WebProNews

An increasing number of retailers are turning to social media to target teens and young adults during the back to school shopping season according to JupiterResearch.

Retailers are trying out a number of Web 2.0 tools for their back to school marketing campaigns, including using virtual worlds, social networks, social shopping sites, visual search engines, video and widgets.

"The back-to-school season has grown in importance for retailers and leads into the all important fourth quarter sales period," said Patti Freeman Evans, Research Director and Online Retail Analyst at JupiterResearch. "With the shaky economy expected to impact the amount of money consumers spend on back-to-school shopping, retailers are using social media to capture the attention of younger consumers."

Clothing retailer J.C. Penny created an online game to promotes its new clothing line and Sears did a similar campaign to showcase the different clothing sold by the company.

Retailers like Victoria's Secret and Apple have focused on the college age demographic. Victoria's Secret teamed up with 33 universities to launch a shirt campaign. As part of Apple's back to school promotion, students and faculty of an accredited university receive a free iPod with the purchase of a computer.

"Retailers experimenting with Web 2.0 experiences will largely find benefit from them in the form of branding and awareness building rather than direct sales as social media has shown little direct impact on actual online retail sales," said David Schatsky, President of JupiterResearch.