Shopping Centers Today

NOV 2016

Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

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N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 / S C T 39 of respondents say that social media is the future of marketing communications, but only 23 percent are measuring the return of investment on [their postings]," said Alan McKeon, president and CEO of Alexander Babbage. "In the shopping center in- dustry, we measure everything — the rent, the sales per square foot, the occupancy costs per square foot … so it was surprising that shopping centers are behind the curve on understanding the role of analytics in social media." One of the other problems with social-media strat- egizing for shopping centers, the survey found, is that the rules — and the popularity of any given me- dium — are constantly changing. While Pinterest was once seen as a great investment for shopping centers, for instance, it is now viewed largely as irrelevant, says McKeon. And though Plaza Las Américas, in Puerto Rico, now has the second-highest number of Facebook fans among the shopping centers surveyed (492,100 fans at last viewing), a few years ago the mall did not even own its Facebook page, not con- sidering it important as a marketing tool. "Initially, the page was created by a Plaza fan, who wanted to have a place to share things he loved about the cen- ter," said Iris Cuevos, Plaza Las Américas' market- ing director. "He'd only posted a few times, but he'd

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