Inside Facebook

With the holiday shopping season gearing up, Dell, eBay, and Sephora are kicking off virtual gift campaigns on Facebook throughout the Thanksgiving weekend. 250,000 of each of the sponsored holiday shopping-themed virtual gifts will be available.

Dell’s virtual gift is a red laptop with a ribbon, and is part of a broader social media campaign on Facebook driving traffic to Dell’s Facebook Page. Dell’s Facebook Page also promotes a Dell application called Share (RED) by Dell that is part of a Product RED marketing campaign.

Sephora is alternating between two virtual gifts: its trademark makeup palette and its black and white shopping bag with red tissue paper. Sephora is also driving traffic to its Facebook Page, which is also promoting its Mistletoe Makeover campaign where users can send personalized greeting cards to their friends.

eBay’s virtual gift is a gift box with the eBay logo on it “as a way to get people talking about their online shopping and bidding for holiday gifts,” Facebook says. eBay is also running a series of Facebook Ads.