Pinterest: glorified window shopping not a theft ring.
Pinterest, man how many times do you see that word in social media these days? I find that lately I am not only seeing it in social media, but also hearing it around the girls dance studio and the hockey rink. And, you have to admit it is a addictive guilty pleasure. Window shopping and finding new brands, laughing at funny pictures and finding new recipes, whats not to like? Well, I have seen plenty of people panicking and warning others of the dangers of copyright violations. In reality Pinterest is online window shopping to the extreme, so I am not too worried right now.
Let’s look at it this way, brands are LOVING it, no doubt. That alone is a reason to not get all upset about it. I cant tell you how many times I found something cute I liked only to click thru Pinterest to the brand page to find out its sold out. C’mon folks that is marketing gold! Companies are putting their catalogs out there online to get lure prospective buyers. Pinners on Pinterest arent copying the item to sell to others to make a profit, they are complimenting it, saying the love it and getting their pin followers to do the same. Photographers are being discovered, brands are finding new customers and blogs are finding new readers.
So far, I have yet to see someone complain (unless I missed it, and if I did, be sure to share it in the comments section) that someone pinning their blog or item from their online store is in violation of copyright infringement, so why should we be so worried. The complaints I have seen are the ones from bloggers or marketers warning of the potential dangers, no specific, “Hey someone on Pinterest stole my work”. These folks arent complaining cause its boosting their business. I will admit, we have seen a increase in traffic thru Pinterest specifically and I wouldnt complain one bit if someone Pinned our blog or a site that we developed, because you know what they aren’t stealing it from me and passing it off as their own. That can happen even if Pinterest didnt exist. No, these Pinners are giving us a great form of flattery, they are telling others that they should check us out. So, for now I say Pin away and help boost a brand you love, keeping them in business means you can love your brand even longer!
Online sales are up, so why are Facebook stores closing?
Facebook store fronts are shutting down as of late. Major retailers like Gap, Nordstrom, GameStop and JC Penney to name a few have shut down their Facebook stores. Shutting them down when the latest Forrester Research report is showing that Americans spent upwards of $200 Billion dollars online last year and predicts that online sales will account for 9% of sales by 2016. Reports indicate that 53% of Americans purchased something online last year. Why then are Facebook stores shutting down?
When you think of Facebook, what initially comes to mind? Friends, social media, networking, privacy issues, security concerns, perhaps brand pages? Is it the first place you would think of to shop? It isnt for me, but maybe for some. People go on Facebook to socialize, network or waste time.
When Facebook announced the stores, some people cheered. Businesses that want to appear advanced in technology but not spend the money to do it, loved it. Some businesses could finally sell online without paying a developer to build them a e-commerce site or spend the money on a boxed solution. Many of these retailers used Facebook as their website as well. These folks thought they could make more money or expand without spending money. Well, you get what you pay for is a great old saying.
With Facebook stores, just like with Facebook brand pages, you have to live by Facebooks rules. One day you could go to your store and find it shut down. Facebook can tell you want you can or cannot have on your own store, simply because its in their house. Bottom line, you don’t own your own store.
What I will never understand is this. People use Facebook for brand pages and now stores. They invest in marketing materials, whether they be fliers, post cards, commercials, newspaper/TV/radio ads, spending good money on advertising. To do what, direct someone where? To Facebook, first and foremost, then to their store or brand page. Well, guess what, that potential client can have every intention of going to your page but get distracted on a friends announcement that Little Suzy took her first steps. How does that help your business? Is that a good use of your marketing budget? Boosting Facebooks traffic & showcasing Little Suzy?
In lieu of creating a Facebook store you have little to no control over why not investigate the actual costs and advantages to having a e-commerce site built for you. Just because Facebook offers it and its easy, doesnt mean its the best route. What happens when Facebook is down tomorrow, there go your sales. When you decided to have your own business or open your own store, wasnt it because you wanted to be your own boss and function by your own rules. So, why then have your store on Facebook where you have to play by their rules? It is your business, consider all your options and take inton consideration that major retailers are closing their stores and deciding to instead stick with their own stores on their own domains.
What about you, have you shopped via a Facebook store or do you just go right to the retailer or one of their merchants? If online sales are increasing, why do you think the Facebook stores are closing?
3 Things to consider when choosing a webhost.
Todays post was written by the founder of SYDCON, Dave Devitt.
Over the past several weeks we’ve had a rash of misfortunes with 3rd party webhosts with a few of our clients. I know your probably thinking “Doesn’t SYDCON host their clients websites?” Yes, we do provide hosting services, but sometimes we are not the right match for the website or our client would like to stay where they are currently hosting their site. So we often tell our client to consider the following when deciding to stay with their current webhost or move to a new one.
