Eye Candy: Will business see the big picture in Pinterest?

In the last year, and in the midst of the social (but highly un-social) revolution there have been a large number of social media startups to take the world by storm. Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr and LinkedIn to name a few, but none more than the growing social media giant, "Pinterest". Over the past three months Pinterest have grown their usership by as much as 155% per month and (naturally) presented massive growth opportunities for businesses  to visually promote their brands, their products and their company culture with the power of repins.
Although Pinterest has recieved much coverage in terms of the value of user engagement and brand exposure, there are still questions to the matter of how effective is Pinterest in generating ROI (return on investment) as users are not yet converting their (P)interest into actual sales. It is already proven that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can do the trick, and it is said that Pinterest generates two the three times the amount of coverage and interaction than Twitter; so why is the P.R world so skeptical?


In an article addressing this very topic, P.R journalist Geoff Livingston says that despite all the rage about the new social platform, it is really too early to go nuts. "Outside driving traffic and Pinterest follower counts, most businesses don't have any outcomes to offer," he says. "Pinterest is a huge experiment in marketing". So far most of the articles declaring statistics about its success are predominantly referring us towards fashion or food retail, a department which has always been visually appealing and therefore cuts straight into the core of Pinterest users. But what does it mean for the rest of us?

Livingstone says the reality just doesn't meet the hype, not yet at least. "Experts who tout Pinterest as the second coming of Facebook need to answer the ROI question or damper the enthusiasm. Otherwise, we’ll be pinning burst bubbles in six months." Personally, I think this outlet for visual communication is a fantastic and promising platform for a similar style of visual engagement proved successful by many companies via Instragram, and it's proven that people are waking up to the opportunities it presents (155% growth per month!!). It really just depends on how people use it strategically. There is a massive opportunity for even tech companies and not-for-profits to engage with innovate ideas and an already proven example of this is General Electric, who pinned "bad-ass machines", their events and the history of their company and invited users to view and re-pin their company culture on a personal level. As a consequence of this, their top 10 most used links to their website following were coming from Pinterest.

I think that livingstone is right to question the value of Pinterest, especially in light of how quick everybody in the marketing world seems to have jumped on the bandwagon. I think that until we see results in business than there is no way to declare it the new big thing. Despite this, I believe in the power of Pinterest. It may not be the "new" big thing, but it is definitely the "next" big thing, and social media marketers need to be brave in order to see results in the future.

Check out the article by Geoff Livingstone, "What is the ROI on Pinterest?"

sourced from P.R Daily Online

Strange Talk

I never thought it would ever come to this. But I'm starting to realise that as I get older I fall more and more out of touch with new (out of charts) music. As a youngen I always thought I was on the cutting edge and that I'd always be catching wind of the cool stuff that nobody else knew about, but an increasingly busy lifestyle and work schedule means less time sitting in my short shorts scouring the internet for that next big thing (that sounds a little bit nasty doesn't it). That being said, since I've been back in Australia I'm starting to catch on to some cool Aussie stuff whenever I get some free time.

I picked up "Strange Talk" when an English mate of mine sent over their first single and hit "Climbing Walls" but only really payed attention about a year later when I somehow got their new single "Sexual Lifestyle" stuck in my head on Australia Day. I don't know how it happened but these guys will snowball into your life so quickly it's ridiculous. They only have an EP out at the moment but with their new single "Sexual Lifestyle" hitting radio's quite frequently, I'm sure there's an album on the way.

Here is "Sexual Lifestyle" as well as one of the unreleased songs from the EP that I just love, "Is It Real?" Enjoy, Strange Talk.

Lin-Sanity!

It took them a solid two weeks to catch on to the "Lin-Sanity" surrounding New York Knicks wonder child Jeremy Lin and the already out dated puns that came with him. But NBC's long running sketch show, Saturday Night Live this weekend produced a hilarious skit playing off ESPN's most recent journalistic muff up.

 I'll admitt when I heard about this being the opening sketch, paired with SNL's habit of producing incredibly sub-par, politically charged openers - I was worried it may just be another over use of the cringe worthy Jeremy Lin puns that had been splashed throughout the American sports media for the last two weeks. However, what I saw was a great spin, focusing on the recent racist remarks made by an ESPN jouralist (who was fired that day) and perhaps more importantly, the current state of American sports journalism in relation to the hypocrisy of racism in America. As they say in the short, American media has learned through such figures as Jackie Robinson to be "Tolerant". But of which race?

Stars Bill Hader as the host of New York Sports Now Dan Mardell, and Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah as two black commentators; and of course the white guy. Enjoy.

