Wal-Mart taps social media to increase brand recognition

BENTONVILLE – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. continues to engage social media platforms to drive home the company brand among a tech savvy generation who may or may not regularly shop their brick and mortar stores.

Wednesday (Sept. 5), the retail giant launched its first contest on Pinterest — one of the fast growing social media sites, according to ComScore.

Bill Simon, CEO and president of Wal-Mart US, said Wednesday the company continues to look for ways to harness the social media audiences that provides keen insight used in a multitude of ways — from accurately stocking popular items to engaging young merchandisers in competitions to get their own products on Walmart shelves. Simon was speaking at a retail conference in New York.

Walmart Green “Pin to Win” presents the growing Pinterest community the chance to win a $500 Walmart Gift Card by sharing which store products inspire them to live better and more eco-friendly in their everyday lives, according to the release.

“Wal-Mart is constantly looking for unique ways to share our sustainability story, as well as, connect with our customers through new channels,” said Andrea Thomas, Wal-Mart senior vice president of sustainability. “Pinterest appeals to our customers who use the social media platforms to find and collect creative recipes, tips and how to’s helping their families save money and live better.”

Between Sept. 5 to 12, pinners are encouraged to visit Walmart.com and create a board featuring company products that inspire them to be more eco-friendly.

In partnership with the Mother Nature Network (MNN), five winners will be selected to receive a $500 Walmart Gift Card and will be announced on Monday, Sept. 17 on The Walmart Green Room Blog.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be working with Wal-Mart on this innovative campaign,” said Joel Babbit, CEO of Mother Nature Network.  “With Wal-Mart’s help, we hope to inspire everyone to enjoy a more environmentally sustainable life.”

The 1.5 million visitors a day on Pinterst are pocket change compared to the hoards of Facebook users and Twitter junkies online but analysts agree the Pinterest audience is an important one.

According to a recent demographic study conducted by Ignite Social Media, Pinterest’s audience is predominantly made up of females between the ages of 25 to 54 and content that appeals to females ultimately sends more referral traffic back to Internet sites. In addition, Pinterest users are likely to have completed some college courses and make between $25,000 to $75,000 a year. The study also found that Pinterest users are likely to originate in the mid-west United States.

Simon said the digitalization of retail is underway at Wal-Mart with the help and ongoing innovative contributions of @WalmartLabs.

Carol Spieckerman, CEO of New Market Builders, gives Wal-Mart a lot of credit for getting out the way and allowing @WalmartLabs to innovate separately outside of the traditional merchandising mind-set.

“This is somewhat bold and unlike Wal-Mart. Instead of the challenging the tech innovators to think merchandising, Wal-Mart challenged its merchant teams to rise up apply some of the innovations coming out from @WalmartLabs. It was very prescient and these results are really starting to show,” Spieckerman said.

For instance Wal-Mart has engaged a brand new audience with contests, apps and platforms that help consumers with everything from video streaming with VuDu, a company it purchased last summer, to solving gift-giving dilemmas with Shopycat, a mobile app that interfaces with Facebook data feeds.

Spieckerman said the mass retailer is building more name recognition in the digital space with the help of @WalmartLabs.