Bigger is not always better
Recently one client of ours was with a very large hosting provider. They went from a static html website to a newly designed website with a CMS that we programmed. Their hosting account wasn’t enabled for PHP & MySQL. So our client battled with the host to have them enabled. This ended up taking 2 FULL weeks to accomplish. On top of that, the host installed a version of PHP that was 6 years and 14 versions old.
Smaller is not always better
Another client of ours was hosting with a very small local company. The client was not happy with the service they were receiving from their host, so they wanted to move. We were assisting our new client in the move and needed to get the standard FTP info, cPanel info, etc. to get the files and database to install on our server. Our client reached out to the host to get this information and low and behold the webhost just packed up and moved with no forwarding phone or address! Apparently this was a one man show hosting operation and luckily our client found his FTP info so we were able to get the website files and through some highly intelligent programmers on staff, we were able to grab the database thru code.
You get what you pay for
Although it looks highly attractive, the low budget webhosts are not always the best choice. From our experience, some of these hosts will only perform backups one or two times a week, not backup databases, have hundreds of websites on your server or have offshore customer support. Now I’m not saying you should invest hundreds of dollars per month in dedicated hosting fees if it’s not necessary. But you should consider this…what type of support can be expected from a $4.00 per month host?
So the bottom line is do your homework when deciding on a new webhost. Ask your developer for suggestions or recommendations on who would be a good match for you website. Since 1998, we’ve worked with very many hosting companies, and can recommend some very good ones (outside of us) and some to stay far, far away from. Do you have a nightmare-hosting story you can share? Or recommend a good one?
Happy Holidays from SYDCON Web Development!
All of us at SYDCON would just like to take a moment to wish you a very Happy Holidays! Just like last year I would like to share one of my favorite Christmas Songs! Go have a listen to the Barenaked Ladies version of Jingle Bells. If you have never heard this version, boy are you in for a treat! If this doesnt put you in a grand holiday mood, surely you must be Mr. Scrooge!
So, while I peak out from under all the flour, chocolate chips, cookie dough & sprinkles long enough to extend the warmest wish to you all, know that we appreciate you more than you know! To all of our friends, customers, acquaintances take this time to unplug & enjoy your family and friends! We have had such a marvelous 2011 with you all, we can not wait to see what 2012 brings! Cheers!
Make a difference this holiday, get a BlueKey
Tis the season as the saying goes. This season take a minute if you will to think of others. This season, consider spending $5 to purchase a BlueKey to help 43.7 million people forcibly displaced worldwide. This season do something to make a difference. Many of you I am sure recall the song “Do They Know its Christmas” by Band Aid. If you don’t or its been a while, go have a listen while you continue to read.
“No one chooses to be a refugee, forced from home, family and everything they have ever known. Yet 43.7 million people around the world—nearly the combined populations of Colombia or South Korea, or of Scandinavia and Sri Lanka combined—find themselves in this exact position. Everyday doors have been closed to them.
In December 2011, UNHCR will commemorate 60 years of working to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees and internally displaced people. Our goal is for 6,000 U.S. residents – thoughtful, caring people like you — to get a Blue Key. By doing so, you’ll tell the millions of refugees worldwide that they’re not invisible, and our staff that their live-saving work does not go unnoticed. If you’d like to do more to support our cause, we’d love to have you.”
I made a pledge to become a BlueKey Champion and help spread the word, and I am urging you to join me and do the same. I am doing this to show our children that there is a very different alternative to the life they are fortunate to live. I am doing this to show them that there are people in need and we are going to do what we can to help them.
Last year, at Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law Don (who always cooks enough to feed an army) packed up some food and he and Dave took our two older children out for a ride. See my brother-in-law lives in the city of Chicago, and not far from him, he has homeless people who live under the viaduct. My kids got to see first hand how they live and were touched when they saw their Dad give them the food they so desperately needed. So touched in fact, that our oldest daughter, Sydney urged no one to take home the left overs since there were others who needed them. This year at Thanksgiving the kids asked repeatedly were they going to go with their Dad & Uncle Don to do the same? Turns out, Uncle Don had done so earlier in the day prior to our arrival, and the kids didnt go with, but they were more than pleased to know he had done so.
This year, we were walking around downtown and there was a young mother and her two children huddled under a pedestrian safety walkway cover, looking for food or whatever you could spare. It was cold, and my children inquired why were they sitting huddled down there. They took notice, but still needed a chat to drive home the very real facts before them. So, I purchased my BlueKey to show a symbol to make them ask, “Mom, what is that?”, to make them aware whenever we can.
