Etc.

… you give your fans an offer they can’t receive elsewhere.

I’ve published a few articles of late that indicate a few things: Facebook users do not want to be sold to while they are feeding their chickens on Farmville or whacking someone in Mafia Wars. But consumers who become your fan on Facebook do expect something in return.

It looks like woman’s apparel and accessories seller Nine West is going about it the right way. Marketing firm Fluid launched its Fluid Fan Shop app on Nine West’s Facebook page this week , and it allows the merchant’s Facebook fans to shop for select discounted items without leaving the social network. more

Good news for 1-800-Flowers - it debuted its online store on Facebook today.

Bad news for 1-800-Flowers - its press release does not tell the world how to access its online store on Facebook.

So if you go to Facebook and search 1-800-Flowers, here’s what you’re going to see: more

Nothing really alarming here (except a lot of people may not know that Circuit City was acquired and re-launched as a Web-only venture by Systemax).

The key here is that Circuit City has launched a page on Facebook, and are not censoring the voice of its fans. more

Couldn’t believe what I heard on WCBS-AM 880 yesterday: Gillette put a bunch of videos on YouTube to show guys how to, well, shave down there! Of course curiosity got the best of me… and more than 1 million viewers who learned how to shave a man’s groin (hey, that’s what Gillette calls it!).

Personally I’ll keep my shaving above the neck. But come to think of it, I couldn’t ask my father how to shave my head since it’s something he never did. So the instructional videos seem like a good way for Gillette to build a relationship between a man and his brand of shaving supplies. more

Another sector of retail that’s been looking up is the dollar and closeout stores. And that makes sense, with unemployment out of control and consumers are tightening their belts. I’ve been hearing a lot about the upscaling of Big Lots, which troubles me a bit, and both Dollar General and Dollar Tree recently reported big first-quarter sales increases. more

Thanks for sending me a fully-inflated vinyl chair to promote your new Saturday Evening game shows. Oh, and the matching 32 oz. cup with witty ingredients showing how fun your shows will be. Oh, and the DVD and the press release.

And I’m sure the confused FedEx guy is happy with you, too. Wait till he finds out you sent this to one reporter (me) who doesn’t cover television or entertainment (or work for a publication called “Multichannel News,” or spell his last name with an “e,” but hey, you got the street address right). Or for that matter, that you sent a second one to someone who is no longer with the company! more