Hello world!

When I was in college, I started out as a Computer Science major. I eventually changed my major and plunged in the world of marketing, but I’ve never lost the bug for programming.

Since then I’ve stayed involved in the basic programming and have built multiple websites and blogs using HTML, CSS, and (hackish) PHP.

I’ve been trying to find the time to get back into coding in a more serious way, but it turns out planning a wedding and free time don’t mix. That’s why I was glad to come across CodeAcademy.

I’ve learned most of the coding I know by either going through a book the size of a refrigerator or by trial and lots of error (with the help of lots of Google searches). Both of those ways have worked for me with varying degrees of success, but CodeAcademy is totally different.

Why is it different?

There is no obligatory ”Hello World” instruction. I’m not sure why every instruction on coding starts with creating a program that says “Hello World”, but I’m glad this one doesn’t.

The main program breaks each idea into different modules and makes learning JavaScript almost a game. It begins very simply by having you enter your name and ramps up from there.

Is it hard?

You don’t need any experience coding to be successful with CodeAcademy.

Some modules are very easy and others are more challenging, but that’s the beauty of it. On the left hand side, there are instructions on the module you are on and on the right hand side, there is a text editor where you actually write the code. Sometimes what you need to do is completely spelled out for you and other times you’re searching for mistakes in code that is already written and need to figure out what variables you need to add to make the functions work.

Conclusion

I’ve only been using CodeAcademy for a few days now, but I can safely say this is the best way I’ve tried learning to code outside of a classroom. The way you need to read and comprehend what you’re being taught creates an environment where you are writing actual code right away and making mistakes just as quickly. Most other forms of programming instructions don’t force you to comprehend as you’re moving along the same way this does.

As I move along through the program, I’ll add an updated review.

image

Please excuse the bad headline, but I couldn’t resist.

While I’m taking a detour from my normal posts and dipping into outdoor ads, I might as well post about one of the best outdoor ads I’ve seen in a long time. This one from HotWheels

(via http://www.paper-plane.fr/2011/04/looping-geant/)

This makes me want to call my mom and find out why she threw away all my HotWheels. And my transformers for that matter. Hmmm I should stop writing this before I actually call her.

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not a big sports guy. I like to watch live sports and the occasional baseball or soccer game, but that’s about it. Why am I posting about sports marketing then?

Over the course of this week I’ve seen 2 different print marketing ads about sports that I thought were fantastic and I figure if I’m going to write about sports, I might as well break all my rules and write about print marketing as well. The first one is from ESPN.

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/espn_hd_you_wont_miss_a_thing_tennis

The three ads are so simple and the message is warped in such a fun way to get their point across. Some ads try so hard to be fun or think outside the box that they lose all meaning, this one doesn’t have that issue.

The next one is by Atari.

(Via http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/atari-tennis-14264755/)

This ad by Atari is so simple and catchy that I love it.

What do you think about these ads?

Last week I was in San Diego for the week at the Online Marketing Summit 2011 (#oms11).

I was going to write a recap post from my week there, but I thought it would be more fun to list all of the different books recommended throughout the week. I try to read as much as I can, so I kept track of all the books mentioned.

These are only the books I heard recommended at the sessions I attended so I’m sure there were a lot of other ones, however there is still a lot of books.

So without further ado, here is the list:

• The One-to-one Future: Building Business Relationships One Customer at a Time by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
• Marketing in the Age of Google: Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy by by Vanessa Fox
• Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests by Gabe Zichermann and Joselin Linder
• Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom
• The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund
• Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? by Susan M. Weinschenk
• How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
• Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio
• A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink
• Emotionomics: Leveraging Emotions for Business Success by Dan Hill D.V
• The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century by Jeffrey L. Cruikshank and Arthur W. Schultz
• The Eyes Have It: How to Market in an Age of Divergent Consumers, Media Chaos and Advertising Anarchy by Kevin Lee with Steve Baldwin
• Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase Sales (2nd Edition) by Kevin Lee with Catherine Seda
• The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth by Fred Reichheld
• Winning Results with Google AdWords, Second Edition by Andrew Goodman
• Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution by Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd
• What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought by Keith E. Stanovich
• Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media by Liana Evans
• Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web by Brian Solis

I use amazon affiliate links in this post, but I’m a huge advocate of going to the library. I suggest before buying any books, check and see if you can find them at your local library first. Yeah, I might sound like a hippie saying that, but if the Birkenstock fits.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

Yesterday I posted about the new Facebook pages and what they mean to you as a marketer.

