METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING ELECTRONIC BUSINESS REFERRALS WITH CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

• US 20140006125A1
• Filed: 09/09/2013
• Published: 01/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dennis Meegan
• Original Assignee: Dennis Meegan
• Inventors: MEEGAN, Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,866 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A method and system for creating electronic business referrals with cloud computing from social media sites. Plural unique referral identifier tracking codes are generated for a same target network device from a same social media site (e.g. FACEBOOK, TWITTER, etc.) or for the same target network device from plural different social media sites. The plural unique referral tracking codes are processed by a cloud referral application on a cloud communications network. The plural unique referral codes include appointment requests or referrals of new patients or customers for professional services or reservations or coupons or electronic purchase requests for goods or services. A thank you and referral bonus is automatically generated from the cloud referral application for the target network devices that send the plural unique referral identifier tracking codes. The plural unique referral codes include analytic data that is used by vendors providing professional services or goods or services.

Claims

1. A method for creating an electronic referral system with a cloud communications network, comprising:

receiving securely a first message including a first unique referral identifier tracking code from a first application on a first target network device with one or more processors from a social media site to create a first electronic referral on a cloud referral application on a cloud server network device with one or more processors via a cloud communications network comprising;

one or more public communication networks, and one or more private, one or more community networks and one or more hybrid networks, wherein the cloud communications network includes a cloud referral service for the cloud referral application, a cloud computing platform for the cloud referral service and a cloud computing infrastructure for the cloud referral service and wherein the first unique referral identifier includes a first referral number for the social media site;

storing the first unique referral identifier tracking code on the cloud referral application on the cloud server network device in an electronic entry associated with the first target network device;

receiving securely a second message including a second unique referral identifier tracking code from the first application on the first target network device from the social media site to create a second electronic referral on the cloud referral application via the cloud communications network;

storing the second unique referral identifier tracking code on the cloud referral application in the electronic entry associated with the first target network device, thereby allowing the first target network device to send a plurality of different electronic referrals from the social media site; and

generating securely and automatically on the cloud referral application with one or more stored unique referral codes associated with the first target network device an;

appointment at a provider of professional services and automatically recording a professional services referral discount for a fee charged by the provider of the professional services and automatically recording a professional services referral credit for the first target network device at provider of the professional services from the cloud referral application or generating automatically a referral for a reservation, coupon, or actual purchase of goods or services at a provider of the reservation, coupon, goods or services and automatically record a reservation, coupon, goods or services referral discount for a fee charged by the provider of the reservation, coupon goods or services and automatically record a reservation, coupon, goods or services referral credit for the first target network device at provider of the reservation, coupon goods or services from the cloud referral application via the cloud communications network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving securely on the cloud referral application a third message including a third unique referral identifier tracking code from the first application on the first target network device from a second social media site to create a third electronic referral via the cloud communications network; and

storing from the cloud referral application the third unique referral identifier tracking code in the electronic entry associated with the first target network device, thereby allowing the first target network device to send a plurality of different electronic referrals from a same social media site or from a plurality of different social media sites.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique referral identifier tracking codes include a unique QR bar code.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first target network device and the cloud server network device includes wireless networking interfaces for sending and receiving electronic information and messages comprising:

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) wireless networking interface with 4^th generation (4G) or faster wireless speeds, near field communications (NFC) or machine-to-machine (M2M) communications wireless interfaces for communicating with the cloud communications network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second unique referral identifier tracking codes include a referral for a same first target network device for different professional services, reservations, coupons, or for different actual purchases of goods or services.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second unique referral identifier tracking codes include a referral for different first and second target network devices for a same professional services, reservations, coupons, or for a same actual purchase of goods or services.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the received messages include, electronic mail messages, text messages, instant messages, social media messages or mark-up language messages.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

automatically generating a gift card or gift certificate or pre-paid debit card for an amount of the referral credit for the first target network device from the cloud referral application.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

