5 Fantastic Facebook Fan Page Ideas to Learn From This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. So your business is on Facebook, and brand engagement is up thanks to some savvy social media strategy. You may even be interested in further distinguishing your brand by building a custom landing page for your account. But what kind of value does a custom Facebook Fan Page offer? What are your fans looking for on a social network that they can't get from your business website? Interactivity Social networks are not passive, so your Facebook landing page shouldn't be either. Facebook is all about sharing, and The Gap has an ingenious promotion on the Baby Gap tab of their Fan Page. This kind of campaign provides a wealth of free, user-generated content that displays Gap products, and best of all, the functionality of photo uploading is already built into Facebook — no development necessary. Deals! Conclusion
HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Facebook Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 09), and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog. With over 200 million active users, Facebook has become a personal, product and corporate branding hub. Every brand that exists on Facebook has the same core features and benefits, such as the ability to create a page, share resources, add multimedia and much more. You have a unique opportunity to leverage this platform for career success or as a playground for you and your closest friends. The social graph is filled with CEOs, celebrities, entrepreneurs and people just like you who can be reached through Facebook’s messaging system without any boundaries or restrictions. Facebook is also a talent search engine and part of the college admission and corporate recruiting criteria. What follows is a guide to building your personal brand on Facebook. This post is part of Mashable’s Facebook Week. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
The AIDA Marketing Model in Web Design By Louis Lazaris If you’ve been formally educated in marketing, more than likely you’ve learned about a marketing model called AIDA. AIDA is an acronym that represents the different steps involved in selling a product or service. I’ve only recently come to learn about the AIDA model myself, and I thought it would be an interesting topic to apply directly to the decisions we make in web design. A = Attention The first step in successfully marketing a product or service is getting attention, that is, getting potential consumers to notice your product. Attention Through Strong Imagery Web development trends have over the years improved to imitate print methods more closely — and for good reason. Apple’s marketing department understands the importance of imagery in getting someone’s attention, and they do this quite effectively on the Apple website, shown below. The extra-large iPad images give the customer a clear picture of the relative size of this new device. I = Interest D = Desire
Florida wrestler ties record, pins opponent in 4 seconds - MaxPr Winter Springs (Fla.) senior Matthew Nereim tied an 18-year-old 140-pound national record by pinning Keavan Cooper of Oviedo Hagerty in a lightning-fast four seconds during the Class 3A district wrestling tournament. Coach Scott Gomrad told MaxPreps, "He had broken all of our school records for a season and career, but for the fastest pin (six seconds), I told him there are a lot of variables that he can’t control. "He told me, ‘No, no, I think I can get it, coach! "He’s the best wrestler I’ve coached in my 15-year career. After he actually had accomplished his pre-match boast, Nereim admitted, "I really, honestly, didn’t think I could. That was just the beginning, however, because last weekend he completed a brilliant 51-1 campaign by avenging his only loss with a 10-6 victory over defending state champion Pete Baldwin of Kissimmee Osceola. Following his title match – called by some one of the greatest in Florida history – Nereim was approached by four college coaches. St. Potpourri
Ajax Tutorial - Javascript The real trick of Ajax is updating a segment of the page without actually having to reload the entire page. This little trick is often done by utilizing a Javascript property known as innerHTML. Each HTML element on a page has an innerHTML associated with it that can be changed at any time. First we need to create a new div on this page that will contain the results of the query. <html><body><script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"><! So far we have created a new MySQL table, written a new PHP script and updated order.html twice. If you want to update a non form element, be sure to use the innerHTML attribute that is associated with all HTML elements. If you have successfully completed this advanced Ajax lesson then you know how to use MySQL, PHP, HTML, and Javascript in tandem to write Ajax applications. Report a Bug or Comment on This Lesson - Your input is what keeps Tizag improving with time!
