DUKKY

Today’s post was written by Ragy Thomas and David Levitsky of Sprinklr, and originally appeared on the SoMeMa blog.  It is reprinted here with permission.

2009 will be known as the year that Social Media Marketing went mainstream. According to eMarketer and Deloitte, 17% of consumers will be using social media this holiday shopping season, 27% of online shoppers will seek gift hints and 45% will “use social networks to research items, compare prices and look for offers.”

Now that the holiday season is in full swing and online shopping has become ubiquitous, many retailers are jumping into sales promotion via social media to capitalize, and Toys”R”Us is one of the most aggressive. Given a few false starts with their e-commerce web site in the mid-90’s, it is obvious that Toys”R”Us wants to get Social Media right the first time out. While Toys”R”Us has a healthy Twitter presence of almost 20,000 followers, Toys”R”Us‘ 400,000 Friends on Facebook is twenty times that number, and the page is growing by tens of thousands each day. In fact, according to All Facebook, Toys”R”Us is currently the fastest growing brand on the social network and the growth shows no signs of slowing, at least during this holiday season.

In an economic climate where consumers are on Social Networks instead of TV or in the stores, and are looking for deals for the holiday season, the company has limited the visibility of some Facebook Page tabs to only fans, thereby stimulating Facebook users to join the group.

A smart move – obviously this has been a large factor in the company getting to 400,000 fans. Becoming a fan enables you to view the company’s Twitter stream, view all circulars from the store (including one with 35 pages of Black Friday deals before they are released to the general public,) and access specials, including “mystery deals”

Toys”R”Us has also embedded their entire 80 page Big Book toy catalog as a part of their Page, along with including redeemable coupons, links to the “Shaq Give Back” charity and Toys”R”Us You Tube videos.

Summary: It’s an extremely great effort. Toys”R”Us obviously drew virtually all of the content for the Facebook page, and this means that their cost (aside from driving new fans to the page) was minimal.

Social Media Marketers now have ample case studies to prove that Social Media Marketing works: Starbucks. Ford. Intuit. Dell. And now ToysRUs, with 400,000 followers at a cost of probably less than $100 K (my guess.)

I can’t wait to hear Toys R Us results – I’d venture a guess that this vehicle will show a huge return compared to the company’s other ad buys.

Company: ToysRUs

Location: Wayne, NJ

CEO: Gerald L. Storch