Macy’s recently reported that sales for its online properties Macys.com and Bloomingdales.com grew by 50.3 percent compared to the same period last year. Much of the stellar sales jump is credited to Macy’s social media push on Facebook over the last year. Yes, we know Macy’s has much more marketing muscle and money than most of us—however, there’s much we can learn (and imitate) from Macy’s successful social media campaigns.

Lesson #1 – Run campaigns to gain new “Likes.”
Macy’s attracted 800,000 Likes this year for a total fan base of 1.8 million. The larger the number of fans you have, the greater the impact of your campaigns. So consider regularly running contests and drawings to continually grow your fan base. For example, Macy’s launched a contest to giveaway free style makeovers by a celebrity fashion expert where the winners were flown to New York for their makeover. The campaign garnered thousands of Likes per day.

Lesson #2 – Create goodwill marketing campaigns.
Macy’s created campaigns that drew traffic to their Facebook Page and website, but were what I’d call a soft sell. For example, one campaign was called “Thank a Mom.” The campaign raised over $400,000 for charity and created website traffic by offering Mother’s Day e-cards. Of course, while sending out their e-card, visitors to the website could also browse a listing of Mother’s Day gift ideas.

Lesson #3 – Link between Facebook Page and website.
Get the most from your marketing campaigns by promoting them across all of your available platforms. For example, Macy’s placed a Mother’s Day Gift Guide button on its Facebook page to drive traffic (and sales) to its website. In another successful campaign, Macy’s combined use of Foursquare, Twitter and outdoor advertising (on buses, etc.) to promote its Annual Flower Show. In kind, you can make sure the look and feel of your marketing is consistent between your website, Facebook page, e-newsletters, blog, etc.

Twitter recently announced that it will be rolling out a more automated system for small businesses to advertise using Promoted Tweets, Trends, and Accounts. This change is in response to the complaints of willing small business advertisers that have had trouble getting through to Twitter’s over-burdened sales staff. What does this mean for you? This means that once again social media will level the playing field and your business will be able to sponsor tweets, trends and accounts the same way major brands like Coke do. To make the news even better, you will be able to target your advertising to a geographical area making the system ideal for small businesses whose customers are primarily local.

Learn more about advertising on Twitter.

Just recently Twitter launched its new “Follow Me” button, akin to Facebook’s “Like” button, it can appear on your website and/or blog and with one click (and without leaving your site) visitors can follow you on Twitter.

Apparently these buttons are worth a try. A recent poll by Mirna Bard for SmartBrief on Social Media reported that almost 40 percent of respondents believe they have seen an increase in traffic to their website or blog thanks to including a social media plug-in such as the Facebook “Like” button. According to Facebook, whose “Like” button has been around for awhile, brands using the “Like” button have also seen an increase in revenue thanks to the plug-in.

So, if you have not already included these plug-ins on your website, now’s a great time to get on board. You can read more about the “Follow Me” button and get detailed instructions on how to install it on your site at Twitter’s Help Center website.

Recently a friend told me about a vintage fashion website called Mod Cloth that has built its business around letting its customers decide on the items it will carry. Website founders call it “a fashion business in a democratic style.” How American! With its “Be the Buyer” program, you can scroll through and vote on fashions to “Pick It” or “Skip It.” And based on the members’ votes, the company decides to carry an item or not.

This idea could translate very well to just about any retailer rather easily. For example, say that you visit an annual trade show each year to pick products for the next year. While at the show you could snap some pictures of products you’re considering carrying, upload them to your Facebook page, create a simple poll (or just request comments) and ask your fans what products they would prefer seeing in your store. It’s a great way to engage your fans and followers and make sure you’re selling the products your customers want to buy.

Of course you could also get as fancy as Mod Cloth has and add polling, reviewing and commenting features to your website.

Just recently Twitter launched its new “Follow Me” button. Similar to Facebook’s “Like” button, it can appear on your website and/or blog and with one click (and without leaving your site) visitors can follow you on Twitter.

Apparently these buttons are worth a try. A recent poll by Mirna Bard for SmartBrief on Social Media reported that almost 40 percent of respondents believe they have seen an increase in traffic to their website or blog thanks to including a social media plug-in such as the Facebook “Like” button. According to Facebook, whose “Like” button has been around for awhile, brands using the “Like” button have also seen an increase in revenue thanks to the plug-in.

If you've not already included these plug-ins on your website, now’s a great time to get on board. You can read more about the “Follow Me” button and get detailed instructions on how to install it on your site at Twitter’s Help Center website

Having a super-targeted list of customers and prospects to market to is worth its weight in gold, as it’s the key to driving more sales and profits for your store. Therefore it’s essential that you take the time to build and maintain your list. Keep in mind that the best, most profitable lists are those that are built one person at a time with your customers and prospective customers agreeing to be a part of it.

So, how do you create such a list? Here are a few ideas:

It’s all in how you ask
Simply asking “may I have your name and address for our list” will almost always result in a "no." However, if you pose the question by also stating the benefit, you will likely have most agree to give you their contact information. For example, you could say “would you like me to let you know when more styles or colors of this item come in?” or “we’d love to send you a gift on your birthday, what’s the date and your email address?”

