Agendize is a web-based platform that allows quick creation of a number of different engagement tools (i.e. online scheduling, chat, forms, click-to-call, comments/ratings, and more) for websites or campaigns. The goal of SEM is typically building traffic. The goal of Agendize is to turn that traffic into conversations and ultimately sales.

A few points about Agendize:

• Beyond search engine optimization, this is engagement optimization. An untapped market with massive potential.
• Unique in offering a self-serve one-stop shop for all of these tools, with robust and easily-customizable reporting.
• No setup fee, no monthly fees. Our customers only pay when their engagement tools are used by end users. (Pay per action)
• Perfect complement to SEM campaigns, tracking actions down to the search keyword that brought the user to the site.

Also, make sure you check out the video below for a little more information.

The Facebook Marketing Book by Dan Zarrella and Alison Zarrella takes a look at how Facebook has changed over the years since its development back in 2004 and follows its evolution into one of the most (if not the most) powerful marketing tool available to businesses and individuals alike.

Chapter by Chapter Breakdown

The book is broken down into 12 different chapters:

1. Introduction to Social Networking
2. Facebook Profile Basics
3. Facebook Page Basics
4. Facebook Group Basics
5. Facebook Events
6. Facebook Application Basics
7. Customizing Your Facebook Page
8. Developing a Facebook Content Strategy
9. Cross-Promoting Content on Facebook
10. Facebook Page Management
11. Advertising on Facebook
12. Analytics and ROI

Zarrella and Zarrella are certainly more than capable of being trusted as credible resources for writing a book that deals with Facebook as they both have extensive experience in the social media and writing market. Of special interest to online marketing experts will be Chapters 7 and 8, which detail how to customize a Facebook fan page in order to appeal to a target audience.

Long has it been assumed that Facebook is “something for the kids” to engage in. In fact, Facebook now spans a much wider audience than most traditional media can even hope to reach. Similar to Twitter, Zarrella and Zarrella point out that Facebook goes well beyond simply knowing how to set up an attractive profile page. Rather, the key to finding success with this particular social network is INTERACTION.

Whether you are creating “groups” for your fan page, users can take advantage of all of the free features that Facebook provides. For instance, longer Facebook icons provide more room for branding right on your Facebook fan page! And because the page icon is the first thing that people will see, you will want to make sure that you represent your brand as well as you can. Zarrella and Zarrella recommend a “perfect” icon size as being around 200 pixels square or a longer icon that is 600 pixels high by 200 pixels wide (pp. 135).

A Word About Facebook Tabs

Zarrella and Zarrella also strongly recommend taking advantage of Facebok Tabs. In order to do this, you may need to spend a little time familiarizing yourself with FBML (Facebook Markup Language) OR, you may want to invest some money into hiring a professional designer to develop some custom Facebook tabs and/or Facebook applications. The bottom line here is all about improving the functionality, look and feel for your potential Fans.

In addition to all of the aforementioned, making sure that you have FRESH CONTENT every day is important. It lets fans know that you’re alive and that you are an active Facebook user who is open to comments, suggestions and the like. Offering EXCLUSIVE stuff to those who are your Facebook fans is a great way to make fans feel special while improving upon your branding.

In future posts, we’ll come back to Zarrella and Zarrella regarding Facebook; but for now, definitely make sure you grab a copy of their new book, The Facebook Marketing Book. It offers some really valuable insight into what’s currently going on in the world of social media and social networking, and for just under $14, you can’t find a better deal.

For those who may not be familiar with the term crowdsourcing, crowdsourcing refers to the act of outsourcing tasks that would have normally been reserved for one person (i.e. an employee of a company, let’s say) and instead, turning the task loose on a group or “crowd” of people.

Today, crowdsourcing refers almost exclusively to web-based activities and businesses. Real examples of crowdsourcing may be seen by clicking here. However, in the midst of all of the angst and excitement that crowdsourcing has managed to amass over the last couple of years, one company has taken a new approach to the crowdsourcing concept, allowing entrepreneurs to host company naming & branding contests directly on their website.

Squadhelp encourages companies to go straight to “the crowd”  in order to determine the most ideal, brandable names for whatever their company’s objectives may be. Once you are on the website, be sure to check out both the current contests and recently completed contests. No doubt, you will soon notice that most of these contests receive more than 400 hand-picked name ideas within a matter of couple of days for a low cost of $50 to $100. Existing businesses can also host contests in order to drive viral marketing traffic, viral videos and other marketing related activities.

For further clarification, see the video below: