Amex and Twitter Partner for Synced Card Deals

Amex and Twitter are putting another nail in the paper coupon coffin. Amex will now enable Twitter users to tweet to add offers from firms including Best Buy, Whole Foods, and Virgin America, directly to their synced American Express cards.

By tweeting hashtag #AmexWholefoods, consumers will receive $20 off purchases of $75 or more at the natural foods market made with their Amex cards. Mcdonalds is offering a $5 discount through its #AmexMcDonalds hashtag. Century 21 department stores and Gulf Oil are also part of today’s launch of the program.

The @AmexSync account tweets confirmation of enrollment to receive the deal. Then, when consumers make qualified purchases, they receive the appropriate credit on their synced cards “within days,” according to an Amex press release.

In addition to getting shoppers and eaters in the door, the program – available at sync.americanexpress.com/twitter – also spurs social sharing when people include branded hashtags in their tweets.

Companies involved in the initiative are 1-800-Flowers.com, FTD, Century 21, H&M, Sports Authority, Zappos.com, Best Buy, Dell, FedEx Office, The Cheesecake Factory, McDonald’s, Seamless.com, Gulf, Ticketmaster, and Virgin America.

Amex also connects its sync card with geo-location service Foursquare, giving $10 back to Foursquare users who check in at qualifying locations and made a purchase of $10 or more.

To drive attention to the marketing initiative, AmEx bought a Promoted Trend ad on Wednesday for the keyword #SyncWithTwitter.