Google Buzz: 5 Opportunities for Small Businesses This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Just when you thought you had social media figured out, Google has shaken things up with a new entrant into the market: Google Buzz. It’s integrated into Gmail, which means right out of the gate it potentially has an audience of tens of millions of people. If you’ve spent much time on social media sites, many of the features will look familiar, as Buzz combines elements of Twitter, Facebook, and the quickly rising Foursquare. 1. Like Twitter, Buzz lets you post a message to a group of “followers” that subscribe to your updates. 2. If you use Gmail, there’s a good chance you already have a built-in network on Google Buzz. 3. Buzz can be used both for broadcasting a message to all of your followers and to select groups of them. 4. 5. So is it time to jump head first into Buzz? More business resources from Mashable:
Facebook’s Gone Rogue; It’s Time for an Open Alternative | Epice Facebook has gone rogue, drunk on founder Mark Zuckerberg’s dreams of world domination. It’s time the rest of the web ecosystem recognizes this and works to replace it with something open and distributed. Facebook used to be a place to share photos and thoughts with friends and family and maybe play a few stupid games that let you pretend you were a mafia don or a homesteader. It became a very useful way to connect with your friends, long-lost friends and family members. Even if you didn’t really want to keep up with them. Soon everybody — including your uncle Louie and that guy you hated from your last job — had a profile. And Facebook realized it owned the network. Then Facebook decided to turn “your” profile page into your identity online — figuring, rightly, that there’s money and power in being the place where people define themselves. This spring Facebook took that even further. This includes your music preferences, employment information, reading preferences, schools, etc. What?
10 Beautiful Social Media Infographics This series is supported by Ben & Jerry's Joe, Ben & Jerry's new line-up of Fair Trade and frozen iced coffee drinks. Learn more about it here. Infographics help communicate information in a digestible manner as they creatively present data in an understandable and engaging format. With social media growing at an ever increasing pace, there is now a wealth of data about how people interacting with one another on the web. Here are 10 infographics that prove as beautiful as they are interesting. 1. This is a global map of social web involvement which illustrates that hundreds of millions of web users are creating and sharing content every month. Interestingly, it reveals that despite the Twitter hype, microblogging is still not a mass social activity and is nowhere near the size and scale of blogging. 2. A compass is a device for orientating oneself and guiding physical direction. 3. The Web Trend Map plots the Internet’s leading names and domains onto the Tokyo Metro map. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Payback for a cheating girlfriend and her female mentor who was 48 Most Excellent Design Blogs that Influence the Community There are many design blogs around the world that have articles about web design, inspiration, freelancing, wallpapers, freebies and wordpress related topics. Since every web designer loves to find new and fresh content and to stay up-to-date with trends and techniques, I have compiled 51 design blogs with RSS feeds and twitter accounts. Enjoy! Smashing Magazine WebDesigner Depot Six Revisions WebDesign Ledger Noupe 1stwebdesigner Fuel Your Creativity Abduzeedo Hongkiat WebDesignerWall YouTheDesigner Ar-bent-ing OutlawDesignBlog Design Reviver MyInkBlog Smashing Apps SpyreStudios NaldzGraphics Fudge Graphics Onextrapixel The Design Cubicle Speckyboy Design Magazine GraphicDesignBlog instantShift Function CrazyLeaf Design Blog Minervity Design Blog Inspired Mag Just Creative Design ThinkDesignBlog GoMediaZine N.Design Studio CSS-Tricks Colorburned bittbox Design Shard Blog.Spoon Graphics Design Informer slodive wpbeginner Designrfix veerle's blog 2ExpertsDesign wellmedicated Design Juices Dzine Press Snatch59
How the Resort Industry is Using Social Media A growing number of resort and spa destinations are spreading their wings and reaching a wider customer base via social media. With the help of social networking platforms and niche bloggers, vacation spots are broadening their branding efforts from the sand to the slopes, and connecting with potential patrons they may not have reached through traditional advertising. Here's a look at some of the social strategies these getaway companies are employing and what we can learn from their success. Online Dedication Ski resorts in particular are taking advantage of online opportunities to communicate with their communities and reach beyond their usual demographic. World-famous mountain resort company Vail Resorts is so dedicated to new outreach methods that it has shifted 80% of its marketing budget to digital production and social media strategy. "A lot of the people here higher up don't necessary understand social media," said Bowling. Offline Action More social media resources from Mashable:
Altimeter Report: The 8 Success Criteria For Facebook Page Marketing Report Snapshot (full report embedded below)Altimeter Group conducted research, and gleaned input from 34 vendors, agencies, and experts, to determine success criteria and develop a roadmap for Facebook page best practices. We found Eight Success Criteria for Facebook page marketing, and then tested the maturity of 30 top brands across six industries. Our heuristic evaluation revealed that brands fell short – nearly half of the brands we reviewed (14 out of 30) did not fully leveraged social features to activate word of mouth, the hallmark behavior of social networks. Within this immature landscape, a few brands were on the right track to successfully harnessing Facebook page marketing. How should brands approach their Facebook page marketing? 8 Success Criteria for Facebook Page Marketing After pouring over the data from the ecosystem we’re part of, we found a clear pattern. Then, we put 30 brands to the test to find out who’s doing it right –and wrong. Related Links