Welcome back to Best Buy World!!

I don't know if you are aware of this, but on January 25, 2010 Best Buy announced their scholarship opportunity for college bound students. Best Buy is awarding 1,000 scholarships of $1,000 to students in grades 9 through 12 living in the United States. The students must be planning to enter as a full time undergraduate student after graduation, and can come from public, private, alternative or home school backgrounds. A total of $1 million will be awarded.

Showing committment to helping today's youth is great for Best Buy, afterall today's youth will be tomorrow's leaders! The students will be judged by their committment and involvement in community service or work experience, with high academic standing.

This scholarship opportunity was annouced by Best Buy in a press release. The press release contains all of the important information necessary for those who are interested in the opportunity and is located on Best Buy's corporate page.

Business Wire picked up the press release on January 25. Many websites picked up the release, including but not limited to streetinsider.com, smartbrief.com, msn.com, cnn.com and Reuters UK. The New York Times also picked up the press release from Business Wire.

Sending the press release to Business Wire was a good idea for Best Buy because many websites picked up the release from Business Wire. It also got the announcement released in The New York Times which has an extremely high circulation.

As far as online media hits, I would say that Best Buy was successful. Many websites picked up the announcement which is good because so many people are getting their news online instead of more traditional media. As far as newspapers, I don't think it was successful. A search of the top twenty circulated newspapers in the United States only provided the release in The New York Times and not in any other large papers.

Best Buy did a good job with this announcement overall. It is in the news center on Best Buy's corporate page and sending it to Business Wire got the release on many online news websites. To make it better, I would have tried to get the announcement into more major newspapers. Focusing on pitching editors at traditional newspapers would get the announcement in both traditional and non-traditional news media which would cover all target markets.

Could Best Buy have already tried to pitch larger online newspapers? Possibly. That is definitely the area that they could have had a higher success rate with this announcement. Overall, this announcement was well publicized. It even made it to the SAT College Prep website, which is viewed by thousands of high school students who would love a chance at this scholarship!

The New Media Phenomenon

Facebook, Twitter, Blogs ....

New Media is ALL over the place these days! It's a great way to connect with friends, new and old. Most businesses have caught on too! New media is a great way for businesses to reach a large audience inexpensively with minimal effort. Brand building, networking and customer service are three ways that businesses benefit from new media and social media.

So how is Best Buy using new media and social media?

Pretty well! As far as new media goes, Best Buy has a great website. It's very user friendly, with order support, legal information, product support and corporate information. All of Best Buy's products are listed on top of the website, with a drop down listing products. Best Buy also has an RSS feed so customers can follow them.

There's a community forum of blogs on Best Buy's website where they discuss every type of product and have an open conversation. Theres also an area to share your ideas on the website and a blog written by the Geek Squad.

As far as social media, Best Buy has been great in some aspects, like Facebook. You can become a "fan" of Best Buy, and it has over 1 million fans! The wall posts consist of people talking about positive and negative experiences with Best Buy stores and products. Best Buy writes back to posts either apologizing, explaining or giving the customer information. They respond within a few hours, which is great! Best Buy is definitely using Facebook really well, they are so friendly and casual with their customers that it gives you a really good feel for the corporation.

Best Buy also has a twitter page, called "Twelpforce". They have 23,644 followers on Twitter! They are utilizing social media via Twitter which is very positive!

With Facebook and Twitter pages, Best Buy is scoring big with consumers. Best Buy is about technology and innovation, so it makes sense that they would be technologically savvy with social media!

Best Buy is definitely using new media and social media to their advantage, interacting with their customers in all different ways from Facebook posts to blogs. If I were the PR person for Best Buy, one thing that I would do that they are not is post podcasts on the website. I would use podcasts to inform my public about helpful tips that can help make their experience with Best Buy better. For example, they could post a podcast about what to consider when purchasing a laptop or how to pick the perfect camera. It is a great way for your public to see a helpful side of the corporation.

See you later!

Come and Enter....Best Buy World!

Hello! As you may have guessed, this blog will be about Best Buy, the technology super store! Best Buy has millions of consumer products that make our lives easier. It's hard to imagine a time when there wasn't television or computers, right? Or CDS and Ipods? Remember when digital cameras weren't used and you couldn't immediately see the picture that you just took? I don't think anyone can imagine the days without a cell phone anymore. All of these technological advances are some of the many things that Best Buy has to offer, since 1966!



I want to talk about Best Buy, because it sells products that we use everyday. It's a company that everyone knows about and that most people have probably visited before. Best Buy tries to bring technology to everyone in a cheap, easy way. You can order products online or in the store, so its easy! With operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Mexico and Turkey, Best Buy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services.


Best Buy issues press releases at least once a week, educating consumers about their revenue, donations and programs that Best Buy is running. Best Buy offers many services to help out their stakeholders, they offer computer setup, home theater setup, car installation, gaming setup and ipod services. But those are not what Best Buy is famous for!





Have you ever seen that little white and black car that says "Geek Squad" on the side?




Thats Best Buy! The Geek Squad are available in Best Buy stores and make home visits as well to assist you with any computer needs you may have. It's quick and easy!


Each year, Best Buy donates up to 1.5% of pretax earnings through the Best Buy Children's Foundation and Corporate giving programs to give back to the community. Best Buy is currently giving college bound students a scholarship opportunity. In 2009, Best Buy raised a combined $33.4 millionto improve communities where its employees and customers live and work. Best Buy just announced a few weeks ago that they donated $200,000 to Haiti relief efforts. Best Buy focuses on giving back to the community that has been so generous to them. They also suppport national organizations, like United Way and The Red Cross.

Best Buy issues press releases to inform their stakeholders about the positive things they are doing to help the community around them. Their support of national organizations communicates a positive reputation and helps their business succeed. With an organization like Best Buy, one who may have trouble with consumers from time to time because everything they deal with is electronic, their philanthropic efforts help minimize any negative backlash. Technology can be tricky, but Best Buy is on top of it!



Best Buy has its work cut out for them! They try to keep prices low, for things like music, to prohibt pirating and illegal music downloads. They also have the difficult task of keeping up with a field that is constantly changing. Technology is always changing and people are coming out with new ways of doing everything. Think about how much technology has changed within the past twenty years. Good thing Best Buy is keeping up!






As you can see, Best Buy is very busy!