increasing automatically an amount of a referral credit for each additional referral credit recorded on the cloud referral application for the first target network device.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the professional services include medical services, dental services, legal services, accounting services, cleaning services, construction services and repair services.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique referral identifier tracking codes include a plurality of electronic information including location information, information about a target network device, a user of a target network device that is used to create analytics data for the providers of the professional services or the providers of the goods or services.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique referral identifier tracking codes include automatically shortened Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first target application on the first target network device includes a smart application for a smart phone or a tablet computer.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first target application is provided by the providers of the professional services or the providers of the goods or services and wherein first target application requires only one selection input on the first target network device to initiate, record and receive payment for an electronic referral generated by the first unique referral identifier tracking code.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing one or more customized electronic landing pages on the cloud server network device with enhanced referral information providing detailed recommendations and case studies related to the referred professional services or goods or services or a user of a target device'"'"'s personal experience with referred professional services or goods or services.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating from the cloud referral application an association to a specific sales person or sales group responsible for selected ones of unique referral identifier tracking codes, wherein the selected ones of unique referral tracking codes are used to request additional information about the referred professional services or goods or services and are not used to immediately purchase or reserve the referred professional services or goods or services.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing automatically from the cloud referral application electronic thank you information to target network devices who send unique referral identifier tracking codes to the cloud referral,

wherein the electronic thank you information includes a set of thank you related action and reaction pairs of messages, wherein an action message includes a thank you action generated by the cloud referral application and a reaction message includes a thank you reaction generated by a target network device based on the action message sent by the cloud referral application.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing automatically from the cloud referral application electronic thank you information to target network devices who send unique referral identifier tracking codes to the cloud referral, wherein the electronic thank you information includes personally thank the referring customer with a voice message, email messages or text message; and

requesting automatically from first target application on the cloud referral application a referring target network device select a type of referral bonus.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a plurality of instructions for causing one or more processors on or more network devices to execute the steps of:

receiving securely a first message including a first unique referral identifier tracking code from a first application on a first target network device with one or more processors from a social media site to create a first electronic referral on a cloud referral application on a cloud server network device with one or more processors via a cloud communications network comprising;

one or more public communication networks, and one or more private, one or more community networks and one or more hybrid networks, wherein the cloud communications network includes a cloud referral service for the cloud referral application, a cloud computing platform for the cloud referral service and a cloud computing infrastructure for the cloud referral service and wherein the first unique referral identifier includes a first referral number for the social media site;

storing the first unique referral identifier tracking code on the cloud referral application on the cloud server network device in an electronic entry associated with the first target network device;

receiving securely a second message including a second unique referral identifier tracking code from the first application on the first target network device from the social media site to create a second electronic referral on the cloud referral application via the cloud communications network;

storing the second unique referral identifier tracking code on the cloud referral application in the electronic entry associated with the first target network device, thereby allowing the first target network device to send a plurality of different electronic referrals from the social media site;

generating securely and automatically on the cloud referral application with one or more stored unique referral codes associated with the first target network device an;

appointment at a provider of professional services and automatically recording a professional services referral discount for a fee charged by the provider of the professional services and automatically recording a professional services referral credit for the first target network device at provider of the professional services from the cloud referral application or generating automatically a referral for a reservation, coupon, or actual purchase of goods or services at a provider of the reservation, coupon, goods or services and automatically record a reservation, coupon, goods or services referral discount for a fee charged by the provider of the reservation, coupon goods or services and automatically record a reservation, coupon, goods or services referral credit for the first target network device at provider of the reservation, coupon goods or services from the cloud referral application via the cloud communications network;

receiving securely a third message including a third unique referral identifier tracking code from the first application on the first target network device from a second social media site to create a third electronic referral on the cloud referral application via the cloud communications network;

storing the third unique referral identifier tracking code on the cloud referral application in the electronic entry associated with the first target network device, thereby allowing the first target network device to send a plurality of different electronic referrals from a same social media site or from a plurality of different social media sites;

automatically generating a gift card or gift certificate or pre-paid debit card for an amount of the referral credit for the first target network device from the cloud referral application;

increasing automatically an amount of a referral credit for each additional referral credit recorded on the cloud referral application for the first target network device;

providing one or more customized electronic landing pages on the cloud server network device with enhanced referral information providing detailed recommendations and case studies related to the referred professional services or goods or services or a user of a target device'"'"'s personal experience with referred professional services or goods or services;

generating from the cloud referral application an association to a specific sales person or sales group responsible for selected ones of unique referral identifier tracking codes,

wherein the selected ones of unique referral tracking codes are used to request additional information about the referred professional services or goods or services and are not used to immediately purchase or reserve the referred professional services or goods or services;

providing automatically from the cloud referral application electronic thank you information to target network devices who send unique referral identifier tracking codes to the cloud referral,

wherein the electronic thank you information includes a set of thank you related action and reaction pairs of messages, wherein an action message includes a thank you action generated by the cloud referral application and a reaction message includes a thank you reaction generated by a target network device based on the action message sent by the cloud referral application;

providing automatically from the cloud referral application electronic thank you information to target network devices who send unique referral identifier tracking codes to the cloud referral, wherein the electronic thank you information includes personally thank the referring customer with a voice message, email messages or text message; and

requesting automatically from first target application on the cloud referral application a referring target network device select a type of referral bonus.

