I'm Now Actively Using Twitter

It's funny that right after posting earlier about Twitter, I felt guilty -- I've been on Twitter for months now, but hardly ever update it or use it. Then I went to Freelance Writing Jobs, which I check every day for freelance leads, and there was a post by Deb Ng, the site's founder, on Twitter.

Between Facebook, this blog, commenting on other blogs all day and writing blog posts for other Web sites, I guess Twitter just doesn't seem that important to me. But it only takes 30 seconds to update and follow people, so I can do it, right?

So I'm going to attempt to Twitter more (or tweet more? still not sure about the lingo), although I haven't really grasped how I can network and all that. I guess I'll learn!

You can follow me @harney89.

Twitter As a Tool for Business

Twitter is good for business. About 56% of Twitter users say they use the social communication site for business purposes, according to social media guru Rodney Rumford.

Not only for small businesses, Twitter is a "goldmine" for big consumer brands like Starbucks, which currently has about 6 million followers. A MediaPost article also cites a gourmet Korean taco truck business is L.A. that has built a following through Twitter: "The driver tweets where the truck will be 20 minutes ahead of time, and literally hundreds of people show up," one attendee told MediaPost.

The thing to remember to using Twitter as a marketing tool is to treat it like a conversation -- talk with people, not at them. And businesses should expect some negative opinions just as blogs crop up with negative opinions. Businesses need to use those negative opinions to show their strength, says Rumford.

Photo: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=101018

US Airlines to Give Away Drinks on Flights Again

US Airways is the only major domestic airline to charge for sodas, coffee and bottled water on flights, but it's now dropping the fees as of March 1 because "they have become a competitive disadvantage," according to Bloomberg.

Due to customer backlash (gee, you think?) US Airways has decided to listen to customers and abandon the fees. Even the flight attendants didn't want the carrier to impose fees on non-alcoholic drinks because they didn't want to deal with the sales process and unhappy customers, and who can blame them? Also, the flight attendants said that this extra worry compromised their ability to ensure cabin safety.

With consumers getting pickier about their airline choices, this beverage fee was just one more reason for consumers to not pick US Airways. So US Airways made the smart decision and is eliminating the fee this weekend. Good for them.

Photo: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aZO8dzaV3P7s

Tropicana Reverting Back to Old Packaging Due to Consumer Complaints

Tropicana is reverting back to its old look, due to complaints from loyal customers, reports The New York Times. PepsiCo, owner of Tropicana, unveiled the redesign of Tropicana brand of orange juice packaging in January. Customers emailed, called and wrote letters about not liking the new look. Some (including me) think that the new packaging makes Tropicana look like a generic store brand, rather than the Tropicana orange with a straw sticking out of it.

As we can tell from this packaging snafu, consumers do get attached to certain images and packaging. When I went to the store, it looked like the Tropicana was missing, since I was looking for the good ol' orange rather than a glass of OJ. Obviously, many others felt the same.

Of course, the "retaliation" came from a small percentage of Tropicana drinkers, but these are Tropicana's most loyal customers and Neil Campbell, president of Tropicana said “Those consumers are very important to us, so we responded.”

Photos: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/business/media/23adcol.html?_r=1&ref=business

Email Tops List of Advertising Performers

Datran Media surveyed more than 3,000 marketing executives about their anticipated marketing budget changes for 2009. And the advertising method getting thrown the most bones? Email, at 80.4%. Search was the next highest category at 56.8%.

The executives said that new customer acquisition was their most important goal for the year, and apparently email is the way to reach that goal. Newsletters took top billing for the 2009 marketing tactic everyone is planning on utilizing. But yet, budgets are allocated toward email? Sounds like we could all be seeing a lot more e-newsletters this year.

See the results of the study at http://www.datranmediasurvey2009.com/.

Photo: http://ztrek.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

Fees for Bags Here to Stay, says American Airlines

Last year, a barrel of oil was selling for $147, which prompted American Airlines as well as all other airlines to raise the cost of tickets. Another way to recoup expenses was to add a fee to each bag checked. Now that the price of oil is down and the economy is sagging, the airlines were ahead of the game -- charging for bags is here to stay as a way to bolster the airlines' revenues while keeping that $15 off of airline tickets.

American Airlines' Executive Vice President Dan Garton said that bag fees are here to stay and that " they have allowed us to give customers choice. If you carry on your bag or don't take a lot of clothing with you, you don't have to pay the fee. So it is an optional fee. Customers do enjoy having the choice of how much they pay for services. So some people choose not to have bags, some travel with very many bags. I'd say you get what you pay for in this case."

I think this is baloney. This isn't an optional fee. If I don't want to pay the fee but I'm staying somewhere for a week, how am I going to not take more clothes than would fit into a carry-on? So my choice is to wear two outfits all week and wash one while wearing the other? That's ridiculous!

Garton also says "The customers who fly with us most and pay the highest fares do not encounter the same fees as those who fly once a year on a very leisure-based fare." Since I'm on the non-receiving end of this good deal for frequent fliers, I don't much like his reasoning, but, I do get discounts from certain stores that I frequent more than others, so I guess I can see the reasoning. Except, if all airlines do this, then I don't really have a choice, like I do when I go grocery shopping. I could choose to go to one of many grocery stores, but since most airlines (except Southwest! Yay, Southwest!) force fees on checked bags and a tiered pricing system, then I'd say most of us are screwed.

Time to gas up the hybrid!

Photo: Michael J. Carter, http://www.airwaysmag.com/channels.html?article_id=135&channel_id=3

Brands Not Relying on Celebrity Endorsements

Between Michael Phelps' bong photo and Chris Brown's alleged beatings of girlfriend Rihanna, celebrities aren't looking so good in February. And these types of publicity are exactly why more and more brands aren't using celebrities like they used to.

GreenLight found that only 7% of ads aired during the Grammy awards featured celebrity endorsements, down from 13% in 2008 and 21% in 2007.

The use of celebrities isn't going away anytime soon, but brands are definitely looking to reputation and possible repercussions from using any celebrities that might make their products look bad.

Read more at MediaPost News.