The road less traveled

Although most retailers are turning to Facebook and Twitter to host their social-networking initiatives, Sears Corp. has created its own brand-specific community sites. The company recently launched MySears and MyKmart, which feature blogs, message boards and product reviews, allow users to interact and share their insights and experiences with others.

Overall, industry experts recommend focusing on creating a marketing presence on large social networks instead of going at it alone to save resource dollars and tap into an existing market where consumers are already socializing. Plus, there's no guarantee consumers will come to a retailer's social networking site.

Sears Corp. does have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube, but it will be interesting to see how well its efforts on MySears and MyKmart fare in comparison ...