Social Media Marketing

Walgreen's, Canadian Tire, J.C. Penney, Save-A-Lot, Sports Authority, Staples and True Value are among the brands incorporating the web version of their weekly newspaper circulars into their Facebook pages.

Facebook Inc. is finding new kinds of websites to "Like," in the parlance of the popular social-networking service.

Launched on June 23, 2009, as an online marketplace not unlike eBay, Alice.com enables CPG manufacturers to sell their household essentials — think toothpaste, laundry detergent, trash bags, toilet paper, etc. — direct to consumers. By making thousands of products typically not found online available for purchase, Alice.com has tapped into an underserved market, albeit surprisingly so to the company's founders.

More and more, traditional media sites and magazines are entering the world of e-commerce, while more and more e-tailers are offering content that's very similar to what could be found in fashion magazines.

Amazon shoppers who connect their Amazon and Facebook accounts transport their Facebook friends to Amazon — and can get recommendations from those friends on what to buy.

The hard fact is, social media, like any other marketing program — email, pay per click, affiliates, etc. — is less about luck and instant success, and much more about common sense, patience and hard work.

The InterACT! Conference, an educational forum for marketers, brand owners and service providers on cross-media direct marketing opportunities and strategies, has launched "Build-a-Buzz" Giveaway - a social networking contest for marketers (or anyone) who wants to win one of four cool prizes: an Apple iPad, HP Netbook, Amazon Kindle or American Express gift card.

Online footwear retailer SuperShoes.com launched a Twitter promotion based on the classic game of Bingo in early May to show off its new Drag & Share feature and capture new prospects.

Some worries come with opening any new tech channel — that bad guys might be able to use it to access your data, steal customer identities, pass an employee some malicious software, etc. — but the casual and explosive nature of conversations in Web 2.0 may expose retailers to a new world of risks, some more commonly associated with media companies.

Brands that use microblogging sites like Twitter to provide real-time responses to the public are winning a higher degree of trust from consumers, according to a study by a leading public relations firm. Some 75 percent of people surveyed said they view companies that microblog — sending short, frequent messages on sites like Twitter or status updates on social networks like Facebook — as more deserving of their trust than those that do not, according to a survey by Fleishman-Hillard, conducted with market research firm Harris Interactive.