Social Media Marketing

How Brands Can Stay Relevant as Consumer Behavior Shifts Away From Influencers
August 2, 2022 at 5:47 pm

Demand for authenticity and representation from brands has caused the traditional influencer marketing model — which centered on brand-sponsored content from high-profile social media users — to decrease in its ability to engage and build trust amongst consumers. And with consumer spending starting to decrease as prices continue to climb, retail brands wanting to maintain customer loyalty…

Succeeding With Back-to-School Commerce in 2022
July 19, 2022 at 4:14 pm

It looks like Back to School 2022 will finally mark a return to the return-to-school shopping habits experienced pre-pandemic. Despite the return to in-person learning in the physical classroom, data from Mintel, a global market intelligence agency, found that parents and students will still be depending on digital channels for their back-to-school shopping customer journey.…

Closing the Gap Between Creators and Brands
April 21, 2022 at 1:09 pm

Today, nearly 40 percent of the video content watched in the U.S. comes not from major media companies, but independent creators. However, understanding brand investment in this market is surprisingly hard, with few good tools to track creators’ audiences and mostly soft metrics to evaluate their impact. While live commerce doesn’t provide a perfect solution…

Report: Retailers and Brands’ Adoption of True Social Proof Messaging
April 18, 2022 at 4:47 pm

As competition for consumer wallet share intensifies and shoppers get more digitally savvy, retailers and brands are constantly on the lookout for tools to boost engagement, conversion and sales. There’s never a shortage of tools that claim to solve it all, but when done right, social proof messaging stands out. It's a great conversion booster…

Part I: Forging the Future of Retail Through Strength
March 16, 2022 at 11:02 am

If 2020 was a year of unprecedented disruption and 2021 was the year that necessitated business agility in order to survive and thrive, then 2022 is most certainly the year of turning resilience into undeniable strength. This series is a peek behind the curtain of eight key initiatives that the January Digital consulting team is…

How Younger Audiences Are Upending Traditional Social Ad Strategies
January 13, 2022 at 12:32 pm

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the way people shop. According to a report from J.P. Morgan, the pandemic has pushed more shoppers online, with e-commerce now accounting for 16.1 percent of all U.S. sales. That’s up from 11.8 percent in the first quarter. This trend is likely to stick, even as brick-and-mortar stores open their…

Collars & Co. Founder on TikTok's Marketing Power
January 10, 2022 at 5:26 pm

In episode 331 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Justin Baer, founder of Collars & Co., a direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) brand that’s flipping the switch on elevated dresswear with a comfortable twist. Listen in as Baer discusses his entrepreneurial background, the inspiration behind Collars & Co. shirts' unique design, and and rapid growth of…

The Holiday Consumer Profile: A Look at Where Shoppers Are and How They're Buying
December 16, 2021 at 1:05 pm

Consumer behaviors are constantly changing, and marketers face immense challenges trying to figure out what shoppers need and want, particularly in the tumultuous environment of the last two years. With the second pandemic holiday shopping season upon us, brands must leverage a combination of last year’s learnings with fresh data sources to form successful strategies.…

How to Use Social Commerce to Create True Brand Advocates
October 18, 2021 at 7:56 pm

The concept of “social commerce” can be confusing. Some people think of it as when retailers use social media to promote their products. Still others think of it as “Influencer marketing,” aka getting endorsement from social media stars who share products and services with their followers. But it isn’t necessarily either of these things. Truthfully,…

How Brands Can Stay in Front of Social Media Marketing Trends to Drive Engagement and Loyalty
September 9, 2021 at 7:28 pm

The social media landscape is shifting rapidly, from new opportunities for influencers, such as the ability to hide likes on Instagram or schedule stories on Facebook, to the meteoric rise of TikTok and its unique short-form content that has impacted how an entire generation consumes media. This shift in the landscape has forced brands to…