groupon galaxy. The outgrowth of Groupon’s self-serve merchant center has given Ransom something else to think about. However, while conceding that Groupon Stores “hits a bit more in our area with do-it-yourself deals,” she also contends that the big G is still playing predominantly in direct social commerce, while Wildfire is in the social media presence game.

And if Groupon is at worst a “frenemy,” then Facebook is certainly not a foe. In fact, the social network once gave Wildfire a grant through the Facebook Fund. Ransom has already seen opportunities to integrate Facebook Deals for local businesses into their wider suite of social offerings.

The post Wildfire: Solving the Social Media Marketing Mystery for Local Businesses appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

PaperG, the “Flyerboard” provider of cheap self-serve ads on virtual bulletin boards, is moving up the value chain with the launch of “PlaceLocal.” The new insta-ad program builds ads around photos it finds on the Web or from its collection of stock photos. The ads are combined with reviews, customer comments and other content. SMBs only need to enter their name and address to produce their ad.

PlaceLocal enables SMBs to revise ads based on new entries seen on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It allows media companies to build ads on spec when they go on sales calls. And it enables still photos to have video-like “pan” capabilities, aka the “Ken Burns effect.” Ads can also rotate testimonials that it finds on review sites.

PaperG CEO Victor Wong notes that PlaceLocal’s ad fees vary widely, based on publisher. But he notes that PaperG is aiming for about $1,000 a month, or more than double the $400 or so that Flyerboard typically yields. The new effort places PaperG more directly in competition with Seattle-based AdReady, which provides advertisers with hundreds of tested stock templates, and then places media for them. Wong also said he expects some partners to use both products to appeal to different levels of SMB advertisers.

Hearst TV stations are among the first to try out the tech, deploying it on 29 Web sites. PlaceLocal has also been deployed on 32 additional local media Web sites (i.e., TimeOut New York). And McClatchy newspapers are set to launch it in some markets.

Wong also notes that the company, a Yale University entrepreneurial program, is moving from New Haven to San Francisco. It has 10 to 20 employees, and has raised more than $1 million.

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Self-serve ads will bring the SMB masses to the Web. But they haven’t made much of a dent in SMB advertising at this point. That hasn’t stopped a rush of new self-serve products coming out, several married to social media features. The latest is “minute ads” from AlikeList, one of the new crop of social/directory plays that also includes Redbeacon, Thumbtack, HelpHive, PriceLocal, Center’d and many others.

AlikeList’s Minute Ads allow business owners to create and publish offers on the fly, and change the offers as often as they like. They can be sent out to consumers that specifically request recommendations for a specific type of provider (i.e., plumber).

The Minute Ads are part of Alikelist’s “Business Central” platform, which is being priced at $19.99 a month. Included in the subscription is a “PromoSite,” along with presence and reputation management capabilities that enable customers to see how many people have “liked” or “want to try” their business, or who have clicked to their Web site or phone number.

CEO Jim Delli Santi believes that ALikeList’s like-only platform is highly differentiated from simple reviews and ratings sites (i.e., Yelp and Citysearch). “Review sites are more like media companies broadcasting review content generated from consumers,” says Delli Santi.

In theory, the site also does away with the “volume” problem of not enough reviews on a social site by letting users see “likes” from their friends, friends of friends, and then also from all over the Web.

By focusing only on “likes,” it also skims off the negative reviews. That obviously has pros and cons. I tend to like negative reviews because they provide nuance and important warning signs and make for entertaining reading. But negative reviews may also be the work of consumer vigilantes, and they don’t necessarily help people quickly find a business that they want to use.

AlikeList CEO Jim Delli Santi is speaking at Marketplaces 2010 on a hot session with Redbeacon CEO Ethan Anderson and Reply.com COO Sean Fox.

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