An Eye on the Visual Web for Mother’s Day

Marketers have a growing arsenal of online tools to actively engage consumers - and it’s especially timely with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

This year, spending on Mother’s Day alone is forecast to top $21.2 billion; 77 percent of online shoppers plan to maintain their status as favorite child with online purchases of flowers, candy, jewelry and more.

The Visual Web provides retailers numerous tools to unite buyers with gifts, products and services. Here are some recent examples to learn from:

Instagram
Instagram carousel ads are among the latest ad offerings from the social platform which has grown to 300 million users. Smartly overcoming its previous inability to provide direct links from posts, carousel ads include a left-swipe feature to an image that reveals additional brand-selected images.

Banana Republic and Old Navy are using carousel ads to highlight their latest fashions and styles. Brands may want to test this tool to create gift guides for items such as apparel, health and beauty products, jewelry, even fine-dining and restaurant options.

Embedding Instagram posts within digital content is yet another eye-catching option for retailers to entice views, gain followers and drive conversion. Specifically, retailers are now able to engage more consumers directly by embedding Instagram images and videos on their websites, blogs or other online presences.

Search Visibility
Microsoft’s Bing has revamped its image search page to display more detail such as where to buy products and Pinterest collections, and let users discover images more quickly and conveniently. Bing’s share of U.S. Internet search is bigger - putting Microsoft above the 20 percent market share level for the first time. Shoppers simply click on a retailer logo, and the item can be in a virtual cart and shipped to Mom or Dad.

Some of the brands testing out Bing include Coleman.com, Amazon, Bonanza and Overstock.com.

Pinterest Ads
Speaking of Pinterest, advertising has become more accessible thanks to a new application programming interface. According to AdWeek, brands can compete in auctions to buy ads against keywords and key categories, similar to how Google search ads are bought. Brands like Nike, Target and Kraft are part of the “Pinstitute,” showing best ways to use Pinterest based on what the company gleaned during its Promoted Pins beta test. The social bulletin board is also testing animated Promoted Pins.

Source: National Retail Federation