Retail Marketing - Shopping Center Marketing

Websites like Best Buy, Victoria’s Secret, Lacoste and DSW are jumping on board the train of Facebook Landing Pages.

Facebook Landing Pages allow you to create custom (and simple) HTML pages for direct landing from emails and promotions. Think of it as a mini-site within a Social Media site.

Facebook Landing Pages are used to promote deals, call attention to new products, or simply welcome visitors to your Facebook page, with an attractively branded splash page. It’s a new way to correspond with your most recent campaigns and grow your fan base at the same time.

Dotfusion can help you through the process of establishing your Social Media presence, and integrate your own custom Facebook Landing Page to help your business grow. Contact us today for a quote.

Chris Thorman writes for Software Advice which specializes in helping organizations find the right software for their individual needs. He has shared his article “Searching for Real Estate Made Easy: Geo-Fences Plus Mobile Phones” with Dotfusion.

It’s Saturday morning. Joel and Rebecca are walking their dog through a neighborhood in Austin, TX. As they walk, they chat about the movie they saw last night, what they’re going to make for dinner, and the big trip they have planned for next weekend. You wouldn’t know it by listening to their conversation, but the couple is also house hunting.

They cross Brodie Lane when Joel’s cell phone buzzes in his pocket. A text message shows up with specific details about a house for sale, in his immediate location.

Joel says to Rebecca, “We’ve got a match from our real estate company. It’s only four blocks away. Let’s go see what the house looks like.”

Hate trying to find that parking spot and finding the correct amount of change for the meter? Well, there is hope. San Francisco-based Streeline has developed new technology that allows commuters to use their mobile phones to find a parking spot as well as pay for it.

The NY Times reported today that Condé Nast will be releasing several of their magazings in full-length versions, as iPad applications. These will be available to iPad users, just like a traditional magazine, at a fraction of the weight and waste. “The first magazines for which it will create iPad versions are Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair,The New Yorker and Glamour.”

This new event in technology is likely going to be the next evolution in traditional print ad-buys. Unlike Amazon’s Kindle, the iPad versions of the magazines will be full color with easy page turning via the touch screen. Condé Nast is also developing the a simple solution for it’s readers to enter into ads from the iPad with easy and simplicity, thus removing the need to “remember” to look something up later, when a traditional magazine subscriber would get home or to a computer. They see this as the future in “traditional” ad sales, however,

Condé Nast plans to test different prices, types of advertising and approaches to digitizing the magazines for several months before wrapping up the experiment in the fall. “We need to know a little bit more about what kind of a product we can make, how consumers will respond to it, what the distribution system will be,” said Thomas J. Wallace, editorial director of Condé Nast.

Read the full story here.

According to figures released yesterday by the Facebook focused blog insidefacebook.com, made upwards of $700 million in 2009 and is expected to reach a phenomenal $1 billion in revenues in 2010.

Year over year, Facebook’s revenues have typically doubled, from $150 million in 2007 to around $300 million in 2008 and so on.

Read full story here.

Twitter revealed on Monday that it officially reached 50 million tweets per day, excluding the count of spam messages made by robots. That is a record for the microblogging service.

The tweets increased by 1400% last year, amounting to 35 million messages daily. Today we have a total of 50 million tweets per day, equivalent to about 600 tweets per second (and that is a lot!),

said Kevin Weil in a blog post on the official service.

Full story found here.

So, you finally came to the agreement that Social Media is the way of the future, but you’ve started to notice that while you and your associates think highly of your products, services, centers, stores, or other, there are some people out there on the Internet are saying something different.

Is the best practice to dump the whole thing entirely, or is there a better way to deal with a negative situation on the web?

Thanks to Mashable and the American Express OPEN Forum, there’s a simple plan to turning negative social content into a positive relationship, without panic. Reading the advice below will help you and your customer service team understand the different types of negative feedback, so further positive responses can be had. In traditional advertising, company’s provide one-sided messages to the consumer, that can either be accepted or rejects, but can never be responded to, directly to the company itself. With social media, it’s the opposite. Engaging in this medium welcomes a two-sided conversation, giving companies the opportunity to learn from their market about what’s really working and what’s not.

