Macy’s Inc. wants to make Mother’s Day a social event by encouraging shoppers to share mom-related photos or memories on Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr.
The multichannel retailer, which is one of three finalists in the Internet Retailer Excellence Awards’ Marketer of the Year category, aims to entice shoppers to share by donating $3 for each post that includes the hashtag #MacysLovesMoms, up to $400,000, to five charities:
- The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women heart disease prevention campaign.
- Domestic and sexual violence prevention organization Futures Without Violence.
- Natural parks charity National Park Foundation.
- Literacy organization Reading Is Fundamental Inc.
- Make-A-Wish Foundation, which arranges experiences to children with life-threatening medical conditions.
The campaign launched April 27 and will run until Sunday.
“Moms do so much for us, and we want to help you find the best way to show the mom in your life that you appreciate her,” says Kathy Hilt, senior vice president of Macy’s By Appointment, the retailer’s personal shopper service.
The effort mirrors a campaign that Kohl’s Corp. during the week of Thanksgiving in which the apparel merchant launched a Twitter trivia contest using a mix of paid and organic tweets to acquire new customers and engage existing followers. Kohl’s tweeted trivia questions and followers who answered correctly using the hashtags #BlackFriday and #KohlsSweeps were entered for a chance to win a $500 gift card. By requiring entrants to include both Black Friday and its brand as hashtags to enter, the retailer was able to piggyback on the already trending #BlackFriday hashtag, while also garnering 102,262 tweets that included the #KohlsSweeps hashtag, according to customer experience software vendor Clarabridge.
By urging consumers to share mom-related photos and stories on Twitter and other social networks, Macy’s similarly aims to latch onto Mother’s Day, which is likely to be a trending topic across social media.
In addition to Macy’s, the other two finalists for the Internet Retailer Excellence Awards’ Marketer of the Year category are apparel retailer Charlotte Russe Inc. and beauty retailer Julep. The awards will be presented the evening of Wednesday, June 3, at a gala banquet in Chicago at IRCE 2015.
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