Social Media Marketing

Any retail site knows that social media is their friend. Not only do sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have the massive user bases to drive traffic, but they also have the opportunity to drive traffic based on the trust factor. If one of your friends recommends a product (as opposed to a typical ad), you're much more likely to check it out. That's the thought behind Facebook's main advertising platform, the Sponsored Story (and why it's crushing traditional ads). But not all social media sites are created equal when it comes to driving retail traffic.

Women now account for 30 percent of sales for athletic apparel brand Under Armour, and women's apparel is the fastest-growing segment of its business. New marketing efforts reflect this shift, and are aimed directly at the female demographic - with social media as the primary tool for reaching out.

Facebook advertising has been the cause of much controversy among the marketing community as of late. While the site brings in a daily ad income of $1 million, many advertisers have been calling the channel ineffective and have pulled their advertisements, like General Motors did in May. At the same time, Facebook still boasts global ubiquity, an unmatched user base and the opportunity for brands of all types to connect with their customers.

Call it the Facebook backlash. The company's disappointing initial public offering has increased scrutiny throughout the social media space, including in the fashion world. Brands are now analyzing their social media efforts more than ever and are asking a key question: What's the return?

Branded shopping apps are the strongest driver behind unplanned purchases, branded content on social networks drives people to try new products, and texts and social media are most likely to influence where people shop, according to a new study released today by Ryan Partnership, an integrated marketing agency that is part of the Hyper Marketing, Inc. network. The 2012 Ryan Partnership Digital Retail Study comes out just 18 months after the company's last retail study.

Walmart is deploying a new internally-built search engine to power Walmart.com and ultimately increase sales conversions from searches. The Polaris search engine, developed by @WalmartLabs, has been in use for the last few months onWalmart.com and has already boosted conversions to sales by 10-15 percent, the company said. Polaris grew out of the semantic technology brought over through Walmart's acquisition last year of Kosmix, including Kosmix's social genome project, which connects people to places, events and products. While Kosmix founders Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, who led the newly established @WalmartLabs, have moved on, Walmart is making good use of their technology.

CrossView, Inc., a cross-channel commerce solutions and services provider, released the results of its 2012 Cross-Channel Readiness survey that looked at retailers across a variety of categories, gauging improvements and declines in enabling customers to shop in-store, online, in call centers and via mobile with a consistent brand experience. This year's study showed improvement in several key areas from last year, particularly in mobile commerce, social sharing and consistency in marketing promotions.

What wildly popular social network Pinterest lacks in revenue, it makes up for in users — 20 million to be precise. But after raising an eye-popping $100 million round that pegged the company's worth at $1.5 billion, internet-bubble theorists and venture capitalists wanted to know how this social network could possibly make money. Pinterest has yet to reveal a strategy, but a new feature from online retailer Zappos.com could offer one possible business model.

The Jones Group said Tuesday that its Nine West banner has launched a new YouTube network called Channel 9 that will feature premium programming and user-generated content. "What we are creating goes far beyond providing branded content," said Richard Dickson, Jones Group president and CEO. "Channel 9 is a new and innovative first-to-market portal for the footwear and fashion obsessed that will bring brand-adjacent content and entertainment to viewers."

Here's a look at a few key takeaways — and fun perspectives — via tweets sent during eTail East, which took place in Boston Aug. 13 to Aug. 16: