Social Media Marketing

American Apparel has apologized after posting a photo of the space shuttle Challenger disaster on its Tumblr account, mistaking it for an image of fireworks. The Challenger exploded just 73 seconds into its flight on Jan. 28, 1986, killing all seven people aboard. It's a moment the space exploration industry will never forget. The Tumblr post was tagged "#Smoke" and "#Clouds." It's since been deleted, but screenshots taken by Tumblr users are still available. The post immediately attracted negative attention from online commenters. The company issued an apology on Twitter, blaming the mistake on a young international employee.

Nordstrom is betting big on digital retail startups. Just after news broke that BaubleBar jewelry will be carried in all 117 Nordstrom U.S. locations, the company announced that it will be integrating its Wanelo page (to be displayed on TV screens) in the juniors’ section of 107 of its physical stores. Social shopping site Wanelo operates similar to product aggregator sites like Polyvore or Svpply, except it's even more focused on commerce. The approach is catching on — Nordstrom has over 1.2 million followers on Wanelo who are actively engaged with the brand. 

Just as the Mr. Softee jingle and the distinct smell of suntan lotion instantly evoke summer days, Old Navy deems its annual $1 flip-flop sale, which launches on Saturday, a staple of the season. It's also become big business for the Gap's lower priced spin-off chain. The flip-flop promotion marks the retailer's second biggest sales windfall of the year behind Black Friday. Ivan Wicksteed, global chief marketing officer for Old Navy, spoke with Forbes about its first ever flip-flop vending machines, which rolled out to 36 locations in New York and Los Angeles. 

Lifestyle brand Ralph Lauren is putting a focus on its home furnishings line with a new separate Pinterest account. Ralph Lauren Home used to be represented on the social network with a board on the brand's general profile. Giving this collection its own space on Pinterest will enable Ralph Lauren Home to better organize its content and speak to

Bergdorf Goodman is reaching out to fashion-savvy men through a new Instagram account separate from the main store profile. Bergdorf Goodman launched its @Goodmans account at the beginning of the spring/summer 2015 menswear runway shows. Joining the existing male-specific Twitter account, this addition will help the department store connect with its male consumers on a more focused level. "Sometimes separating is hard to do, but sometimes it's for the best," said Jeff Cohen, director of social media at MDG Advertising. "This is definitely one of those times."

In a session last week at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago, Diana Adair, director of communications at custom products retailer Zazzle, a company that's no stranger to crises, offered her top tips for surviving — and avoiding altogether — a social media crisis:

It's common practice for companies to look at prospective employees’ social media accounts to get a better sense of who they are beyond a resume and cover letter. Zappos is taking that one step further. The Las Vegas-based shoe retailer announced that it's doing away with traditional job postings. Instead, interested folks will need to join Inside Zappos, a new social network for the company's prospective employees. Joining the network will give applicants "priority consideration" for upcoming job openings. The network allows recruiters to get to know applicants and their interests, while allowing applicants to network with existing employees.

Following a sprinkling of ads from brands in other categories, Macy's is the first retailer to roll out Facebook's auto-play video ads within mobile news feeds, Adweek has learned. A rep for the department store giant claimed there were two other merchant brands testing the platform, but didn't disclose names. Macy's ads, which are marked as sponsored, ran on Friday within Facebook's iPhone app at the top of the news feed. They automatically began playing as users scrolled down the screen.

When a handbag manufacturer started hearing from her retail customers that her products were being offered at or near wholesale prices on Facebook, she was taken aback. The retailers weren't too happy either, seeing the merchandise readily available on the web at prices well below what they had been charging for the same products. The manufacturer, who spoke to EcommerceBytes on condition of anonymity, began poking around Facebook and quickly discovered that invitation-only co-ops are proliferating on the social network. 

Amazon.com unveiled a partnership with Twitter on Monday that may signal the future of shopping lies in your social media feed. Starting today, Twitter users can link their accounts to an Amazon account, and automatically add items to the shopping cart by responding to any tweet with an Amazon product link with the hashtag #AmazonCart. Users never leave the Twitter feed, and the product is waiting for them when they head over to Amazon. It's potentially a new business model for Twitter, which so far has relied on sponsored tweets for revenue.