UPDATE: It turns out that you can’t determine the order of the images on your business page like you can on a traditional Facebook profile. </update>

Today, I want to pull the actionable highlights from it on how to create excitement on your page.

• Use the photo boxes to do something creative now. Soon that will be old hat, if you want to try it, do it now. The header image on this post is from Brian Solis’ Facebook page promoting his book, Engage. I heard him speak yesterday at OMS 2011 and he mentioned that making this change to his Facebook page sparked a lot of conversations.
• Start engaging on other pages as your page. Now that you can do this, this is a great way to inject some personality into your brand and reach out to like minded communities and groups. Be wary of the spam factor though. I’m a huge fan of this change, however I worry about the long term effects on a noise level.

So those are 2 quick action items to integrate into your Facebook page as soon as you switch to the new pages. You have until March 10th to change your page, but you should change it as soon as possible. You’re going to have to do it soon enough, you might as well lead the way.

What do you think is the best way to use the new pages?

I’ve been reading about the new Facebook pages a lot since yesterday. There is a lot of chatter over new strategies. Your strategy shouldn’t change, however there are a few things that you need to know about the changes that you should take note of.

The most significant changes are all on the backend. If you are a page moderator, you’ve been waiting for this for a long time.

• Facebook now gives you the ability to log in as your page and use it to comment on other pages. Up until now, you could only post as your page on your own page and your admins had to post elsewhere. That is no longer the case. This is great for posting on events, interacting with other brands, and more.
• Facebook send updates for interactions. One of the frustrating things about dealing with a Facebook page is needed to check it all the time. Some of us found tools to use (like Hyper Alerts), but now Facebook is making that obsolete and sends you updates via e-mail. Your prayers have been answered.

The most obvious change is that the new pages reflect the same layout that user pages have. This means Facebook removed the tabs and moved them to the left and added the recent tagged pictures to the top of the page. This means 2 things really:

• Pay more attention to the pictures you are posting and what is shown on the top of your page. They will now be front and center. More importantly, do something creative with them. Mashable had a great article about how to use your photos to make a larger picture for the new user profiles, there is no reason you can’t do this for your brand and it’s still so early that it will stand out.
• Make sure your tabs still look right in the new format. Facebook said the size hcange some people are reporting is a glich, but it’s still good to take not and make sure your tabs still look right. Also, users will adjusting to the new format at different paces. If you use a landing tab, be mindful that some users might be confused how to get to the wall at first.

There are some portions of the page that are different than traditional user pages as well.

• The most important part is the feed. The feed is now organized by interaction. Posts aren’t shown in chronological order. This is very important because a post that has a lot of traction (maybe even a negative one) can stay high up on your page and not fade away with time. Interaction is now more important than ever , hopefully your posts are getting more interaction than what your fans are posting.
• The top right hand corner displays which of your friends also like this page. This used to be on the left hand side, but this makes it more visible, which is great for you. On a side note here, on your page it will show the admins. As the Hitchhiker Guide says, Don’t Panic. Only the admins will see this when logged in.
• Below your friends, photos are displayed from those friends. I can’t figure out if there is a rhyme or a reason to this, since they seem random. The only element that ties them together is they are from your friends who also like the page.

So that’s the top level important changes to pay attention to. There are a few other changes as well, but these are the things that will have the biggest effect.

What do you think of Facebook’s new fan pages?

I have been known from time to time to get excited over ties, but nothing like this before. There are way too many good ones to even put up. The ties come in Skinny, Narrow, and Old Man Standard.

Cyberoptix TieLab

p.s. Christmas is coming up.

More to come on this.

It’s cover week here at BrianCarl.com. Don’t worry the fun doesn’t end here.

Whats your favorite cover song?

I love this song.

If you can’t tell, it’s been a pretty music intensive week. I promise next week I will post other things.

This whole album has been playing non-stop on my iPod this week. Go download it NOW.

BONUS: The Gaslight Anthem’s “American Slang” Acoustic on SIRIUS XM

This album is really hit or miss, but I love this song.

I was talking to my friend Carter (Who I forced to join Twitter) today and in the middle of the discussion he said something that I had to copy.

