Target is offering discounts on must-have back-to-college products via a new promotion that rewards the first 1,000 consumers who ?Like? the deal.

The company is promoting the campaign through mobile, its Facebook pages and its Web site. Target is also running mobile banner ads that take consumers to the time-sensitive deals.

?This year?s back-to-college campaign includes a robust social media strategy, because we know college students are finding much of their information and inspiration from their social communities,? said Kristy Welker, spokeswoman for Target.

?Students are active social media users so our campaign reaches students through a variety of social media channels,? she said.

Like me
The ?1,000 Likes? promotion lets consumers pay less for back-to-college items via an interactive tab hosted exclusively on 65 college Facebook pages and on Target?s Web site.

Each Monday through Friday beginning Aug. 4 ? Aug. 31, Target will offer a 40-50 percent discount on one must-have back-to-college product.

The first 1,000 people to ?Like? the deal will receive a mobile coupon for the item to be redeemed at Target stores.

Once Target receives 1,000 Likes, the countdown for the next deal begins.

Target is also running mobile banner ads within Pandora that take consumers to a mobile-optimized page that shows the countdown and lets consumers ?like? the page to receive their discount.

?Pandora has reported only a couple weeks ago that mobile use is exceeding its volume of advertisers, so Target further expanding its mobile advertising with Pandora makes sense for both companies,? said Michael Martin, mobile SEO manager at Covario.

?This kind of practice benefits Target in that it is able to reach the right kind of demographic at the right time on what is the most personal device people have and use,? he said.

?At the bare minimum just seeing the ad provides mindshare for Target while optimally the user takes an action not only touch clicking the ad but takes a further action ?liking? them on Facebook to get the discount.?

Mr. Martin is not affiliated with Target. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Mobile and social
Via this multichannel campaign, Target is able to reach as many consumers as possible.

Integrating social and mobile for the campaign helps engage consumers and further build that relationship.

?The fact that the user needs to take an action to ?Like? them on Facebook in order to get the discount, this both reinforces true interest from the user toward your products and provides a means to retarget that user via Facebook later,? Mr. Martin said.

?I see advertising treading carefully into gets ads within the notification system of smartphones upon a user?s permission especially in tandem with NFC,? he said.

?Near Field Communication technology is already embedded within the Nexus S Android phone in the U.S. but could become more prevalent in the country as it will be included in the upcoming  BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 devices as well speculated for the next iteration of the iPhone this or next year.?