Pinterest is good for more than just looking...

http://www.prnewsonline.com/watercooler/Pinterest-Users-in-a-Buying-Mood_16314.html

PR News published a new article about online shopping preferences and how many online sales are coming in through companies using Pinterest. The article said one in four people have clicked on the sharing sites to make purchasing decisions.

"Pinterest is one of the top 10 most visited social networks and is growing at a faster rate than Twitter. That could very well lead to a whole lot of online consumers clicking on images in Pinterest with one hand, while clutching a credit card in the other," said Janet Helm, chief food & nutrition strategist for Weber Shandwick.

The article gives a few tips on how to gain sales from sites like Pinterest. I found this interesting because I am on Pinterest all the time and I have never actually purchased something I have seen on it product wise. I have made random crafts and such, but I have never used it to make purchases. What do you guys think about it?
Do ya'll/your friends buy things off Pinterest? 

Siri takes a star turn

Apple has shifted its marketing strategy by using a new approach to highlight the iPhone 4S's star feature, Siri. Instead of promoting the personal assistant as a business tool for scheduling appointments and avoiding traffic, Apple is pitching Siri as your friend you can have fun with.

Apple's most recent TV ads feature Zoey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson hanging out with Siri and communicating with her as if she were one of their buddies.

I think the shift in Apple's marketing strategy hightlights one of the main reasons Apple remains the leader in its market. Apple is consistently finding new and inventive ways to utilize its products. Apple understands how to keep its target audience interested and entertained while still managing to provide its consumers with useful information. I think that is what sets Apple apart from its competitors.

Many times other smartphone commercials are annoying and get old really fast. The article compares Apple's approach to smartphone marketing with Nokia's advertisement for the Lumia 900 in Russia. Lumia 900's marketing approach uses sex to sell, which in my opinion is a cheap move. I think the iPhone's most recent commercial with Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson is quirky, original and effective. To read the article and watch the advertisements go to http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/17/siri-takes-a-star-turn/?iid=T_Blogs.

Food Network creates "CityEats" which allows for online dining reservations

The Food Network has recently created a site called "CityEats" which allows customers to make dinner reservations online. There's only one problem-- there's already a company which has done this since 1998 called Open Table, Inc. One thing that the owner of the Food Network, Scripps, thinks is that since the website has the Food Network logo that it will attract more customers.

Many are skeptical that CityEats is facing an uphill battle considering Open Table already houses 17,000 restaurants through their site. The way it works is that the restaurant pays the company a start up fee, monthly fee, as well as paying the company $1 for every reservation that is made through them.

Scripps is trying to lure restaurants to their website by offering lower monthly fees, however, Open Table's senior vice president of marketing seems to not be worried.

Branding is a huge thing and Scripps thinks that by having the Food Network brand on their site, will be the lure to win customers and restaurants over. The reservation website is an effort by Scripps to diversity its TV business, which is facing more competition from online video. They are always looking for e-commerce opportunities.

http://global.factiva.com.libproxy.txstate.edu/ga/default.aspx?imt=2&ao=14&aod=1811879

GE defends its reputation

Last year, General Electric reported earning $14.2 billion in profits and paid $0 in taxes. The company wasn't forced to pay taxes because the bulk of its profits were made offshore. GE launched a campaign to reinforce its altruism and involvement in the communities to ease the minds of angered Americans.

Gary Sheffer, VP of communications and public affairs, said that GE does pay taxes, but getting the company's side of the story out has been extremely difficult because of the complex tax laws. The media has accused GE of not only not having to pay taxes, but laying off employees as well.

GE has teamed up with Edelman to launch the campaign "GE works," which highlights its involvement in the cities which it facilitates. This campaign uses digital, media outreach and event components. The company is also using new hiring and training initiatives. An interactive program was created to encourage public interaction through sharing stories, images or video description of what's driving American competitiveness. The project will award $10,000 a week to non-profits that support American jobs and skills training.

http://www.prweekus.com/ge-promotes-its-positive-impact-amidst-criticism/article/236780/

Race for the Cure faces drastic drop in race registration

Several weeks ago Deena blogged about the Susan G. Komen Foundation and its highly controversial decision, which was quickly reversed, to suspend any funding to Planned Parenthood. Retracting the decision was not enough to mend relations with many of the organizations prior supporters.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation is now seeing the aftermath of this controversy. A race on April 21 in Indianapolis, Indiana currently has 30% fewer participants registered than it did at this point last year and has also had an equal drop in event fund raising. This decline is similar to what many other races have seen across the country.

There may be other factors that have influenced this drastic decline in participation but there is no denying that the Planned Parenthood controversy contributed to such a large drop in participation. These are two organizations that shared many supporters and now it is clear that these supporters are taking sides. Komen’s public relations team has a big job in front of them- to earn back the loyalty of upset supporters and mend relations with the Planned Parenthood community of supporters.

Fewer sign up to race for the cure

How Mattel botched the call for Beautiful and Bald Barbie

A Facebook page was created in January encouraging toymaker Mattel to create a special edition, bald Barbie, to help girls with self-esteem issues due to cancer treatments or to help girls cope with their mother's hair loss as a result of chemotherapy. More than 100,000 people world wide liked this page and supported the cause.

Mattel made no statements in response to the Facebook page campaign and they made it seem as if they did not accept ideas from outside sources. Mattel could have also used the bald barbie to supports its Mattel Children's Hospital, but instead they did nothing.

Mattel announced two weeks ago that they would be producing a Bald Friend of Barbie in 2013 that will be distributed to children's hospitals and charities. Mattel announced that they were not creating this Barbie in response to the Facebook page, but it helped them realize how important it was for them to do.

With social media it is important to listen to the community, to help, to respond and to engage. Mattel failed to do any of these things. When Mattel finally responded to the issue, they did not give the community credit for a great idea.

Mattel should have felt the need to respond to this issue right away, instead of three months later. Even if they denied the idea of creating the Barbie, they could have at least addressed the community and thanked them for their support and idea. Since Mattel decided to create a Bald Friend of Barbie, they could have at least given a little credit to the community, but instead they had to take all the credit for themselves. I personally think that could potentially hurt their image because it makes them seem as if they do not want the ideas and support from the community.
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11345.aspx

Lindsey O'Neal

Google+, still hangin' in there!

With the recent purchase of Instagram by Facebook, Google+ is still lagging behind in the race to be "the best social media." Google+. Vic Gundotra, a senior VP at Google, wrote in a blog post that Google+ was going to undergo yet another upgrade in an effort to make it "easier to use and nicer to look at, but most importantly, it accelerates efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google," but I think everyone knows they just want to be better than Facebook.

The most noticeable changes are the design changes that are supposed to make the pages easier to navigate and organize. As mentioned previously, with the Facebook now owning Instagram, Google+ had to improve the way photos were streamed on their user's pages, again, another war with Facebook. But a new feature that is unlike Facebook is the new Explore page, which allows users to see what is really popular in the Google+ world, not just with your friends. True you could always just google trending topics or find those on Twitter, but I guess the Explore option is kind of cool.

But there is no denying that Google+ has something going on for them that Facebook does, and that is The Hangouts. Businesses and friends are using this feature pretty consistently and Google+ has received mostly positive feedback about The Hangouts.

Gundotra says that these changes are laying the groundwork for further improvement to Google+. So keep a look out for all these changes!

So here's to hoping that Google+ finally gets a break and succeeds one of these days. But lets just FACE it, FACEbook is taking over the internet, only a few competitors really stand a chance of being as popular.