Social Media Marketing

Warby Parker, the industry-disrupting seller of stylish, affordable eyewear, noticed fewer customers were using its 1-800 number and more were turning to Twitter to pose questions. But the retailer found it difficult to answer complicated questions, such as those about prescriptions, given Twitter's 140-character limit. Looking for a way to interact with customers outside the constraints of Twitter, the company's social media team started shooting videos of themselves answering questions, uploading the videos to YouTube and replying to customers’ tweets with a link to the video.

At an event shrouded in secrecy, Facebook unveiled 14 new retail partners for Facebook Gifts and said that the online shopping app, available as a trial to selected users since its launch in October, is now available to all Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada. Among the new participants in the e-commerce platform are Brookstone, babyGap, L'Occitane, Lindt, Dean & DeLuca, Mondavi, Chandon, Fab, ProFlowers, Random House, Inc., and NARS cosmetics.

Welcome friends to #ROIChat, a weekly Twitter discussion looping in the latest trends and most profitable practices in the world of retail. The holidays are fast approaching, and most brands by now have a clear marketing plan for the busy months ahead. You can bet that social media is going to play a big role for most retailers this holiday season.

With the holidays quickly headed in our direction, virtually every marketer realizes that now, more than ever, social media must be an integral part of any campaign. It's no longer the trendy thing to do — it's simply a necessary component of doing business.

For those who presume social media is handled by interns, it may come as a surprise to learn that Aliza Licht, senior vice president, global communications at Donna Karan International, is the voice leading the luxury brand's Twitter success. With more than 400,000 followers and 40,000 tweets on the @dkny account, Licht has helped prove to her luxury brand peers that social media isn't just a fleeting trend.

Sixty-nine percent of online consumers who visited Pinterest found an item they've purchased or wanted to purchase, compared to 40 percent of online consumers who visited Facebook and found the same, discovers a Bizrate Insights study. "While Facebook is far larger than Pinterest in terms of audience size — 63 percent of online consumers have a Facebook account, while only 15 percent have a Pinterest account — our study, based on a survey of verified online buyers, finds that Pinterest provides a better experience for shopping discovery, purchase consideration and deeper engagement with retailer content," says Hayley Silver, vice president, Bizrate Insights.

Marketers have been tapping into social commerce — the practice of using social media to assist in online buying — on a number of platforms, tweeting promo codes and offering fan-only merchandise on sites like Facebook. Now, according to a new eMarketer report, Pinterest's Social Commerce Potential: What Brands and Retailers Need to Know, Pinterest is beginning to draw their efforts.

The holiday shopping season happens inevitably every year, drawing the public into the appeal of the top retail brands within the United States. Evaluating the internet marketing efforts and budgets of these brands proves to be quite revealing. Stores are always altering their budgets, offerings and other aspects of their establishments, which plays a significant factor in their performance overall and their standings as the cream of the crop in retail. With the holiday shopping season upon us, retailers are also going to begin shifting their budgets to correspond to the change in the outlandish, sale-fueled shopping habits of consumers.

Facebook is taking the next step into e-commerce with its “Collections” feature. The idea is this: brands you “like” on Facebook will post their products in your news feed, giving you the option to “want” or “collect.” Based on which verb you click on, that product will be shared by you in one of several ways. Based on what you’ve read or heard about Facebook Collections so far, what’s your initial impression?

Facebook beats out Pinterest and Twitter for driving the most traffic to retail sites. Facebook makes up for a staggering 86 percent of retail traffic, while Pinterest drives 12 percent and Twitter 3 percent, according to an infographic by e-commerce consultant RichRelevance. To be fair, Facebook has the most users of the three. Still, it's interesting to see Facebook driving so much retail traffic given recent doubts about whether it's useful for retailers.