Industry News

Online Retailers Gear Up For Free Shipping Day

Have you finished all your holiday shopping yet?  Have you been taking advantage of the discounts offered exclusively on social media sites?  If you still have yet to finish your holiday shopping and plan on purchasing online items, tomorrow is the last day to really guarantee that your gifts will arrive by Christmas.  Both online stores and consumer can really take advantage of this and profit in the end.

While we have passed Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the week before Christmas eve, which happens to be Thursday this year, is known as Free Shipping Day.  It is the second annual event according to FreeShippingDay.com, which is about promoting free shipping and guaranteeing arrival before Christmas Day.  (more…)

Bit.ly Fights Back Against fb.me & goo.gl

Yesterday was a big day for Facebook & Google, as they both announced they were releasing their own shortening services.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post this creates some major competition for exclusive shortening service websites like bit.ly and tinyurl.com.  While that remains true, bit.ly is fighting back in a major way.

In a blog post released Monday evening, the company announced bit.ly Pro account.  While it may not seem like such a big deal, it’s what the account offers which is going to attract a lot of businesses and bloggers.  (more…)

Tweeting The Twitter 12

Last week, I shared with you a report from The Big Money, which came up with a list of some of the world’s top 50 companies using Facebook to their advantage.  After the article was released, the online magazine revealed another list known as the Twitter 12. 

To figure out who would make it on the list, the company asked themselves one main question: Which companies get the most out of Twitter?   The Big Money looked at a number of statistics, such as the number of followers, Twitter growth from September through November, how often and what exactly are these companies tweeting.  The magazine only included companies with more than a million followers.   (more…)

The New Aol Launches

Today AOL launched the new independent ‘Aol.”  The one time powerhouse Internet Service Provider is trying to gain it’s strength back, while its traffic is expected to grow significantly in the weeks and months ahead.

As you’ll notice, AOL’s blue triangle logo is now gone and is replaced by a number of unique objects, such as a goldfish, monster, colored inks, and more than a dozen other options.  The company wanted users to choose what logo they felt appropriate, and change it as often as they’d like to create a positive user experience.  You’ll also notice that not all the letters are capitalized anymore, and it ends with a period.  The once owned by Time Warner company, is officially out on their own and they are definitely trying to make a statement.  (more…)

Dell Thanks Twitter For $6.5 Million

It would make sense that a major computer company would use its computers to market their product.  Earlier this year Dell joined the Twitter bandwagon, and currently is one of the most followed companies with just under 1.5 million followers.

In a blog post this morning, Lionel Menchaca, Dell’s Chief Blogger, wrote that social media brings, “a way to listen, learn and engage with customers, with a clear emphasis on the engage part of the equation. It allows us to further those direct connections with customers while also sharing what we are all about, making technology work, work better and harder for you.” (more…)

Amazon Not To Open Brick And Motar Store

Over the weekend, news swirled that Amazon.com,  the largest marketplace in the world was in the process of secretly searching to create a few actual brick and motar stores in the UK.  The news broke by the British newspaper, The Sunday Times stated:

Property landlords said that the American company, which has a market value of $59.1 billion (£35.6 billion), had launched a secret search for bricks-and-mortar stores to support its rapidly growing website. It is understood to be scouring the country for high-profile sites just as the Borders book chain is shutting up shop. (more…)

Twitter Working Harder For Online Businesses

In hopes to get off the Twitter growth plateau, the microblogging company is expanding it’s services to help online stores connect with their customers even more.  It seems nearly all online businesses have links encouraging you to follow the company on their social networking sites.

Twitter is launching a new API, which will allow anyone to sign up for a Twitter account from a third party application or website.  The new feature will allow anyone to watch Twitter conversations between the company and customers in real time on their sites.  (more…)

A New Way To Explore With Google

Right now, I’m in the midst of my Christmas shopping, while getting adjusted to living in a new city.  I’m trying to learn the in’s and out’s along with trying to find the little hidden secrets of Seattle.  Personally, I’m an explorer, so whether I’m in the mountains of Peru, on the streets of Paris, or walking down Main Street USA, one of my life goals is to experience and see as much as possible.  I love doing everything from the touristy things, to randomly picking a street to walk down, not knowing what lies ahead.  (more…)

From the Forbes 500 to the Facebook 50

Every year, it seems many of us wait for the list to see which companies will make it on to the Fortune 500.  Well now, a few of those companies have joined a new list.  The Facebook 50.  The new group was created by The Big Money, an online magazine focusing on the important aspects of economics and money.  The list covers to top ranking companies who are using Facebook to the best of their advantage.

Many have questioned The Big Money, because besides Facebook, there are plenty of other social media platforms companies are using, Twitter for example.  However the website explains, “social media is highly fickle; there is some reason to think that as soon as a site becomes an effective platform for corporate promotion, its irrelevance is imminent. That could still happen to Facebook, and in the last several months Twitter has gained a lot of momentum and millions of users. For now, however, Facebook still offers several advantages over its rivals: size, return usage, and the depth and variety of what companies can do.” (more…)

The Truth About Cyber Monday

As I am sure you are aware, today is Cyber Monday.  A day supposed to be filled with discounts and deals for online shoppers.  While you will find many great deals, some are questioning whether Cyber Monday is real or just a smart business ploy.  It seems to be a bit of both.  Let me explain.

Just 4 years ago, in 2005, Shop.org coined the phrase ‘Cyber Monday’ in order to bring more traffic to their website.  A year later, hundreds of other online retailers jumped on board and started an Internet tradition.  While Black Friday, remains the biggest shopping day of the year, CyberMonday surprisingly is actually not the biggest online shopping day.  One year after Cyber Monday started, Scott Silverman, Executive Director for Shop.org, said “It was not the biggest day, but it was an opportunity to create some consumer excitement.”  (more…)