Can social networking and surrounding sites take care of marketing for you? A few new sites are claiming that they can greatly affect your client base. Are you interested?

The sites, which include Groupon.com, Livingsocial.com, Buywithme.com, and NimbleBuy.com are creating a unique way for organizations to get their product in front of numerous consumers. Theses sites utilize twitter, facebook, email, and even some have phone apps to announce special deals. The deals are offered by local businesses in the area. For instance, maybe a restaurant is offering $50 in gift certificates for $20, or a salon is offering a $120 massage for $30.

There can also be catches, maybe the salon giftcards are not active unless 50 customers buy in. This adds a push for friends to notify each other to buy in, creating even more fury around the deal and company presenting the deal. 

Does this type of marketing work? For some people is does, others don't see the benefit for the cost. For example, Groupon might charge a restaurant 50% of the revenue from the sale of giftcards. So, on a $20 card that is good for $50 of food, the restaurant is getting $10 and a unique new form of marketing. 

Only you can fully know if this is a fit for your market, but it is definitely another instance of using technology to help.