Sands on Sunday

Avoca Sands Cafe, Avoca Beach

 Lately I've been trying to think of something extravagant to bring to the blog, waiting for the next road trip far away from here, that crazy night out exploring new places, scouring the internet for something that tickled my fancy enough to write about. It turns out it was unnecessary, as today I stumbled upon a not so hidden, local gem that had (to my disappointment) eluded me for the entire time I have lived on the Central Coast.

 I hadn't been to Avoca since my teenage years when I'd hear about those classic under age drinking sesh's going down at the beach and quite frankly until now I had no reason to go there again; but today called for something new. I took my girlfriend (who is from Germany, so everywhere is new to her) down to the main beach access so we could scour the area for sweet spots to have lunch and right there opposite the surf club is the Avoca Sands Cafe. 

View from the Rocks at Avoca Beach

  As far as the venue goes, the outside terrace boasts the greatest of vibes. The bustling beach activity on a sunny day combined with the serene soundtrack of the ocean crashing against rocks and sand provides the perfect atmospheric backdrop for a summer lunch date. The inside of the place is fairly modern and the location makes you feel like you should be paying a little bit more than what the menu prescribes. Despite these being all massive positives, a cafe/restaurant is only really as good as the food it serves and this is what made Avoca Sands truly excellent.

  The inclusion of an all day breakfast menu is not something I've seen at a lot of places on the coast and as the type of person that loves a good brekky but tends to sleep through the appropriate time slot on the weekend, it was very exciting to see. I saw some other people with delicious looking plates and decided that lunch by the beach meant seafood, so I went with the "Fisherman's Plate". All I can say is amazing. A combination of perfectly seasoned and crispy salt and pepper squid; massive, freshly cooked prawns; super succulent after the crunch, deep friend Barramundi and last but not least the suspect 'soft shell crab', which actually looked like something from TLC's Bizarre Foods but ended up being really tasty after I came to terms with the texture and focused on the taste.

The Fisherman's Plate

 The food was undoubtedly the highlight. But the service, venue and overall experience of the place was wicked for a relaxing Sunday afternoon and I'll definitely be back again with friends to also check out the upstairs Glasshouse restaurant and bar. I noticed the place also has a Friday & Saturday dinner menu, Jazz from 6pm and a stunning selection of boutique beers on tap for just $6 (my favourite!). I kind of feel like I've been missing out all this time, and just when I thought the coast has nothing more to offer.

A Pod Where Everybody Knows Your Name

When I was doing a road trip throughout the United States late in 2010, the hours of driving mixed with an all too familiar iPod shuffle list drove me towards Australia's radio darlings, Hamish and Andy and their pod cast series. Although the new found passion for this particular series was short-lived, it opened my eyes to the magic of pod casts and made me curious as to what other comedy gems were out there when the music runs dry.

My search led me straight to Podfaces. Another chat-show style pod cast streamed straight from the couch in some guys living room. Led by the voices of the pod faces themselves, Anf, Josh and the Spice Rack, subscribers receive a weekly cast filled with the most obtuse humour guaranteed to ever hit open ears. Their unique brand of topical banter is worth hours of chuckling on the way to work or uni. When I say topical, I mean it in the most unorthodox way possible.

Whether it's engineering weird social experiments, baiting angry trick or treaters or even listening to my own sister's 'letter to the editor' get shot down hard live. Highly recommended and best to listen to in the car, on the train or any other setting that allows you to tune out, turn your brain off and just let the podfaces boys do all your pondering for you.

Recommended Links:

• Subscribe and listen to the weekly pod cast @ Podfaces on iTunes

• Check out their facebook @ PodFaces

Cake Boss

This weekend we had an early family Christmas gathering due to the enourmosity and hectic lifestyles of our group. Luckily enough it coincided with my sisters 21st birthday. My cousin Melissa has been taking some cake decorating classes and decided to come up with a special birthday cake displaying one of Ellie's (my sister's) favourite anime cartoon characters. I thought it was definately impressive enough to blog about. It also sparked my interest in this new lifestyle channel phase of cake decorating. Great little hobbie for one with the time and patience to pull it off.

Related Links:

• Buy supplies for cake decorating @ Cake Decorating Central

• Find out how @ Learn-Cake-Decorating

Search for Summer

As my first summer back in Australia in two years approaches, I was really expecting more than this. The five days per week of rain or cloud that we've had lately just isn't painting the appropriate picture of a country built on fun in the sun. It got to me so much that this weekend, my girlfriend and I packed our bags and went on a weekend trip to northern NSW and the Gold Coast in order to hunt down this elusive summer sun.

