Cover Story: The Top 50 Fastest-Growing Facebook Cross-Channel Retailers

◆ There's been an interesting battle going on all year between Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's, with Cabela's gradually catching up to its rival, as Bass Pro Shops just missed making this list. Bass Pro Shops is more sales-oriented with its Facebook strategy, while Cabela's takes a more engagement-oriented approach. Bass Pro Shops defaults visitors to a brand wall that promotes sale items and sweepstakes (and pays little attention to fan posts as evidenced by the spam in its "Top Posts"), while Cabela's opens its wall to fans, encouraging them to post about their hunting and fishing experiences, and keeps its wall free of spam.

◆ CVS is gaining fast on rival Walgreens in terms of number of fans. While Walgreens has grown its fan base a respectable 288 percent year-over-year (and now has more than a million fans), CVS has grown a phenomenal 3,454 percent during the same period. CVS is a great example of the value of aggressive and attentive Facebook engagement. Promotions have included an innovative liker sweepstakes and funny videos for its ExtraBucks rewards program.

◆ Several brands have had a hard time gaining momentum in the social space. These include J.Jill, Jones New York, and JoS. A. Bank. Specialty retailers J.Jill and Jones New York seem to be faring particularly poorly relative to rival ANN INC. It should be very interesting to see, however, if social energy equals business viability.

◆ On the other end of the spectrum is Burlington Coat Factory, a brand that seemed all but dead a year ago. The retailer has made surprising headway on Facebook, growing from just over 1,000 fans to almost 50,000 fans in a year.

Burlington Coat Factory seems to have found a groove creating a sense of community among its price-stressed customers.