
Social Media Marketing

Listen in as these movers and shakers discuss their digital retail startups and how they’ve broken through the boundaries of tradition.
Learn four ways online retailers can increase consumer trust and how that increased trust can lead to an increase in online sales.
Etsy sellers began experiencing problems with Instagram, Facebook and Wanelo on Thursday, highlighting the impact of glitches on sellers’ businesses as well as the love-hate relationship between marketplaces and social networking sites. Sellers who were blocked from the sites discussed the issue at great length on the Etsy boards, with some revealing the extent to which many rely on such sites for traffic to their product listings. Sellers said they were being blocked from Instagram and tried to figure out why.
A few weeks ago, Twitter made a major change to its user interface allowing marketers to break the barrier of the 140-character limit. To those of us who found the 140-character limit challenging, this is excellent news. To others just wanting to "say more," you're going to love this new feature.
Upscale footwear brand Stuart Weitzman has launched its first Instagram-based advertising campaign. The online campaign features Cinemagraphs, which animates a portion of a photo so that it looks like a video. It was done in collaboration with Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg of Ann Street Studio. The campaign features four Cinemagraphs spotlighting key spring styles, with one of the Cinemagraphs flickering founder and designer Stuart Weitzman's image in a television set. To emphasize its omnichannel approach and strategy, Stuart Weitzman created the campaign around its proprietary hashtag #inourshoes.
As Facebook becomes more pay for play, I've really stepped up my game on Twitter. Previously, Twitter was the least important part of my social strategy. Turns out I was missing an opportunity. Not only is Twitter perfect for getting my articles out there and shared, but it's also a great "REALationship" building tool. I've been actively engaged on Twitter for the last six months, and I've gained nearly 1,700 followers. This is pretty much a step-by-step guide to how I did it:
Most marketers in the fashion or retail space know how critical it is to tie social efforts to quantitative results. Yet many still develop initiatives around products, concepts or messages they're trying to promote, as opposed to needs their customers want to fulfill. Don't be fooled. Creativity may win industry awards, but marketers need to ask themselves how that translates to sales. Lilly Pulitzer, a household name in the resort-wear category, is the quintessential customer-centric brand, building a playbook filled not only with innovative ideas, but also insight to support them.
Facebook has courted businesses for years, urging them to join the platform and spend ad dollars on the social network. Now it wants to insert itself between businesses and their customers and stake its claim on the future of e-commerce. On Wednesday, Facebook announced it was launching "Businesses on Messenger," a set of new services that will allow companies to interact individually with customers through Facebook's messenger app. Part of a larger rollout of Facebook's new platform strategy, Businesses on Messenger will potentially allow for a consumer to receive order notifications via instant message or buy items directly through the messenger app.
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.
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.