 Waking up at 3am to drive for 9 hours straight isn't always the best start to a Saturday, but after weekends of nothing but work, casual drinks and evading the rain my tired eyes came paired with a bit of excitement. I'd never been to Byron Bay and welcomed the excuse to take my girlfriend Lea there for a birthday surprise. Cutting through the first few hours quickly we arrived at Coffs Harbour Jetty for breakfast at the "Y Knot Yacht Club". We chose it mainly because it was the only place serving breakfast right next to the beach but thank god we did. It was without a doubt one of the best breakfasts I'd ever experienced, all at a reasonable price and with fantastic ocean views. Although it was only a short stop on our weekend away, I made sure to grab a business card hoping to return sometime or at least spread the word about this great spot.

 Eventually we made it to our first destination, Byron Bay, only to discover to our horror that it was still Schoolies Week. All of a sudden I was a toolie (and even more so on the next stop, Surfers Paradise). We were lucky enough to have not booked backpackers accomodation or a hotel for this stop, but instead a space to camp at Belongil Fields, down the road from the main beach and shops. It was a bit more peaceful than the sloppy main streets of Byron and we were happy to see a few people our own age turn up for a bit of weekend camping. At only $15 bucks a head, you are able to choose any spot in the field to set up base; most people might remember it as the main area for accomodation for the former "Splendour in the Grass" festival. I really enjoyed it as a place to crash and it helped that it was only a short walk into the town.

The most obvious highlight of this place is it's main beach. The whitest of white sand paired with crystal blue water and nice predictable waves make it perfect for any type of beach person, whether you like to chill on the beach or hit something abit harder. Byron Bay basically sells itself. While being busy enough to build an amazing social atmosphere, it also feels hidden enough to be your own little secret, soemthing that I feel is very important in travel. My own personal highlight was the aptly named beachside pub, "The Beach Hotel". Although it was schoolies week, I somehow got the impression that this Saturday was just like every other. The all round setup of the place was great, especially the stage designed for bands and DJ's that positioned the beach hotel as a top spot for live music. The tables were packed and the vibe was unbelievable with DJ Alison Wonderland bringing the house down with some of the best and most original mixes I've heard in a long time.

Next day we got up early for some brekky, said goodbye to Byron and drove to Surfers Paradise to grab some sun, only to be hit by a gang of storm clouds. Although there was no storm while we stayed there, it was a bit dissapointing to come all this way in search of summer only to find the same stuff that I've become accustomed to back home. Despite this, Surfers Paradise was everything that I remembered it to be from my experience of Schoolies week five years ago. The beach almost looks man made next to the strip of skyscrapers that lines it, but is beautiful nevertheless. I love the party atmosphere here that almost makes it like a tiny, casino-less version of Las Vegas with tours and discounts being handed out all over the place and drinks and good times being shared everywhere you look. We had dinner at an amazing place called "Waxy's Irish Pub". It wasn't amazing just because of the pub; as a generic Irish pub it was actually quite ordinary. The deals they had this particular Sunday however was what made this place great. $2 steaks (I shit you not) and $3 budweisers. When I asked how long this was for, the bartender replied casually "Until we run out". Sold. Best place for afternoon drinks and dinner.

The backpackers hostel we stayed at, the "Surf 'N Sun Beachside Backpackers" is currently in the top ten highest rated hostels in Australia and I could not recommend it any higher. The room was great, clean, spacious and even had it's own ensuite and TV in the room which is hard to come by in a backpackers. At night the staff came around to every room inviting us on one of the nightly pub crawls and for pre-drinks by the pool downstairs. The diversity of nationalities staying at this hostel is generally great, we had a very unique group of comrades for our night out and enjoyed the hostels offer of free entry and drinks at "Shooters", which despite not being the best club, turned out to be awesome fun when mixed with the right people.

The weekend overall was easy to do, even with a mere three days to do it and we were back in time for work on the Tuesday. I don't know about Surfers Paradise exactly, but I'll definately be back in Byron Bay and the Gold Coast for some weekend camping in the future and hopefully this time get my hands on that phantom of a summer sun.

Related Links:

• Visit Coffs Harbour for the best breakfast around @ Y Knot Yacht Club Bistro

• Camp for cheap in Byron Bay @ Belongil Fields Caravan Park

• The best spot to party in Byron Bay @ The Beach Hotel

• Get tour schedule and listen to @ DJ Alison Wonderland

• Stay at a top rated backpackers hostel in Surfers Paradise @ Surf 'N Sun Beachside Backpackers

• Cheap afternoon food and drinks in Surfers Paradise @ Waxy's Irish Pub

• Visit Surfers Paradise nightlife @ Shooters