The top-rated NBC10 ConsumerWatch’s Tracy Davidson gives a step-by-step guide on how to approach Black Friday interviewed AVM Internet Solutions, Inc. President, Vincent Gentile on what consumers can expect through social media marketing this holiday season.

In the interview, Gentile shared that retailers will connect with their fan base through the social media networks, especially Facebook.  Retailers will be twitting and posting store hours, coupons, sales, hard to find toys and electronics. This will work in conjunction with highly targeted e-mail marketing campaigns.  “Don’t forget, retailers have spent the last six to twelve months refining their social media campaigns. They have acquired fans and a large amount of demographic and behavior information that they will use when targeting their base.” said Gentile.

Why Social media Marketing..? “Retailers need to be in the social media networks because that’s where consumers are engaged. A recent Harris poll shows that 64% of the population, 18 and older, is engaged in some form of social networking. This is a number that’s too large to ignore, so retailers need to engage on that level as well.”

“Businesses today know that virtually all of their customers are online. In order to survive and thrive during these competitive times, they must have a solid interactive marketing program to reach their customers,” said Gentile.  “The substantial ROI businesses can see from a successful interactive marketing program can deliver is immense.  A successful interactive marketing program consists of much more than a website and Facebook page. It effectively  leverages professional website development, email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing (SMM), and other emerging strategies and technologies — all at potentially a much lower cost than traditional advertising.”


Gentile’s interview included:

  • What consumers can expect from retailers this holiday season.
  • How to maximize ROI through a successful interactive marketing campaign and why often it is more cost-efficient to turn such a campaign over to professionals.
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