If you can take a moment, and spare that $5, please visit The BlueKey campaign and make a difference today. Make it a great stocking stuffer or ornament for your tree, give it as a gift to help spread the word. We can be like Band Aid and help feed the world!
The Importance of the Web In Public Relations
SYDCON is thrilled to welcome Gini Dietrich CEO of Arment Dietrich & author of the amazing Spin Sucks as a guest blogger today! YEAH! If you are not familiar with the Spin Sucks blog, go there immediately after you read this, you won’t be disappointed!
The last time public relations was defined was 1982.
A lot has changed since then.
There is this thing called technology that is changing the PR industry every day, let alone in the last 30 years. PRSA is in the middle of redefining PR, which is great. But it’s not allowing for things PR professionals need to incorporate into their skill sets. Things such as web development, mobile marketing, search, and optimized content.
The web, it turns out, is extremely important in the job of a PR professional. Much more important today than it was even three years ago.
It used to be your website was an online version of your corporate brochure. But times, they are a changin’. Your website now needs to be a living and breathing thing that changes daily, if not multiple times a day.
We used to have paid media (advertising) and earned media (media relations). Now we have owned media, which is the content you produce and distribute.
Owned media is great because, if you can write in an engaging and conversational way, while adding value, you no longer have to depend on media buys and influencers and journalists to tell your story for you. You can do it yourself.
PR professionals have always had to be good writers. Writing for the web is not a new skill, but is a twist on the types of writing we’ve always done. Rather than it being newsworthy or polished, it becomes a conversation. Rather than it being a way to shout messages, it becomes a dialogue.
The web is redefining the way we do our jobs and it’s up to us to keep up. I imagine a world where the web is creating 90 percent of our business opportunities, while the remaining 10 percent is still focused on the important face-to-face meetings.
If PR professionals don’t soon figure out how to use the web to their advantage, the industry, as a whole could die.
Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, the author of Spin Sucks, the founder of the forthcoming Spin Sucks Pro, and the co-author of the soon-to-be-published Marketing In the Round.
Social media ridicule to get new business?
Yes, you read my title correctly. I have seen people attempt to use social media ridicule to get new business!!! Now, I have no clue if its working, I hope and pray that it isn’t! But, when I see this occur it really makes me want to call out the bully by name and draw negative attention to the tweets, but I know that wont accomplish anything, its just more finger pointing.
I have been stewing about this for awhile as there is a company who does this quiet often on Twitter. After reading Ken Muellers recent post “Quit Yer Whinin’” about using our big stick responsibly I started festering about this more. Allow me to give an example of what I am seeing below. (All twitter handles have been changed)
GraphicDesignerMaster @xyzcompany We’ll redo your website; we tend to make things not shitty graphicdesingmaster.com
GraphicDesingerMaster I can’t believe @innocentcompany has such a horrible website. Can we help you guys out? Would love to pour some design magic to make this sell.
Now those are only two of the many appalling tweets I have seen from the same company. Targeting innocent companies who it appears they would like to do work for. Now, maybe it is just me, but I wouldn’t run out and hire someone to give me a new design image that publicly ridiculed me out of the blue.
I have had a specific conversation with GraphicDesignerMaster, and can tell you first hand that he believes he is holier than thou and that his design trumps all design. He has no problems hurling insults even when unprovoked. My conversation, mind you started on twitter and went to email. I immediately un-followed the company but it has been like a train wreck that I keep going back just to see what kind of appalling crap he is spewing now.
My question is this. When we witness this type of bullying on social media, what is the appropriate way to respond? Never in my gawking have a I witnessed the innocent firm that was being attacked take his bait and reply. However, I think that someone needs to call him on the carpet publicly. He is insulting companies without warrant or being provoked.
I get that it probably (hopefully) isnt winning him any new business, whether it be from his target or anyone just looking into his firm, but still. So, what are your thoughts? If you see social media bullying, how do you respond? If you havent seen it or responded to it, what is your opinion on handling it?
Happy Thanksgiving!
SYDCON would like to take a moment to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all of our clients, friends, family & readers! We would like everyone to know just how thankful we are! It’s been a wonderful year. We are so grateful for all of our clients, new & old! We are thankful for our friends and families and colleagues.
It is our sincere hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, spent with your loved ones! Take this time to appreciate the little things in life. Enjoy time with your families, take a minute find enjoyment in the season.
