The Monthly Retail Social Spotlight: Silpada Designs, Boot Barn, 1-800-PetMeds

Over the past month, jewelry retailer Silpada Designs used more than a dozen different kinds of posts on Facebook, including product "showdowns" (bracket-style for March Madness), catalog previews, invitations to host parties, news items (e.g., updates from its national conference and recognition of editorial coverage of the brand), links to blog posts, photos of celebrities spotted wearing Silpada jewelery

and content from Pinterest. It posted a couple times just for fun as well. Its April 5 status simply read, "SMILE … it's Friday!" and was accompanied by a photo of lipstick and the in-image message, "A smile is the best makeup a girl can wear."

Silpada also hosted a major promotion: "SpRING Fever Ring-a-Day Giveaway" (March 19 - April 2). Daily posts about the giveaway were informative ("here's how to enter"), attractive (featuring bright, colorful photos) and conversational. The brand always included text that asked for engagement. For example, "What is your fave Silpada ring?" or "'Like' if you love a pop of color!" One of the brand's most popular posts for the month — its "Queen for a Day Ring" — was part of the giveaway, earning 7,788 likes, 527 comments and 536 shares.