Ask everywhere
Recruit new subscribers to your list in every form of communication that you produce, such as press releases, print advertisements and radio spots. Make sure to mention the main benefits of subscribing like a special discount, monthly drawings, a newsletter loaded with valuable ideas or exclusive invitations to special events. Ask for new subscribers on the homepage of your website and at the check out of your ecommerce site with a link to your sign-up page. Provide a link to your sign-up page in your email marketing, write posts on your social media pages and even include a link in your personal email signature line. Little by little you will see your list increase in size.

Start a frequent buyer program
Create a program that is heavy on benefits that are easily redeemable and your customers will be much more willing to offer their contact information. Benefits could include a free monthly newsletter chock full of great ideas, a first look at new popular products, special member’s-only events and a monthly contest where the winner gets a gift card or free gift. Promote your rewards program in your store as well as on your website where you can include a sign-up page. Include links in your email marketing as well as on your Facebook Page. Encourage customers to forward sign-up information to friends. Have a regular “Invite-a-Friend” promotion and for customers that get a friend to sign up, either in-store or online, both will get a free gift or be entered into a frequent drawing.

Have regular contests and/or giveaways
Having a regular contest or random drawing can be a great way to catapult the size of your list. Get creative and have fun with it, such as asking entrants to describe an experience with one of your products or your store. La-Z-Boy is a great example. The furniture retailer grew the size of its list by 13,000 new prospects with a creative contest called “Comfort Stories,” which asked entrants to submit a story about how La-Z-Boy furniture brought comfort to their lives. The retailer promoted the contest on its website and launched three email marketing campaigns. The winners were awarded highly desirable prizes such as a room makeover, recliners, a Nintendo Wii game console and Amazon gift cards. Promote your contest in your store as well as on your website and social media pages.

Recently I wrote a post about how to create custom tabs for your Facebook Page. I wanted to follow up that entry with some suggestions on what tabs have been the most effective for retailers.

Here are my suggestions:

Polls
Using polls is a great way to quickly and easily get the opinions of your most active fans and customers. You can poll on anything from what product colors people prefer to when you should decorate your store for the holiday season. You can also just have fun with polls and use them to stir things up on your Facebook Page, for example take a poll asking which of four hats worn at the Royal Wedding was the favorite.

Reviews
Having reviews on your website and Facebook Page are essential. Customers and prospective customers want to be able to read what peers think about your store and products. Collect reviews on your website and you can use them in other marketing such as in your newsletter and on your website.

YouTube
If you use YouTube as part of your marketing strategy, and I recommend you definitely do, embedding it in your Facebook Page so viewers do not have to leave Facebook in order to view videos is a great way to increase viewership.

Social RSS
Create a tab on your Facebook Page that pulls in content from your blog or any other syndicated content you create, like an e-newsletter. The benefit to creating a tab is that the content is all in one place and will prevent repetitive posts to those that are both fans and subscribers to your RSS feeds.

Contests/giveaways
Host contests and giveaways on your Facebook page to keep your fans coming back. Make sure your contest is set up to be shareable so that you can take advantage of the exponential effect of Facebook; meaning that the more people that share their participation in your contest the more people will see and participate, and so on.

Applications to create and make all of these tabs work are available, most for free, on the Facebook Applications page. To make sure you’re getting the best applications, read reviews and look for applications that have been downloaded by large numbers of users.

Promoting your social media presence with fun signage can increase traffic both in-store and online. Get creative and have a little fun with it. Remember to include clear benefits for becoming an online fan like discounts, exclusive events and free advice.

Here are a few examples of signs by retailers:

Google has launched a new service for businesses called Google Business Photos. Go online to Google Places and apply to have photos of your business taken. A Google photographer will then come take panoramic photos of your business that Google can stitch together to make 360 degree views of the inside your establishment. These photos will be added to your Google Places Page. This service will likely help potential customers feel a comfort level with your store before even arriving. Plus, I imagine that establishments with photos will rank more favorably in Google searches because it’s additional, value-added content.

Google is just now rolling out this added feature in five cities around the U.S., as well as half a dozen other countries so it’s not available everywhere. However, it still pays to apply now because the more applications Google receives from one area, the more likely Google will make your area its next stop.

Read more and watch a video about Google Business Photos.

Have you ever wondered how businesses create custom landing pages on Facebook (like Zappos, below)? Well look no further because here are a few do-it-yourself suggestions. (Of course you can always hire a web specialist, but if you want to attempt it on your own there are tools that make it quite easy.)

The beauty of creating a landing page is that you can ask right up front for new visitors to “Like” your page and you’re able to quickly get your main message across.

Try these apps out:

Pagelever – This app allows you to upload an image and it creates a custom landing page for your Facebook page. You can complete the whole project in a couple minutes. If you like Pagelever you can upgrade your membership to create fan specific content as well. This app is ideal for novices.

Tabsite – Tabsite is also a popular do-it-yourself custom tab creator. This app developer has a myriad of advanced options as well, including the ability to create numerous custom tabs and embed YouTube videos.

North Social – For those more daring, more experienced users, North Social is a popular custom tab creator. They have more than 15 different apps you can integrate into your Facebook Fan Page. Their app for creating custom tabs and landing pages is called First Impression. They offer a whole variety of different image management functions like setting the image and message that gets posted when fans share your page.