Retailers Turn to Social Media Tactics to Attract More Buyers
With the back-to-school season in full swing, a number of retailers have lined up social media tactics to attract new shoppers.
Targeting teens and young adults – social media has emerged as a key component in drawing new targeted users through social networking sites, such as facebook, to deliver their marketing campaigns.
With an already shaky economy scaring buyers away from the stores, shoppers need to realize that retailers will only use these types of marketing efforts more often as consumers continue to pinch pennies.
To promote a new clothing line, J.C. Penny created an online game called “DorkDodge” in which a girl has to navigate through a number of unwanted boyfriends to find her dream date. The retailer also launched an integrated marketing campaign that gave the teens the opportunity to ‘get that look’, using a clothing theme from the movie “The Breakfast Club.”
And retailers like Victoria’s Secret and Apple are using their valued partnerships with universities and college-aged consumers as a key demographic. Victoria’s Secret partnered with 33 universities to launch Pink’s Collegiate Collection, a series of shirts, accessories and sports gear cross-branded with colors, names and mascots from participating universities. And as part of Apples’s back-to-school promotion, students and faculty of an accredited university receive a free iPod with the purchase of a computer.
And it should be said, that retailers will find a stronger influence with social media and Web 2.0 experiences by allowing most of the benefits coming from branding and awareness building, rather than direct sales.
