Social Media Marketing

The Mall of America is offering a special perk to Twitter followers this holiday shopping season: reserved parking on the busiest shopping day of the year in its Big Secret Parking Party, or #bspp.

Kmart, Sears and Sephora are among 10 major retail and hospitality companies that have joined the eGift Social Marketplace. Through a Facebook application, the eGifting program allows consumers to send either tangible items or virtual gift cards to the recipient's Facebook account or email address.

By offering Facebook Credits, Shoebuy.com and The Golf Warehouse have found a way to add value to their shopping experience and improve business results by linking e-commerce to the 290 million people playing social games each month.

Sports Authority offered $500 gift cards as part of a location-based Black Friday promotion, and succeeded in boosting store foot traffic and increasing its number of Foursquare followers from 400 to nearly 4,500.

Merchants including Macy's, Amazon and Best Buy have added features to their Facebook pages that give users advance information on upcoming Black Friday deals, part of a social-media push to build early holiday sales.

The value of Facebook and other social media sites to retailers is greater than previously thought, according to a recent survey conducted by Media Logic, a company recognized for specializing in marketing for a social world. After all, Facebook would be the third most populated country in the world if it were, in fact, a country. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for retailers to be involved with the social media site.

We're excited to offer you Retail Online Integration's 50 best tips of 2010. Our editorial staff reviewed every word published in our print publication, e-newsletter (The ROI Report) and website over the past year. From there, we've extracted the best money-making and cost-saving pointers. Enjoy.

Social media is as easy to control as the ocean. Some days are so calm you wonder if the world has taken a day off. Others are filled with activity that sends customers and prospects clicking to your site. And some days bring hurricane-force winds that threaten the foundation of your business.

Sephora has announced the launch an online social shopping community for Sephora customers.  Customers can use the service to talk about the products they're buying, discover trending products, and write product reviews to share with others.