Retailers are always looking for new ways to reach customers, and the race to get onto Facebook walls and news feeds to increase brand exposure has never been greater.

But instead of shelling out dollars to pay for traditional Facebook ads and online banners, many companies are allowing shoppers to do the grunt work for them in an organic way. One of the latest trends is combining social sharing with gift giving, so consumers can send presents — from gift cards to apparel — to others via Facebook.

By Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin

Editor’s note: Launched in March 2010, Pinterest now ranks as the third most-visited social-networking site in the United States, according to a recent report by Experian Marketing Services. Pinterest, which lets its users “pin” photos and information onto virtual boards, ranks behind only Facebook and Twitter in terms of total visitors, according to the report. It also skews heavily female — about 60% of users are women.

Twitter and Facebook aren’t just for consumer networking anymore. 


With more and more retailers and shopping centers jumping on the social media bandwagon, Chain Store Age and Cleveland-based shopping center developer Forest City Enterprises surveyed CSA’s readership to find out where retailers are trending in terms of social media engagement and communication tools.


By Kevin Moffitt, kmoffitt@crossview.com

There is no denying that social media presents a significant opportunity for retailers. Connecting your customers simultaneously to each other and to your brand is a potentially a powerful marketing strategy.

However, any e-commerce/cross-channel marketing strategy, particularly those that encompass social media, should be both:

   1. Closely aligned to customer needs and behaviors; and