Kmart is running a campaign via social media marketing agency Izea, in which they paid six influential bloggers a $500 gift certificate each to shop at their store – and then describe the experience on their blog. In addition, they are running a contest where people who comment or twitter about the posts have a chance to win an additional $500 gift certificate. Media Post describes the campaign in more detail, including the measurable results: Kmart’s Social Media Index (SMI) – its daily share-of-voice in online conversations, mentions on social networks, blogs, Twitter, video and photo sharing site – as tracked by Vitrue, has jumped by 59% from November to December. The contest runs from December 2 to the 16th. Official contest rules are here.
It’s worth checking out some of the blog posts, which are remarkable for their level of engagement, authenticity and sense of fun, not to mention the numbers of comments they are receiving. Bloggers clearly stated that the posts were sponsored, but the opinions were entirely their own.
The six blog posts, with comment counts as of 12/14:
- ShoeMoney (379 comments)
- Dad-O-Matic (358 comments)
- 1938meda.com (296 comments)
- juliaroy.com
- sparkplugging.com/momsational (635 comments)
- shefinds.com (441 comments)
What a great way to get people talking about shopping at Kmart!
