Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/853369
A U G U S T 2 0 1 7 / S C T 43 influencers to blog on behalf of the property and thus drive people back to the shopping website — often a specific page on that website. Those influencer blogs can be very product- specific. The broader social-media strategy is to work with retailers to have their products featured in a particular article or blog. The question that shopping centers are still trying to answer is whether these influencer initiatives do in fact increase foot traffic and sales transactions, coming as they do from an influencer and not from a shopping center or retailer. Identifying an influencer with a sizable following is fine as far as it goes, but if that does not actually engage the audience or get people into the stores, then there is no real effect. "Ultimately, what we want is people to come into the shopping center to buy," said Lutz. Owners and managers are learning that there is more to social-media strategy than merely posting photos and tweets once or twice a day in hopes of getting noticed. A big part of The #ReimagineCS tagline of Atlanta's Colony Square has generated upwards of 900,000 'social impressions' is now evolving on a daily basis," said Megill. The rapidity of change is keeping owners and property managers on their toes. "In the past, you placed a print or radio ad and it was done. Now you can look at your analytics and you can make changes to your program that day." As property owners look to engage with customers through social-media strategies, they are finding creative ways to start those conversations. Shopping centers are tapping into the social-media connections of established bloggers and similar social-media "influencers" for peer-to-peer marketing on such topics as fashion, food, fitness or parenting. Earlier this summer CBL & Associates Properties began testing influencer marketing for back-to-school shopping initiatives at three of its properties. "What we are doing is cultivating relationships with those individuals so that we can utilize those influencers and their audiences to speak on behalf of our shopping centers," said Brian Lutz, CBL's director of digital strategies. CBL wants those