1. Identify the Type of Feedback
The first step to dealing with negative feedback is determining what type of feedback you’ve received. Negative feedback comes in a few different flavors, each of which is best dealt with by a different type of response. Determining which type of feedback you’re dealing with is an essential first step toward figuring out what is the appropriate response.

· Straight Problems - This type of feedback is negative in the sense that it paints your business in a poor light, but it can be helpful in exposing real problems that need to be dealt with.

· Constructive Criticism - Many customers — including some of your most loyal — will use social media to suggest ways in which you can improve your product or service. While this type of feedback may point out your flaws, and is thus negative, it can be extremely helpful to receive.

· Merited Attack - Essentially, you or your company did something wrong, and someone is angry.

· Trolling/Spam - Trolls and spammers will use a negative comment about your product or service (whether true or not) to promote a competing service.

2. Decide How to React
The number one rule when responding to all criticism, even the negative type, is to stay positive. Adding more negativity to the conversation by letting yourself be drawn into a fight with a customer or user will only reflect poorly on your business.

When dealing with Straight Problems, a response is almost certainly necessary.  Regardless, if a real problem exists, steps should be taken to fix it and customers should be notified that those steps are being taken. Remember that there will be times when such criticism is the result of a perceived problem rather than an actual problem (e.g., someone who just doesn’t like the method by which you do something). Even this type of complaint should be given a response, if only to say, “Thanks for bringing it to our attention, but here’s why we do it that way.”

Similarly, Constructive Criticism also requires a response. Certainly there will be times when you won’t want to implement the suggestion given — probably most times you won’t — but you’ll build loyalty and trust by responding to criticism with a positive message.

Merited Attacks are a bit tougher to deal with, because they’re more likely to feel personal. You should always try to keep in mind that this type of feedback, as harsh as it may be, has a basis in a real problem. It is best to respond promptly and with a positive vibe (e.g., thank the commenter for the feedback and assure them that steps are being taken to correct the issue or mitigate their problem, such as offering a partial refund).

The final category is the only category of negative feedback that does not require a response. In fact, it is almost always best not to respond to Trolling or Spam. This type of feedback isn’t really feedback at all. It is designed either to bait you into an unnecessary and image-damaging fight, or to siphon off your customers using underhanded tactics. You should always ignore this variety of feedback, and when appropriate, remove it as soon as you spot it.”

Everyone knows that Apple Stores are among the most frequently visit stores in malls and shopping centers world-wide, but who would have seen this coming? The following video will become legendary in retail spaces across the globe, if for no other reason, because it is the first of it’s kind.

Josh and Ting Li tied the knot on Valentine’s Day at New York’s Fifth Avenue Apple Store, in the middle of the open retail store. The couple met for the first time at the Apple Store, and because neither are affiliated with any organized religion, they chose to hold their ceremony at their favorite store and meeting place.

Whether they’ve taken their love for all-things-Apple a little too far, or not, one thing is sure; other consumer goods product-stores will be wondering how to achieve the same brand loyalty needed to get any bride to consent to an idea like this in the future. Now, maybe store owners and managers don’t really want the fuss of a wedding in their retail stores, but it’s the genuine dedication to this brand that is truly amazing.

PricewaterhouseCoopers reported in October that Internet advertising revenues totaled $10.9 billion for the first half of 2009. It’s been estimated that Facebook alone took in $435 million of that total. But for a site with nearly half a billion users, a quarter of which spend more time within the network than watching television, these numbers represent just the beginning potential.

While advertising in general is struggling with the economy, “Interactive is one of the advertising sectors that is being least affected,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB.

“Marketers are allocating more of their dollars to digital media because consumers are spending more of their leisure time online,” said David Silverman, PwC Assurance partner. PepsiCo showed their understanding of this concept when they decided to forgo spending their budget on the Super Bowl this year, and allocated 20mil to their social media campaign for the Pepsi Refresh Project, instead.

Social media touches the people you’re marketing to, personally and creates a “voice” for customer feedback, appreciation and retention. How are you involved in implementing social strategies for your company’s success and how are those efforts affecting the bottom line?

Dotfusion can implement a social strategy for your company that’s proven to reach your audience with a high return. Call today for a quote.