So I began tooling around more with Twitter this week and actually stumbled upon a useful feature. Gasp!
Whether you realize it or not, American Express is all about social media these days, and they’re actually pioneering a lot of cool projects to make credit cards more 2.0.
[See: American Express Serve for more on that.]
Their latest venture was Small Business Saturday, which rewarded cardholders with a $25 statement credit if they spent at least $25 at a local, participating business.
It was essentially a free $25, though their project “worked” on me, as I wound up spending $50 at a local wine shop.
Still, I liked the idea behind it and I would have made the purchase regardless of the credit.
Enter Amex Sync
Anyway, another ongoing program they’ve got going on is called “Amex Sync,” which allows American Express cardholders to snag great deals just by enrolling and using Twitter, Facebook, or Foursquare.
I chose to use Twitter, mainly because it’s the least intrusive and won’t bother my friends and family, since they don’t “follow” me.
How it works is simple. You simply select which social media platform you’d like to use, and then add your card. It’s free.
From there, you can instantly start saving money on all types of stuff when you use your synced American Express credit card.
It’s kind of like a coupon for the 21st century, though American Express highlights the fact that no coupons are required.
Once you complete the sync (which is super quick and easy), you’ll want to follow @AmericanExpress to see all the deals available.
They seem to have a few offers a day, and they range from concert tickets to online deals to restaurant purchases.
The Sync Deals
After I signed up, I immediately tweeted #AmexCPKOffer to get $10 off my next purchase of $25 or more at California Pizza Kitchen.
All I had to do was compose a simple tweet, and within seconds I received a reply confirming that the deal was indeed loaded onto my synced American Express credit card.
So as long as I dine at CPK by the 31st of December and charge at least $25 to my synced Amex I’ll automatically receive the statement credit.
No coupons, no muss, no fuss. Just wait about eight weeks and a statement credit will appear.
And I feel like I go to CPK every year around the holidays, so it was a no-brainer.
Clearly not all the deals will appeal to you, but it’s easy to check their tweets every once in a while to see if anything appeals to you.
As mentioned earlier, you can also sync via Facebook or Foursquare instead if that’s easier or more convenient for you.
Note: American Express prepaid credit cards and corporate cards are not eligible. Sorry Bluebird cardholders.
(photo: Esther Vargas)