Popdeem's Richard Whelan and Gavin Hayes when they were accepted to enter Wayra Dublin. Photo by Maxwell Photography
Fresh from successful showcases at the London Web Summit and the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Texas, Wayra-accelerated Irish start-up Popdeem is preparing for the commercial launch of its social rewards app.
Popdeem, coming soon to Android and iPhone, lets users earn rewards from their favourite brands through photos, check-ins and updates shared on Facebook and Twitter. Individuals with the most influence among their peers will earn a higher score on Popdeem, which will lead to better rewards.
“High-street retailers are finding it difficult to drive meaningful social media engagement which positively impacts sales,” said Popdeem CEO and recent UCD graduate Richard Whelan. “And in-app and online advertising have low levels of impact and trust amongst consumers. Through Popdeem, merchants and brands can now target individual consumers with offers that are redeemable in-store.”
As well as customer engagement, Popdeem also offers retailers the ability to track how word of mouth spreads on social networks and where this leads to sales. “There is a lot of confusion around the value of social media for business. Social media strategy should be about generating word of mouth rather than paying for likes or followers,” added Whelan. “Popdeem makes it simple for merchants to earn peer-to-peer recommendations on social networks and track how they increase sales.”
Popdeem successfully pitched for a spot on Wayra, Telefónica’s start-up accelerator programme, last September and has been developing the app for merchants ever since. The team recently formed part of a 20-strong Irish delegation at (SXSW) co-ordinated by Enterprise Ireland.
Merchants are invited to sign up to Popdeem from next week.
