Shopping for friends can be hard. You can make it a lot easier by recruiting social media to help you make up your mind. Here are several unique social media gifts and tools that can make finding that suitably unique present easier than ever before.
Browse Pinterest
Pinterest is far more than just an idea generator and craft exhibit for stay-at-home moms. It’s grown into a complex community for all ages and shoppers, offering multiple products and links to small stores that sell goods you would not be able to find anywhere else.
Look through likely categories to find new ideas about home gifts you can make yourself, or small online stores where you can order the perfect product.
Customized profile products
Customized products now tie into social media in new and often interesting ways. For example, you can buy Twitter Name Necklaces with personalized Twitter handles to celebrate the social media lives of your friends.
You can also print out books made from Facebook timeline histories and create a variety of other products that somehow create a fun physical connection to online social media.
Pick an Instagram photo
Instagram is more popular than ever these days, as people snap and share more and more photos. Beyond the basic service a series of companies has risen to take these snapshots to the next level.
If you find a really good Instagram photo, you can use services like Instacanvas to turn it into a photograph suitable for hanging on the wall. If scrapbooking is more your style, you can try out sites like Printsagram, which allows you to make photobooks of the best snapshots.
Watch Twitter
Twitter is also updating is advertising capabilities. These days, many of the advertisements tie in with what you and your friends like or discuss. Those Twitter advertisements could be a great way to find the inspiration for a gift or even locate a likely brand name.
Watch location services like Foursquare
At first glance it might seem unlikely that you could find anything good at Foursquare, but with a little thought this can be a great source of gift ideas. Watch to see what hangout spots your friends prefer, then buy them gift certificates or gift cards to those places. The more unique the spot, the better!
Look for unique companies
Browse your social networks for unique, interesting companies that offer gifts you could not find anywhere else. Search for local businesses that have strong social media profiles and hard-to-find products, or look for online companies that interact with their customers through social media connections.
Need a little inspiration? Look for services like Letter Perspective’s Alphabet Art, which allows you to customize unique alphabet photos quickly for a great art project/gift.
Review friend profiles
Sometimes your friends will let you know exactly what to buy for their special days; you just have to take a look! Examine friend profiles to find out their interests.
Which authors and bands do they like? What sort of brands or businesses do they act like and comment on? What kinds of music do they stream?
Profile information can furnish all kinds of useful hints to help you make your gift choices.
Use gift finders
If looking through someone’s entire profile sounds like a lot of work, or if your imagination is still struggling to come up with the perfect gift, try looking for a gift finder service that will take care of the job for you.
Etsy offers a gift finder that analyzes Facebook interests and gives you a list of products that could be potential winners. Other gift finders are also available across the Internet if you spend a little time hunting them up.
