Social Media Marketing

Tired of Twitter? Fed up with Facebook? Forgetting about foursquare? Why not give Pinterest a try? Launched in 2010, Pinterest is an online pinboard that enables consumers to organize and share pictures of the things they love. The fast-growing social media site has caught the attention of retailers, helping Lands’ End and Zappos, among others, engage users in yet another social media outlet.

My career as a personal lubricant pitchman started with a favorited tweet that linked to Amazon where, for just $1,495, anyone could purchase a 55-gallon drum of Passion Natural water-based lubricant. Amused, I posted it to Facebook. A week later, a friend posts a screen capture and tells me that my post has been showing up next to his news feed as a sponsored story, meaning Amazon is paying Facebook to highlight my link to a giant tub of personal lubricant.

The common view that Facebook "Likes" equate to brand engagement took a hit last month when researchers found that less than 1 percent of fans of the 200 biggest brands on Facebook actually engaged.

Using the Twitter handle eBay Fashion, eBay's marketers were tweeting furiously on Sunday evening to promote its mobile app as movie stars walked down the red carpet to the Academy Awards show. 

Pinterest may be an internet hit, but not all companies want to ride the pinboard wave of referral traffic. Now Pinterest has released code for companies that want to block the pinning of content from their sites to personal pinboards.

Social media has been widely adopted by individuals over the past few years. Today, companies are joining the conversation and it’s changing the retail game. The companies that will come out on top need to communicate and build relationships where their customers are. But how?

Facebook will bring its Timeline profile pages to brands this month in the U.S., according to executives briefed on the company's plans.

More retailers are integrating social features into their e-commerce sites to create a more personalized shopping experience and drive increased referral traffic and sales. A common question we hear from retailers considering Facebook Connect and Facebook Timeline applications is "what's the benefit of a 'Facebook-Connected' user?"

There were reports last week that new social media site Pinterest hit 10 million unique monthly U.S. visits. Reports for the week of Jan. 16 monitored the site traffic as high as 17 million unique monthly U.S. visits. It's addicting, it's social and it's driving tons of site traffic.

Video-Commerce.org talked with Zappos.com's Senior Manager of Photo and Video Laurie Me'chelle Gates, who shared some of the tangible, real-world business benefits from Zappos' social video strategy.