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Social Media Marketing in the Retail Sector


Submitted by Dan on Wednesday, 25 February 20095 Comments
Social Media Marketing in the Retail Sector

Who would have thunk it?  KMart to advertise via social networking and social media marketing type websites but their decision to take the leap into the online world has most definitely paid off for them.  Izea and Socialspark have put together an awesome advertising and publishing platform for marketers and bloggers alike.  I always thought there was a market for big box stores via social networks but none of them felt like taking the risk  if you can call it that…

There are many promotional components available to advertisers and marketers through Socialspark programs that can apply to any conventional or non-conventional business type.  Some of those features and components include:

  • Sponsored Posts
  • Blog Sponsorships
  • Social Media Enabled Contests
  • Newsletters

Essentially in each component above, you, the advertiser in this case KMart, pays people to promote their products and services and in a lot of cases it does not have to be tied to one specific product or service.  KMart chose to create oppurtunities for bloggers to write about KMart’s layaway plans, holiday deals and gift cards.  Now me as the blogger would be able to choose which types of advertising I want to participate in and then post away and get paid.

I work in an industry that can definitely benefit from this type of marketing and you better believe I’ve already voiced my opinion on how a tool such as SocialSpark combined with the various other social networking tools is essential in today’s business world.  As a successful or up and coming business you cannot afford to be behind the times, the last to get on the train.. you catch my drift.

Please take the time to view the following slideshow which will demonstrate graphically the reach and views that the KMart websites received shortly after launching a SocialSpark campaign.  It is staggering to see the results in both search engines and traffic ranking graphs  There is no denying the fact that social networking and viral marketing is the way to go! Please see the following Social Media Case Study

IZEA Kmart Social Media Marketing Campaign Casestudy

View more presentations from Ted Murphy. (tags: media social)

Post?slot_id=32675&url=http%3a%2f%2fsocialspark

5 Comments »

  • Slimline Warehouse (1 comments) said:

    That is interesting.
    I run a retail blog so i’d definitely be interested, but i’d also keep an eye on what kind of disclosure is required for, say, a sponsored blog post. As with any advertising the blogger, in this case, if ethical must disclose the sponsor arrangement.
    Then the question is who wants to visit a blog where posts are obviously biased?

    Slimline Warehouses last blog post..Myer Announce a 5.3% Increase in Profits

    [Reply]

    Dan (51 comments) Reply:
    March 26th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    @Slimline Warehouse, You are right in regard to disclosure and sponsored posts. As a blogger you would need to find a happy medium. Services such as Social Spark require bloggers to have a site disclosure and also require sponsored posts to be marked with a badge as you see in my post above.

    As long as you produce quality content on a regular basis, and identify sponsored posts I don’t think it’s much of an issue.

    [Reply]

    - 26 March 2009 at 8:07 pm
  • Shaarangapanaye (1 comments) said:

    The next level in context and competition is search referrals, Searchers have queried a topic and they are evaluating the result page to find the most relevant choice to click!

    [Reply]

    - 28 September 2009 at 6:18 am
  • Michelle (3 comments) said:

    i do Social Media Marketing specially when promoting a new website or an affiliate product. Social media is more effective than offline advertising in my opinion.

    [Reply]

    - 16 November 2009 at 7:46 am
  • Mackenzie (1 comments) said:

    We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

    [Reply]

    - 29 November 2009 at 5:17 am

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