Social Media Marketing

High fashion may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Kohl's, but the retailer is trying to associate its name with just that. Using social media, the department store is promoting six of the designer labels it carries in its stores to not only be seen as a high end retailer, but also to increase traffic to its Facebook page and website as well as interaction with Facebook fans.

Any retailer swimming in the social media waters the past few years has heard the word “engagement” a million times, and for good reason. Engagement is key in driving word-of-mouth endorsements. However, engagement and word-of-mouth are really a prelude to the ultimate goal of driving more sales.

On the eighth day of its "12 Days of Giving" Facebook campaign, Wal-Mart awarded $140,000 to nine nonprofits aiding veterans, active members of the military and their families. Over 12 consecutive days, Wal-Mart will award a total of $1.5 million to 145 organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Organizations being honored on the company's Facebook page on Monday are serving communities in California, Delaware, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas and Washington.

At first glance, a Facebook permissions request can look like an intimidating hurdle for users of Facebook applications. The assumption often made about a Facebook permissions request is that it asks for information users aren't willing to share, that users are put off due to privacy concerns and therefore that they opt in at lower rates.

High-end retailer Neiman Marcus may have been slow to embrace social media, like many luxury brands, but in the last few months it's hosted a number of digital campaigns to boost its online presence. Now the retailer has almost 500,000 fans on Facebook and 50,000 followers on Twitter.

Hair product brand TRESemmé hit a huge customer relations snafu when an email offering free samples to a few hundred email subscribers was accidentally sent out to tons of fans and posted on its Facebook page. After thousands of people contacted TRESemmé about collecting their free samples, the company realized that it made a mistake and began to backtrack.

Toys"R"Us and J.C. Penney are taking advantage of the customizable features of Facebook fan pages, including the ability to create interactive holiday-themed gaming apps on their Facebook fan pages that reward customers with exclusive discounts. On the Toys"R"Us Facebook page, a tab labeled "Holiday Scavenger Hunt" takes users to a page encouraging them to "Play Now."

Twitter's new profile pages for brands give marketers more tools, such as the ability to feature a promoted tweet at the top of a brand's Twitter page. Twitter says the new pages will help highlight the most engaging and important content and better connect with target audiences.

As the holiday orders pour in, some 3,600 L.L.Bean employees in Maine work the phones, answer questions and take orders. In addition to traditional phone orders, L.L.Bean is wading boot-deep into social media. A 10-member team was recently created to interact with customers on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook has acquired location-sharing service Gowalla for an undisclosed sum, according to a source close to Gowalla. Facebook declined to comment on the deal.