Social Media

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Jenn-Air, maker of luxury appliances, has launched a new blog to help consumers with their culinary, design and lifestyle needs.

OMAHA, Neb. — Country music artist Kellie Pickler has been named the national spokesperson for the ConAgra Foods Foundation Hunger-Free Summer program. The joint effort between the ConAgra Foods Foundation and Feeding America helps provide children with access to nutritious meals, especially in the summer.

NEW YORK — American Eagle Outfitters has engaged "real," as opposed to well-known celebrities, as the faces of its new back-to-school campaign.

The "Live Your Life" campaign will feature 15 people -- from fashion bloggers and stylists to musicians and actors -- each modeling a style of American Eagle Outfitters jeans.

Walmart will have to trust that their @WalmartLabs team is ready to take on the growing challenges of the company's online business now that Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman have stepped down as co-heads.

Harinarayan and Rajaraman became the heads of @WalmartLabs last year when Walmart bought their company Kosmix as a means of enhancing its e-commerce platform through social media.

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Armonk, N.Y. -- A survey released Thursday by IBM found that chief marketing officers and chief information officers must join forces in order to connect with today’s consumer across new channels including mobile devices and social networks.

You can learn a lot by monitoring consumer conversations in social media. It can predict political elections, the Oscars and even the next reality show winner. If you are a CPG marketer, social media can also be a real-time predictor of your new product’s success.

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.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Sheets, makers of dissolvable energy strips, has partnered with Walmart and Pitbull to launch a local Facebook page contest among local Walmart stores, to offer customers the chance to win a visit by Mr. Worldwide.