Systems and methods for on demand and location-based offers
A social media computing system is described. The social media computing system provides a social media platform to a plurality of users. Additionally, the social media computing system provides merchants the ability to provide targeted offers to users of the social media platform. As used herein, the word “merchants” also includes service providers. The offers relate to goods or services provided by the merchants. In some situations, the offers are transmitted by the social media computing system to user devices based on requests by the users. In other situations, the offers can be transmitted directly from the merchants to the user devices based on determined locations of the user devices.
1. A method of temporarily permitting a merchant to send offers to a user of a social media platform based on a location of the user, the method comprising:
receiving, by a processor of a social media computing system, user location information indicating that a user device of the user is in proximity to a merchant location;
removing, by the processor, a restriction of the social media computing system preventing the user from receiving messages from a merchant computing system associated with the merchant via the social media platform, removal of the restriction permitting the messages transmitted by the merchant computing system to be provided to the user device by the social media platform; and
transmitting, by the processor, a message containing an offer from the merchant to the user, the offer relating to a product or service of the merchant.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the processor, updated user location information.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining, by the processor that the user is no longer in proximity to the merchant based on the updated user location information.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising, disabling, by the processor, the ability of the merchant to send messages to the user via the social media platform in response to determining that the user is no longer in proximity to the merchant.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user location information is determined based on a received locator beacon identifier positioned within or near the merchant.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a transaction code that allows the user to claim a product or service from the merchant associated with an accepted offer.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user location information is received from a user device.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using the received user location information to determine that the user device is in proximity to the merchant location.
9. A merchant offers system comprising:
a locator beacon network;
a network interface configured to communicate with a user device associated with a user and a merchant computing system associated with a merchant; and
one or more processors configured to:
receive user location information indicating that a user device of the user is in proximity to a merchant location of the merchant, wherein the user is a user of a social media platform, wherein the user location information is based on a determined position of the user device as identified through the locator beacon network;
remove a restriction of a social media computing system preventing the user from receiving messages from the merchant computing system via the social media platform, removal of the restriction permitting the messages transmitted by the merchant computing system to be provided to the user device by the social media platform; and
transmit a message containing an offer from the merchant computing system to the user device, the offer relating to a product or service of the merchant.
10. The merchant offers system of claim 9 , the one or more processors further configured to receive updated user location information from the user device.
11. The merchant offers system of claim 10 , the one or more processors further configured to determine that the user is no longer in proximity to the merchant based on the updated user location information.
12. The merchant offers system of claim 11 , the one or more processors further configured to disable the ability of the merchant computing system to send messages to the user device via the social media platform in response to determining that the user is no longer in proximity to the merchant.
13. The merchant offers system of claim 9 , the one or more processors further configured to generate a transaction code that allows the user to claim a product or service from the merchant associated with an accepted offer.
14. The merchant offers system of claim 9 , wherein the user location information is received from the user device.
15. A social media computing system configured to temporarily permit a merchant to send offers to a user of a social media platform based on a location of the user, the social media computing system comprising one or more processors configured to:
receive user location information indicating a user device of the user is in proximity to a merchant, wherein the user is a user of the social media platform;
remove a restriction of the social media computing system preventing the user from receiving messages from a merchant computing system associated with the merchant via the social media platform, removal of the restriction permitting the messages transmitted by the merchant computing system to be provided to the user device by the social media platform; and
transmit a message containing an offer from the merchant to the user, the offer relating to a product or service of the merchant.
16. The social media computing system of claim 15 , the one or more processors further configured to receive updated user location information from the user device.
17. The social media computing system of claim 16 , the one or more processors further configured to determine that the user is no longer in proximity to the merchant based on the updated user location information.
18. The social media computing system of claim 17 , the one or more processors further configured to disable the ability of the merchant to send messages to the user via the social media platform in response to determining that the user is no longer in proximity to the merchant.
19. The social media computing system of claim 15 , wherein the user location information is determined based on a received locator beacon identifier positioned within or near the merchant.
20. The social media computing system of claim 15 , the one or more processors further configured to generate a transaction code that allows the user to claim a product or service from the merchant associated with an accepted offer.