For the past few weeks I’ve been tooling around the web doing research on DSLR cameras, many of which now shoot shockingly crisp, professional-grade HD video. I know that I just can’t ignore the trend towards video content anymore, and I’ve decided to start investing some time building that skill-set (with a long-term view). Don’t get me wrong, I love to write and still think blogging as a great way to reach audiences. It’s just becoming clear that staying relevant and succeeding on the social web requires injecting video production creatively and cheaply into the mix – and that goes for companies as well as individuals. When you strip it down to its core, the social web is fundamentally about people and story-telling, and in just about any side-by-side comparison, when it comes to story telling, video done well beats text almost every single time, and the barriers to entry (cost, learning curve etc) for amateur filmmakers has never been lower. That’s why you’re only going to see more pro-grade video on the web in the coming years. Huge numbers of amateurs are suddenly getting access to a new world. Read More
Want a Facebook “Like” button for your WordPress blog like the one you see on this blog? It’s super simple. Todd Williams, Executive Developer at Media 1 Designs, got inspired by yesterday’s announcement at F8 about the Open Graph, and coded up a nifty lightweight “Facebook Like” WordPress plugin that you can use for your WordPress site! It was officially released today on the GunnJerkens blog.
Here’s what the options panel looks like:
Installation:
1. Head Over To the GunnJerkens blog (to make sure you’ve got the most up-to-date version)
2. Download the plugin (this link to the zip file will only work for the current version)
3. Unzip the file and place the Facebook Like plugin folder in your WP-Content –> Plugins Folder
4. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
5. Go to Plugins –> Installed
6. Activate the plugin
7. Go to The Facebook-Like options panel, configure the settings
8. Click save.
And you’re done! Simple. Lightweight. Awesome (and every time someone clicks “like” that activity will show up in their Facebook stream and bring traffic back to your blog.
A few weeks ago, Joe Sorge showed us how he used Foursquare to get a flash mob of 150+ people into his restaurant, AJ Bombers. This Friday, with a little help from Milwaukee’s online community, he pulled together the most successful Foursquare-based event run by a restaurant to date in a 24 hour period, and proved that his Foursquare formula truly works for restaurants, and that it’srepeatable. By the end of the day on Friday, 231 people had checked in at AJ Bombers’s “I’m On A Boat!” badge party, and Joe had done more business at lunch in one day than he ever had. In this post, we’ll share some media and stats from the gathering, discuss exactly what it takes to pull off one of these events, and Joe will share some lessons learned and tips for using Foursquare to drive business. Read More
Happy Friday, Everyone! It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and I’m proud to be able to finally announce the official launch of a project I’ve been working on with some awesome folks at Vineyard Vines. Say hello to the shiny new Vineyard Vines Blog!
I was really excited when Lindsey, the Director of Brand Communications, contacted me and pitched me the idea of building Vineyard Vines a site where they could share their stories, photos and news, and interact with their customers. The company was already experiencing a lot of success interacting with their customers on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. They just needed a central place to bring it all together and create a sense of true community. And that’s just what we’ve done with the new site.
What I’m really happy about as a designer is that the fun-loving Vineyard Vines crew have embraced the idea of having a blog for all the reasons that makes blogs great. It’s awesome to see that the first few posts are true to what they stand for as a brand – living the good life. The stuff they’ve already posted is fun, full of personality and enthusiasm, and shows you exactly who they are, and what they care about. I love the launch video that they posted this morning – I watched it for the first time today and it put a big smile on my face. What an awesome way to set the tone and kick things off…
For those of you who’ve got 5 minutes (of course you do, it’s Friday ;-)) – head on over to the new blog and check out the new digs. If you’re already familiar with VineyardVines.com, you’ll notice that the new site integrates seamlessly with the old one – there’s virtually no difference in look and feel, even though it runs on a totally different software engine. The site runs WordPress and is built on Chris Pearson’s Thesis theme, so it’s got top-notch SEO and great optimized code on the back end. We also included some nifty interactive social elements that pull in their Facebook Fan Page activity, Twitter feed, Flickr Photos and YouTube videos – all in one place, with a look and feel that matches their brand.
That’s it from me for now. Overall, I’m really happy with the end result and I hope the Vineyard Vines community really gets into this, because they’ve got some great people on the other end of this site producing the content. Before I wrap this up, I’d like to send a special thank you to Lindz and Doug for their help and input during the project. I had a blast working with you. Good luck!
