Systems and methods for social media referrals based rewards

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing social media referrals based rewards to a customer. The systems and methods may provide incentives to customers of financial-service providers (“FSP”) based on their referrals to the FSP. Customer referrals may be determined for the customer by gathering data regarding referrals received from messages distributed by the customer via social media. Based on the referrals, an amount of rewards may be provided for business transactions initiated by the customer.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for providing rewards to customers based on social-media referrals, the method comprising:
 tracking business transactions initiated by a customer;   determining, by one or more processors, a reward corresponding to the business transactions;   receiving referral data related to the customer;   determining, by the one or more processors, a referral-reward modifier for the customer based at least on the received referral data; and   modifying the reward based on the referral-reward modifier.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received referral data includes at least one of information related to the customer's use of social media or an amount of new customers obtained as a result of messages transmitted by the customer to other users. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the referral-reward modifier is proportional to the amount of new customers obtained or an influence of the customer on other users of social media. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received referral data includes at least one of information related to web traffic obtained as a result of messages transmitted by the customer to other users, or comments from the other users in response to the messages. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 weighting referral data according to data type; and   combining weighted referral data to determine a referral data score,   wherein the determination of the referral-reward modifier is based at least on the referral data score.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving at least one of authorization to access one or more social network profile associated with the customer or authorization to post messages to the one or more social network profiles associated with the customer. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further including:
 generating a preset message configured to post on a customer's social-network profile; and   wherein the received referral data related to the customer includes at least data indicating interaction of other users with the message via the customer's social-network profile.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the preset message includes one or more of a unique link to a registration website for registering new customers of a financial service provider and/or registering current customers of the financial service provider for a rewards program. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further including:
 determining, via the one or more processors, a level of social media influence associated with the customer; and   combining the level of social media-influence with the referral-reward modifier to obtain a total-reward modifier.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further including transmitting the determined referral-reward modifier to a customer device for displaying to the customer. 
     
     
         11 . A system for providing rewards to customers based on social-media referrals, the system comprising:
 one or more memory devices storing instructions; and   one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to:
 track business transactions initiated by a customer; 
 determine a reward corresponding to the business transactions; 
 receive referral data related to the customer; 
 determine a referral-reward modifier for the customer based at least on the received referral data; and 
 modify the reward based on the referral-reward modifier. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the received referral data includes at least one of information related to the customer's use of social media or an amount of new customers obtained as a result of messages transmitted by the customer to other users. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the referral-reward modifier is proportional to the amount of new customers obtained or an influence of the customer on other users of social media. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the received referral data includes at least one of information related to web traffic obtained as a result of messages transmitted by the customer to other users, or comments from the other users in response to the messages. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising executing the instructions to:
 weight referral data according to data type; and   combine weighted referral data to determine a referral data score,   wherein the determination of the referral-reward modifier is based at east on the referral data score.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising executing the instructions to receive at least one of authorization to access one or more social network profile associated with the customer or authorization to post messages to the one or more social network profiles associated with the customer. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising executing the instructions to:
 generate a preset message configured to post on a customer's social-network profile; and   wherein the received referral data related to the customer includes at least data indicating interaction of other users with the message via the customer's social-network profile.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the preset message includes one or more of a unique link to a registration website for registering new customers of a financial service provider and/or registering current customers of the financial service provider for a rewards program. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising executing the instructions to:
 determine a level of social media influence associated with the customer; and   combine the level of social media-influence with the referral-reward modifier to obtain a total-reward modifier.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 tracking business transactions initiated by a customer;   determining, by one or more processors, a reward corresponding to the business transactions;   receiving referral data related to the customer;   determining, by the one or more processors, a referral-reward modifier for the customer based at least on the received referral data; and   modifying the reward based on the referral-reward modifier.