Check it Out: A Trip Down Memory Lane … Via the Social Media Highway
Ever stumble upon a box of old family photographs tucked away in a closet or attic and end up spending hours reminiscing as you flip through the images?
I know I have. While entertaining, the experience often leaves you unfulfilled because you're unable to share those memories with others. Well, at least until now. A startup business from e-commerce veteran Jim Simon (he's held senior-level positions with Omaha Steaks, AOL and Pear's Gourmet) is helping consumers to relive and save their cherished memories.
Launched in March and based in Omaha, Neb., PeggyBank is an online retail business that charges a fee to convert legacy media — e.g., home movies, photos, slides and negatives — into digital content that's hosted online and shareable via social media platforms, email and mobile devices.
"Most families are similar to ours," said Simon in a company press release. "They have boxes and boxes of old photos and home videos that have become irrelevant over time due to changes in technology. With PeggyBank, not only do we help preserve the memories, we make them shareable in a way that was never before possible."
Here's how the process works: you mail in your home movies, photos, etc. to PeggyBank, which then professionally converts all of the media to digital files. Those files are then uploaded to a personal PeggyBank "Vault," preserving the memories forever. All of the original material is returned to you in the same condition it was received. Once you have access to your private PeggyBank Vault, it's easy to view and share the materials with friends and family via email and on Facebook and YouTube. The secure account is what differentiates PeggyBank from other digital file-sharing sites.
Social Media for Grandparents
A target audience for PeggyBank is the 50-and-older crowd.
"We're excited to make the PeggyBank technology available to all online users, especially those age 50 and older, which is the fastest growing demographic for Facebook and social media," said Marcia Kapustin, PeggyBank's president and COO, in the company press release. "The demand for a service like this is increasing rapidly. Instead of just sharing photos and video of personal events that happened in the digital age, you now have the ability to share events from decades prior — photos of your grandparents or video footage from your parents' wedding, for example. The concept of PeggyBank opens up many opportunities for content."
In the same way that PeggyBank is recommending its customers use social media to share its products with family and friends, the retailer is also using the channel to promote its service. PeggyBank has a Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube channel to help it engage consumers, answer their questions, publicize special offers and post company news, among other things.
PeggyBank is a unique business that provides a valuable service for consumers — namely, allowing them to preserve their memories and enabling those memories to be shared. My only hesitation with giving PeggyBank a full-out endorsement is that I believe some people won't be so willing to hand over their priceless family heirlooms to some company in Nebraska they've never heard of before.
Therefore, positive word-of-mouth, while important for all businesses, will be critical for PeggyBank. People need to know they can trust PeggyBank with their most prized possessions. Once they can, PeggyBank figures to create its own lifetime of memories.
