Insights Social Media Case Studies Betabrand brand apps brand hack brand hackathon crowdsourcing online retail retailWe recently ran a post covering the  Facebook-powered sock insurance program  from Betabrand, maker of geek chic such as the Executive Pinstripe Hoodie  and the Nauseating Holiday Pants. This led to a series of email exchanges with Betabrand founder and CEO Chris Lindland, who pointed me to a number of other campaigns the brand has done–some of which were created at a series of hackathons that Betabrand hosted this year. ” How to Host a Brand Hackathon. MORE >>

We studied their interaction with 63 brands from January to April 2012 in beauty, food/restaurant, and retail (sectors where sessions on owned media lead directly to sales). This is a guest post by Joel Rubinson, the President of marketing and research consultancy Rubinson Partners, Inc. As a marketer watches their Facebook Fan totals go up, up, up — sometimes organically and sometimes via paid Facebook ads — they get a rush of gratification that they are building their customer base to new altitudes. Not so fast.  They are true blood, not new blood. The findings? MORE >>

Mobile shopping app   Shopkick , which rewards shoppers for walking into stores and interacting with products, has added CVS/pharmacy as the first pharmacy to join its lineup of retail brands that already includes major names like  Macy’s, Target, American Eagle, Mobil, Best Buy and ToysRus. Launched in August 2010, Shopkick is now enabled at more than 7,000 partner retail locations across the U.S. The program kicks off with a special offer of $5 to shoppers who visit participating CVS locations with the Shopkick app. Mashable ). MORE >>

The retailer also “loved the idea of tying their brand to something as tangible and emotional as a card sent to a loved one in the mail.” ” Social Media Campaigns Gap holiday promotion mobile app Postagram retail SincerelyLast week the Gap announced a social media promotion for the holidays: the brand’s Facebook fans can send their own photos as real, printed postcards to their Facebook friends – for free. The Gap is the first brand to use startup Sincerely’s new “brand-centric service” Postagram Direct, which launched last week. MORE >>

” Here are some highlights from the study , which analyzed over 770,000 social media interactions (over the last year) directed at leading retailers and service providers using Conversocial: 91% growth in the response rate of leading retailers. collection of data from NYU (also cited in the study) shows a 459% surge in customer communication on Facebook for America’s biggest retailers, measured over Thanksgiving week in 2011 and 2012. Social Media Statistics Conversocial customer service retail social media customer service MORE >>