Tag: social media as marketing tool

It’s that time of year again … When the living room becomes the war room, cluttered with the torn-through flyers of retailers hoping to entice you with Black Friday offerings. Laptop screens flicker, displaying new, NEVER-THIS-LOW deals for Cyber Monday’s upcoming online rush. There’s no denying the importance the fourth quarter to retailers – the “final push” to a profitable fiscal year. Just in time for this kickoff to the holiday shopping season, Media Logic introduces the Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI) — a revolutionary new tool optimized for retailers seeking a simple metric of the level of social engagement between themselves and their customers.

Some of my earliest recollections of my elementary school’s technology in the early 80's include the “ding” from the film strip projector and playing the original Oregon Trail on an Apple II in the school library. Each generation has its own memories for how technology shaped their learning experiences. Smart boards and iPads will probably be my first grader’s earliest reference points. Recently, I received the October newsletter from my child’s school. As I took a quick read through what the various grades were working on, I noticed something very cool – a QR code. The fifth grade students spent the first month of the school year studying ecosystems and developing posters depicting their findings. The posters were hung on the halls of the quad, but the teacher also created a QR code for parents to scan so they could see all of the work without taking a step into the school. Obviously, QR codes are nothing new for retailers, but I thought this was a great use of technology to engage parents with their children's learning experiences. Instead of finding a rumpled poster shoved into the bottom of a backpack, a parent could instantly admire their child’s work.

I think it’s obvious how a glossy’s editorial content translates well to Twitter; from giveaways to quick snippets of articles alongside links, they’re a natural fit for the information-feeding social stream. What piques my interest is something Folio pointed out: “Twitter also helps brands punch way above their weight class. Good came in at #16 (up from #17 in January), eclipsing household names such as Rolling Stone (#19) and Vanity Fair (#39),” they noted. So, which do you think would be more popular on Twitter: Food & Wine or Scientific American? O, The Oprah Magazine or Discover? In both cases, the latter reigned supreme.

In preparing for the highly anticipated Missoni for Target launch, Target “hired” a rather curious brand advocate: “Marina,” a doll. Yes, you read that correctly. The blogger Marina describes herself as “a real doll [with] joints, hinges and all!” A blog -- ‘all the way up here’ -- written by Marina promotes the introduction of the Missoni brand at Target. The doll writes about her porcelain skin and hollowed body. However, it seems as though the savvy social media minds at Target are behind this fashionable “it” girl who promoted the September 13^th launch of Missoni at Target. The Tumblr account, which popped up in the blogosphere on April 5^th, is primarily devoted to sharing information about the Target- Missoni collaboration. However, Marina also blogs about her home country of Italy, her excitement in moving to the big city of New York and her favorite fashion trends (particularly stripes, the pattern which adorns a majority of the Missoni lines) --all seen from the eyes of a doll. These random “personal” blog posts, sprinkled throughout those promoting the new collection, are no accident. Rather, these fashionista- inspired, whimsical posts are a way for Target to promote and grow its desired image for the line.

Who owns social, anyway? It’s the question Pete Blackshaw asks in his insightful 4/12/2010 Ad Age article. Blackshaw does a wonderful job highlighting the dualities and absurdities (not to mention clichés) that emerge in any discussion of social ownership. I think these dualities emerge because what we have in social is one of those “duck/rabbit” or “vase/face” optical illusions which delight and frustrate us because, although we can see both things easily, our brains won't allow us to see both at the same time. "It's a duck! It's a rabbit! It's a duck!" It’s the same with social.