Yesterday, a new beta site launched offering social and tech-savvy consumers a chance to explore their city (starting in Seattle) in a fun and engaging way.

Wrazz (wrazz.com) is a new site that blends social networking and social commerce allowing friends to connect and find the best deals in their local area.

Wrazz co-founders Bret Eickhoff and Ian Porter are preparing for the launch and building a large and loyal following on Facebook. In partnership with 15,000 local businesses, and offering deals up to 80% off, Wrazz will connect users and offer a new way to plan a night out with friends.

Bret Eickhoff, Co-Founder, Answers A Few Questions About Wrazz

How did you and co-founder Ian Porter come up with the idea for Wrazz.com?

We committed to a brainstorming session once per week about a year ago. Out of many whiteboard sessions, we realized that there were some very cool things happening online (directories, peer to peer social media, online buying, etc.), but we found a lot of inefficiencies in them so we decided to fill the voids.

What makes Wrazz.com different from other social sites?

We bring all business-fed social updates into a single location. Utilizing smart search technology, our users can ask “what do you want to do?” and we will put together the list of all the businesses that match their query and then the user can use the businesses social updates to make their decision on what they want to do.

When putting together a social commerce strategy, what were your biggest priorities?

Our biggest priority is trying to get to our critical mass as soon as possible. And building something that has a lot of relevance to a lot of people, both businesses and consumers.

What were some of the biggest challenges with launching this site? How were you able to overcome them?

We haven’t launched yet, but our biggest challenge will be acquiring users. But we have a sweet plan in place so we don’t think it will be difficult.

How do you plan to quickly acquire users?

We have a number of routes we’re taking for user acquisition. Standard ways such as SEO/CPC/SEM, etc. We have a couple of awesome viral utilities built into the site that will take off. We also have a couple of guerrilla tactics we will employ. We haven’t even launched and we already have 1000 friends on Facebook and over 1500 emails from the website.

How do you plan to keep Wrazz.com interesting and engaging (keep the customers coming back)?

We have already begun developing 2.0 and 3.0 ideas to keep the interest of our users. If we continue to add value, our customers will continue coming back.

What advice would you give to businesses hoping to get involved in social commerce?

Social commerce is in its infancy, but I think it is here to stay. There are so many cool things you can do with it and the growth potential is exponential. There does need to be differentiation, and no one company will be able to do everything.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts

I want to thank Bret Eickhoff for answering my questions during what must be a very busy time. Anyone who has launched a website can attest to the challenges involved. With social commerce sites, one of the biggest priorities, as Eickhoff mentions, is getting users and consumers attention and keeping it. I hope the one thing readers can take away from this interview is the importance of planning, not only up to the launch, but well after.