Let’s take some time to share our traditions. In our family, our kids are off the entire week of Thanksgiving, so we enjoy some quality time with them. We then celebrate on Thanksgiving Day with a wonderful meal with our families appreciating all the wonderful gifts in our life, as well as celebrating my father-in-laws birthday! We then like to watch repeats of Thanksgiving episodes of our favorite shows, and maybe catch the first annual showing of Home Alone! We typically end the week by decorating our home for Christmas & ordering Chinese Food on Friday, and usually a hockey tournament!
What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving? Is it the food, the company, the weather, sports, the anticipation of the Black Friday sales, the Christmas movies they start showing? We would love to hear how you celebrate and share your traditions!
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Kindle Fire (a review)
I decided to upgrade my 2nd Generation Kindle to a Kindle Fire I loved my Kindle simply for what it was a well made, easy to use e-reader. I liked the fact that if I could keep the title or genre of the book I was reading to myself if I chose (I could say, read about politics at my kids activities without having a uncomfortable conversation pop up). I liked the fact I could read my Kindle in direct sunlight and have a vast library of free books to explore and find new authors to love.
So, ok I really enjoy my Kindle, why upgrade? If you are in the market for a tablet and cannot afford or justify a iPad, then I would say this is for you. HOWEVER, it really is no comparison to the iPad. The Kindle Fire has excellent color and is easy to use. It is light weight and a nice size for reading. I found reading on the iPad to be cumbersome. That being said, I am not sure reading in direct sunlight (havent tried it yet though) on the Fire will be any better than the iPad so my original Kindle still has the plus there.
The Amazon store is much more user friendly on the Fire than on the original Kindle. I love that I can play Words With Friends on there (do you play, find me on Twitter & we will set up a game!). Any functions other than reading require you to be in a WiFi area.
There are a few things I wish Amazon would change on a whole for the Kindles. Like library passwords. I plan on giving my 13 year old my old Kindle, but I really dont want to share my entire library with her. Currently the only way to work around this is to make a new account and move original Kindle there. I could then lend her books. I think Amazon needs to create a way to lock books, etc outside of the primary screen lock. I aslo think Amazon needs a rating system so that kids or teens with Kindles can be restricted if you choose.
The Kindle Fire does have the option of TV/Movie streaming with Amazon Prime, which I havent done yet. I think that option and book rentals as well as the price point will make it attractive to parents of teenagers who really want a tablet.
Overall, if you are in the market for a e-reader or lower end tablet, Kindle Fire will not disappoint. The price, color quality, ease of use coupled with Amazon’s library makes it a good buy at $199.
Happy 13th to the Syd of SYDCON!
Today I become the mother of a teenager girl. 13 years ago today Sydney or the SYD of SYDCON came into the world. So if you bear with me, this will be more of a personal, sentimental blog.
13 years ago on November 10, 1998 Sydney made her entry into the world, and changed our lives forever. In typical Sydney fashion she came into the world the hard way, making life difficult. You see she flipped to breach the day she was born & was backwards! Yes the girl who has grown into an amazing dancer somehow started out life backwards! Because she was backwards, she also gave me one of the many scars of motherhood, a c-section scar. That scar was worth it, and is a badge of honor I wear proudly. That coupled with the stretch marks my kids so generously provided. I like to tell the kids these badges give me the right to make the rules, and say, “Because I said so!” I earned that much!
In 13 years we have watched Sydney grow into a beautiful (hey I am not just biased, check out that photo!), exceptionally smart (Straight A) student, outstanding dancer and excellent artist. While she is confident and strong willed & stubborn, she is also timid at times…just try getting her to walk before she was a year and a half old, or ride a bike before she was ready, or go on roller coasters. But she is who she is and we couldn’t be prouder. She is a hip/hop ballerina whose is also on her schools Pom Squad & they just placed 1st over the weekend!
I don’t know how I will handle being the Mom of a stubborn teenage girl, but I do know from the experience of the first 13 years, she will give me more battle wounds to wear proudly. And, somehow I will make it through it (I have to, I have 2 other kids waiting to be teenagers too!). I may have more grey hairs to cover up, I may have many sleepless nights and I will certainly have senseless arguments and have to pick my battles. But down the line, I know I will get the pleasure of watching her grow into a beautiful, intelligent, confident, strong women who will not be bossed around! The teen years will require lots of visits to the salon to cover the grey’s, lots of bottles of wine, plenty of margaritas, and hey probably even some strong shots every now and then too! But, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
If you are the parent of a teen, what words of wisdom can you offer to help me survive? If you are about to be the parent of a teen, join in we can commiserate together! So, join me in wishing Sydney happy 13th Birthday!
Love Mom!