Social Media Marketing

Amazon.com and J.C. Penney are two of the top retailers that quickly responded to the worldwide social media buzz concerning a post about a dress that provoked a debate late last week over the color of the garment's stripes, underscoring how mobile moments can help brands connect with today's consumers. Late last week, Twitter and Facebook were barreled by posts from users trying to convince each other that the striped dress was black and blue or white and gold, prompting an intense debate that led to many memes, GIFs and jokes.

For Krave Jerky, e-commerce represents a growth opportunity. While the company's primary business is in wholesale agreements with retail partners — e.g., Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon.com, Vitamin Shoppe — selling its gourmet jerky flavors online has become a key initiative.
 For that to happen, however, Krave needed to upgrade from its "archaic" website — both in look and functionality — to a sleeker, easier-to-use platform. It needed a site that could match the coolness of the brand, which was growing at a meteoric rate.

DrJays.com, the fast-growing urban street wear e-tailer, is gaining new customers and increasing sales and average order values thanks to an on-site social tool that encourages visitors to share products in their social circles and receive coupons for site merchandise in return.

As a marketer, I've put my best efforts into building not just likes, but deeply engaged communities on Facebook. And when you changed Facebook to a "pay for play" business, I had to pay to build my fan base, and then pay again to get my posts out (i.e., boosted) to the same fans, I accepted it for a while. But now I have to ask you this: Why the double whammy, Mark?

Asos, a U.K.-based online seller of fashion and beauty products, tweeted a photo of 14 of its interns that sparked public outcry on Wednesday. The photo, which went out on the Asos recruitment team's account @ASOS_Careers, is plain and tame — a group of smiling, eager workers cheerfully posing for the camera, with a note about how much their employer will miss them when they're gone. What's so controversial about it? They're all Caucasian. 

On its most important holiday of the year, 1-800-Flowers.com wilted. Significant others across the country purchased bouquets to be delivered this past weekend for Valentine's Day, but for another year in a row, more than a few failed to arrive on time — or turned up horrendously disfigured. Naturally, a pitchfork mob formed on Twitter, calling out the floral retailer for ruining their Valentine's Day and demanding full refunds. Over the past 12 hours, customer service reps have been responding to complaints, averaging about one reply every five minutes.

As Pinterest's monetization plans materialize, the social network is pulling the plug on affiliate networks. Pinterest warned select "power pinners" that it will now "automatically remove all affiliate links, redirects and trackers on Pins." According to an email forwarded to VentureBeat, Pinterest began removing these links last Thursday, and specifically targeted links from popular affiliate networks RewardStyle and Hello Society. This isn't the first time Pinterest has banned affiliate networks, but the company has never issued a total ban.

Cabela's social media response plan was a mess: Someone posts a complaint, the social media manager takes a screenshot, emails it to the customer care team, the customer care team tries to find the customer in its database (and most often they don't), then 72 hours later the social media manager responds. That social customer service system left two-thirds of Cabela's customers’ posts unanswered and a lot of people unhappy. Cabela's wasn't just dropping the ball on customer complaints, it was also missing big opportunities to build relationships.

Under Armour is nipping at Nike's heels in apparel sales. Now, with its latest product, unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Tuesday, the Baltimore company is going after Nike on another front. UA Record, Under Armour's new health-tracking software, pairs with a bevy of wearable devices. Its dashboard allows the fitness obsessed to interact with others by sharing results and posting photos and videos. "It's a social network for activity," said Senior Vice President Robin Thurston on the CES show floor where the company claimed a central space.

Twitter is especially geared to help retailers target customers. With keywords, geo-targeting and smarter tech, brands can find out who is looking for their merchandise via tweets. When they find someone, they can tweet directly back with an offer or discount to get that shopper in the door. Many small business owners know they should be on social media, but are befuddled about how to connect the dots between posts, tweets and new customers. However, with the right tools, business owners can find potential customers on Twitter who need a product or service at that moment.