Over the weekend my cousins had a benefit bake-off in honor of their mother. The idea of the bake-off was to have either the best tasting or most creative baked good at the event. When I walked over near the tables with all the goodies, it was clear to me that I wasn’t the only one who used Pinterest as my inspiration for my entry. Sure enough, there were at least 7 of us that had used the popular social media site to find inspiration for our baked goods. Even more amazing was that none of us made the same item.

I recently read that Pinterest is driving more referral traffic than LinkedIn, You Tube and Google+ combined causing the online bulletin board to grab the attention of marketers as the next big business tool in social media. In January 2012, the site registered over 11 million unique visitors, up from 1.6 million in September 2011.

How does Pinterest work? The concept is simple: Pinterest is a way to organize and “pin” images on to virtual cork boards that can be separated into categories – Dream Home, DIY Crafts, Food – which can then be “liked,” “commented,” or “re-pinned” onto someone else’s profile. Each pinned image is linked back to a website. For example, if you pinned an image of a delicious dessert, the link would take you to that particular recipe. And just like with Twitter, Facebook and You Tube, your pinned image can easily go viral.

Why is this important for businesses? The majority of users on Pinterest are pinning items they love for their home, future parties for their kids and even brides-to-be are planning their weddings with images of wedding dresses and pretty cakes. Small businesses in particular will start to see the benefits of using Pinterest when their products are being pinned and then re-pinned on thousands of boards. Many users even have boards titled, “Products I love.” What a great endorsement if your product was pinned to that board with a link back to the product available for purchase. Whole Foods, known for being an active brand in social media, is using Pinterest to publish content to promote and reinforce its brand promise. According to Sprout Social, Whole Foods has pin boards related to food, recycling, green living, holidays, cool kitchens and food art making their list of Top 5 Brands that are using Pinterest Brilliantly.

How could a B2B company like US Digital Partners use Pinterest? I can see our company creating boards that are related to great design, latest technology, products our employees love and even pinning companies that we would want to work with in the future. Will your company add Pinterest to your 2012 social media plan? It would seem to make sense only if you have great visuals and if you are willing to participate in the Pinterest community.

original article: Do you Pinterest?
by: US Digital Partners

Garbage and the internet. When you put those two words in the same sentence, you may first think of such negative terms as SPAM, tabloid gossip, or downloading illegal music and movies. But trash and the web can be positive terms.

Take a look at Rumpke, one of Cincinnati’s most recognizable companies. Founded in 1932 by William F. Rumpke, they have used technology to help minimize waste, promote greener practices, and capitalize on waste hauling and recycling innovations. So it comes as no surpirse that Rumpke would turn to the web to present themselves as a leader in the waste industry.

Rumpke dipped its toe into the web in the 1990s. Since then, they have been working with USDP for over 7 years on various web design initiatives. Together, the two companies have produced successful interactive websites for Rumpke Clean & Green, Rumpke Recycling, Rumpke Ballpark, Rumpke Restrooms, and Rumpke Hydraulics.  The most recent success has been the re-launch of Rumpke.com.

The re-development of Rumpke.com brings with it a good number of new features, content, and a fresh look (pun fully intended). One new feature is the ability to provide custom information tailored to where the visitor lives in greater Cincinnati. This customization allows for Rumpke to provide information on holiday and inclement weather delays, updates on services, and more.

So why the change?
Molly Broadwater, Corporate Communication Coordinator at Rumpke, had this to say:

“Pre-2012 Rumpke.com was overloaded with information. It was easy for a customer to become overwhelmed. When we looked at re-designing the website, we took a step back and took a hard look at what was currently on the site, and what information really needed to be there.”

After consulting with their website users and taking a look at their visitor stats, two things really stood out: online bill pay and checking on collection schedules.

“We wanted to make it easier for customers to find these answers. ‘Pay your bill’ is now a main line navigation item and ‘changes in collection schedule’ are quickly found on the homepage by a ticker feature,” stated Molly.

By listening to their customers and adapting to the customer’s needs, Rumpke has been able to provide not only the right type of information, but the right types of service that its varoius customers need. Be sure to check out the re-launched Rumpke website, www.rumpke.com.

original article: Trash and the web. The best of friends at Rumpke.
by: US Digital Partners

All comments welcome.

Moving Day from US Digital Partners on Vimeo.

original article: Moving Day
by: US Digital Partners

It’s always good to cast a light on those who do good in a community.  For this blog post, we wanted to highlight The Kroger Co. who makes such a large contribution to our city and also to our country.  In case you missed it, Kroger was just recently recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the most generous companies who give back to their communities.