20. A system for creating an electronic referral system with a cloud communications network, comprising in combination:

one or more network devices with one or more processors;

the one or more network devices including a non-transitory computer readable medium have stored therein a plurality of instructions configuring the one or more processors on the one or more network devices for;

for receiving securely a first message including a first unique referral identifier tracking code from a first application on a first target network device with one or more processors from a social media site to create a first electronic referral on a cloud referral application on a cloud server network device with one or more processors via a cloud communications network comprising;

one or more public communication networks, and one or more private, one or more community networks and one or more hybrid networks, wherein the cloud communications network includes a cloud referral service for the cloud referral application, a cloud computing platform for the cloud referral service and a cloud computing infrastructure for the cloud referral service and wherein the first unique referral identifier includes a first referral number for the social media site;

for storing the first unique referral identifier tracking code on the cloud referral application on the cloud server network device in an electronic entry associated with the first target network device;

for receiving securely a second message including a second unique referral identifier tracking code from the first application on the first target network device from the social media site to create a second electronic referral on the cloud referral application via the cloud communications network;

for storing the second unique referral identifier tracking code on the cloud referral application in the electronic entry associated with the first target network device, thereby allowing the first target network device to send a plurality of different electronic referrals from the social media site;

for generating securely and automatically on the cloud referral application with one or more stored unique referral codes associated with the first target network device an;

appointment at a provider of professional services and automatically recording a professional services referral discount for a fee charged by the provider of the professional services and automatically recording a professional services referral credit for the first target network device at provider of the professional services from the cloud referral application or generating automatically a referral for a reservation, coupon, or actual purchase of goods or services at a provider of the reservation, coupon, goods or services and automatically record a reservation, coupon, goods or services referral discount for a fee charged by the provider of the reservation, coupon goods or services and automatically record a reservation, coupon, goods or services referral credit for the first target network device at provider of the reservation, coupon goods or services from the cloud referral application via the cloud communications network;

for receiving securely a third message including a third unique referral identifier tracking code from the first application on the first target network device from a second social media site to create a third electronic referral on the cloud referral application via the cloud communications network;

for storing the third unique referral identifier tracking code on the cloud referral application in the electronic entry associated with the first target network device, thereby allowing the first target network device to send a plurality of different electronic referrals from a same social media site or from a plurality of different social media sites;

for automatically generating a gift card or gift certificate or pre-paid debit card for an amount of the referral credit for the first target network device from the cloud referral application;

for increasing automatically an amount of a referral credit for each additional referral credit recorded on the cloud referral application for the first target network device;

for providing one or more customized electronic landing pages on the cloud server network device with enhanced referral information providing detailed recommendations and case studies related to the referred professional services or goods or services or a user of a target device'"'"'s personal experience with referred professional services or goods or services;

for generating from the cloud referral application an association to a specific sales person or sales group responsible for selected ones of unique referral identifier tracking codes,

wherein the selected ones of unique referral tracking codes are used to request additional information about the referred professional services or goods or services and are not used to immediately purchase or reserve the referred professional services or goods or services;

for providing automatically from the cloud referral application electronic thank you information to target network devices who send unique referral identifier tracking codes to the cloud referral,

wherein the electronic thank you information includes a set of thank you related action and reaction pairs of messages, wherein an action message includes a thank you action generated by the cloud referral application and a reaction message includes a thank you reaction generated by a target network device based on the action message sent by the cloud referral application;

for providing automatically from the cloud referral application electronic thank you information to target network devices who send unique referral identifier tracking codes to the cloud referral, wherein the electronic thank you information includes personally thank the referring customer with a voice message, email messages or text message; and

for requesting automatically from first target application on the cloud referral application a referring target network device select a type of referral bonus.