BEST SOCIAL MEDIA: RetailMeNot
Social marketing is essential for any web-based business, and the winners of our web awards all understand the importance of making themselves known through different channels.
Depending entirely on the online community for work has forced RetailMeNot to be an active player in the social media scene. It currently has over 11,000 fans on its Facebook page and over 2,000 followers on Twitter. Judge Peter Williams says the site has successfully integrated itself with online communities instead of merely "advertising" itself.
"RetailMeNot have built an active and engaged community around shopping coupons with 40,000 stores across the world.
They have a good following on Twitter and use the medium in a direct way which suits their audience."
"They have an active discussion forum and seem to have really nailed the vibe of the community they seek to serve. It's a very impressive use of social media to drive results with the passionate bargain hunter and shopping community."
Co-founder Guy King says the business depends on a thriving community to survive.
"Absolutely social marketing is important to what we do, because all of our content is shared online. A bit of a loop occurs in that the more people use it the more we find it useful for our business and have a good return on investment, which is really nothing in the start anyway."
"The good thing is, all of these users are essentially creating content and generate revenue for you. We have something like 72,000 registered users on the site, and they post mini shopping blogs and upload photos of things they've bought... they are advocates for your business."