The Kroger Co. contributed more than $200 million to local communities and nonprofit organizations in 2010 as part of its Neighbor to Neighbor charitable giving program. Over the past five years, Kroger has contributed $830 million to charitable causes around the country.

These contributions included donations made by The Kroger Co. family of stores, the company’s charitable foundation, and funds raised in partnership with customers, vendors, and associates. Local schools, hunger relief agencies, youth programs, and nonprofit organizations in communities where Kroger operates stores or manufacturing facilities received support from the company.

According to Janet Ausdenmoore, Director of Corporate Affairs at Kroger: “Kroger’s family of stores has a long history of giving back to the community, not just during the holidays but throughout the year.  We share our core commitments of feeding the hungry, fighting breast cancer, supporting our military and helping our neighbors in need in traditional media and in-store promotions.  But the impact of those messages is even stronger when we leverage the Internet, mobile and social media.”

US Digital Partners is proud to be a partner in this effort.  In fact, over the past couple of years, several websites created by US Digital Partners have been at the forefront of Kroger’s efforts:

Sharing Courage (Breast Cancer Awareness) www.sharingcourage.com
Kroger’s Facebook Page –  www.facebook.com/SharingCourage
Honoring Our Heroes (USO & Kroger) www.honoringourheroes.com
Bringing Hope to the Table –  www.bringinghopetothetable.com
Community Gifts (Donation Requests) www.communitygifts.com

Congratulations to our friends at Kroger on a well-deserved award!

To view the full article by Forbes Magazine, click here.

original article: Kroger Recognized as Most Generous Company by Forbes Magazine
by: US Digital Partners

How about a little inspiration for the new year? US Digital Partners has just designed and built a new iPhone app for SparkPeople.com, one of the worlds largest health and fitness websites. The app offers an inspirational quote each day, cross promotes some different products from SparkPeople, and is also integrated with the Apple iAd system.

Downloads of the app have be great so far, and with more than 11.5 million SparkPeople.com users world-wide we expect the number of users to go through the roof. To take this new iPhone app for a test drive, please visit the iTunes store. It’s free to get inspired.

To learn more about what makes SparkPeople such a successful Cincinnati-based company take a look at this recent article on the Cincinnati.com EnterChange website.

original article: A new iPhone App for SparkPeople
by: US Digital Partners

One of our favorite things to say to people we meet is, “Why don’t you talk to a few of our customers about their web projects, to see what they think of the work we did for them?” Usually such conversations yield good results and, as a consequence, we gain new clients because of positive feedback from our customers.

Along these lines, we decided recently to ask a few customers to share with us some thoughts about working with US Digital Partners.  The feedback we got sure made our team feel great.

Sometimes a business doesn’t really know what customers think 0f them until the business asks!  We are certainly glad we asked. Testimonials like this sure beat one-time industry awards. Some of these customers have been working with us for years–and we thank them for their trust in us!

original article: Customer Testimonials
by: US Digital Partners

Tis’ the season to celebrate! And with the warmth of holiday cheer comes the many thanks we give for all that we have. We want to take some time to thank our families, clients, co-workers, and other supporters for a great 2011.

This year has been a great year of new growth. We want to take the opportunity to share our good fortune with others. The employees at US Digital Partners will be giving their financial support to some local organizations. We have taken the money we would normally spend on client appreciation and holiday cheer, and we have made donations to these local charities who serve those in need.

We hope that our efforts this season will provide some much needed relief.

Click here to view our full holiday newsletter.

original article: Happy Holidays from US Digital Partners!
by: US Digital Partners

For anyone who missed our December newsletter, here’s a link to all the latest USDP news. We’ve got mobile websites, apps, social media campaigns, cause marketing websites, and much more. Don’t miss the new faces at USDP, too!

If you are not on our newsletter email list, then look for “stay up-to-date” in the footer of this page and get signed up.

original article: Interactive design news from US Digital Partners
by: US Digital Partners

Friday night we had our holiday party with the crew from Cooking With Caitlin (@cookingwcaitlin). This has traditionally been the time when all employees, spouses, and fiancees get together to celebrate the year (food and drinks required). We have much to be thankful for, especially our loved ones who allow us to do what we love for a living. It was a marvelous event with some really nice people (Caitlin, Kelly, and Molly). Enjoy the photos!

original article: Holiday Cooking with Caitlin & US Digital Partners
by: US Digital Partners

It was a nice surprise this week to be featured as a “Cincinnati Growing Company” by Soapbox Cincinnati. Many thanks for the story. It’s been a great ten years in business in a wonderful town! If you haven’t been down to see the new office, please give us a call for a tour or just drop in. Lots of holiday candy!

original article: US Digital Partners on its soapbox again
by: US Digital Partners