• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, May 7, 2009

Shooting for greater consumer engagement, Sears Holdings has tapped Chicago-based technology company Viewpoints Network to power two new online communities, MySears.com and MyKmart.com.

Through the networks, MySears and MyKmart members can engage in all the usual SM shenanigans: social profiles, uploading photos, creating user tags, connecting with "friends," writing blog posts, tracking their readership stats, and exchanging private messages with other community members.

The initiative shows just how invested brands are becoming in social media as a marketing medium.

"Engaging our shoppers and providing the tools for them to get advice before they buy are central to our future," said Rob Harles, Sears' vice president of Community.

The Viewpoints Technology Platform also allows MyKmart and MySears members to write personalized reviews, post comments on others' reviews, participate in discussion boards, and post suggestions on which the larger community can vote.

MySears and MyKmart members are also able to read product reviews and display their own reviews, browse MySears and MyKmart by Sears.com or Kmart.com categories and click through to the ecommerce sites to buy products, all from their respective community site.

The immersive nature of both communities represents where social media is heading, according to Viewpoints founder and CEO Matt Moog. "Marketers and their partners need to think long and hard about how to better engage with their customers," said Moog. "Simply asking for someone to write a review and calling it a day is not enough."

Through social marketing, Moog believes he is helping brands to "achieve better insight into what their customers want; strengthen their brand; and drive more profitable sales."

Still, the success of any network is far from certain. In 2006, rival retailer Wal-Mart notoriously failed to gain traction with "The Hub" -- an ill-conceived network geared toward younger shoppers, which shuttered after only ten weeks.