Carter: How is that easier for me
me: I didn’t say for you
I said it’s easier
Carter: Well “for me” is what I’m concerned about

Although he said it in jest, it’s the way your customer actually thinks. Next time you start writing about your product, keep this in mind.

This is a reminder for most; however I like when inbound marketing comes up in real life so I felt compelled to post this.

P.S. you can’t plan this shit.

P.P.S. Okay, you can plan it, but I didn’t.

Photo Credit: dhammza

I get an e-mail every week from Threadless.com. If you’ve never been to Threadless before, you should leave my page right now and check them out.

Welcome back. As you now know, they make crowd-sourced t-shirts that are fun, affordable and sometimes cryptic until you read the title. I bring them up because they do permission marketing in way that you never see.

On Monday I received my weekly e-mail from Threadless and shortly after a second one. The first e-mail was their weekly e-mail and the second was an apology

They sent out an e-mail explaining that the opt-out link was not working in the original e-mail and then explained how to opt-out if you want to.

There are still a lot of CMO’s who would have a heart attack if someone at their company sent out an e-mail like this. The nerve of them, actually letting people know how to opt out!!

I hate that I need to write a blog about this being the right thing to do, but it’s still so rare.

Permission is all you have as a marketer, don’t squander it. In this case, don’t squander it and look good doing it. (That was way too cheesy even for me)

I stopped posting to Twitter a few months back and it felt really good. Today I’m making my first post in 142 days.

Before I get into why, I’ll quickly explain my history on Twitter.

I joined Twitter in August of 2007. I got on pretty early, but I couldn’t get any of my friends to join. I tried to explain the site, but I couldn’t figure out why it was better than Facebook (or why it should be used in conjunction). One friend joined and made one post.

Since none of my friends joined, I followed bloggers who I respected. They mostly tweeted about people I didn’t know and places I’ve never been. I didn’t have much to add to the conversation.

I got bored.

After this I let my account go dormant.

Around a year ago, I picked back up. I don’t remember what the catalyst was, but I came back and used it pretty hard. I started using it during marketing webinars and then I finally learned how to effectively use Twitter Search and Hashtags and everything changed.

Now I was finally earning followers and interacting with people. I was really getting into the network and meeting new people and I was enjoying it.

Over time this changed and I couldn’t put my finger on why. It dawned on me what the issue was; I was following too many people and way too many marketers.

Too many marketers. You know the type. They don’t want to interact. They want to promote themselves and retweet whatever Hubspot posts. Because of this, I stopped posting about marketing or myself and started posting about UFOs, Mega Man, and Kevin Costner instead and my followers started dropping.

I got bored again.

Fast-forward to now – I’m coming back to Twitter.

I was writing in my journal about why I left Twitter (everything you just read) and I realized why I really left Twitter: I wasn’t using it right.

It wasn’t everyone else. I know most people suck and only care about themselves, but I was doing the same thing. To make it worse I changed the purpose of my account, so it’s no wonder I lost followers. I guess marketers don’t like Kevin Costner posts.

I am going to come back into Twitter with a new plan and use it the way it was supposed to be used. I don’t know why I didn’t make this connection earlier; I was just as bad as the other “Gurus” I’m criticizing.

If I’m not going to connect with them and they aren’t going to connect with me, why am I following them?

Has anyone else had any realizations about how to use Twitter like I did?

Photo Credit: playerx

Like everyone who works in social media, I love Mashable Copyblogger (And strikethroughs).

I came across this post last week called 17 Easy Steps to Brilliant Blog Posts. It was a guest post by Jill Chivers, who I had never heard of. The post didn’t move me, but what she did on her website I thought was brilliant and is overlooked too often by guest writers.

I normally skip right over peoples bios. They are a good idea to write, but they’re boring. Weirdly, I read hers and I even clicked on the link back to her page. I guess I read it because right above it was a tip to always write a bio. (Subliminal message? I like it!)

Welcome Copybloggers.

That was the header I saw when I landed on her page. She made a post knowing she would get traffic from copyblogger and as the icing on the cake, she made the copyblogger header her post image.

Brilliant. Now I’m interested.

This is a great idea and one that I haven’t seen enough. Everyone promotes their guest post, but they aren’t optimizing the new traffic they’re getting from making the post in the first place.

Kudos Jill.

As much as I loved this idea and that she did it, there are some things I hated about how she did it.

• Please Proofread. The first thing I notice is you link to the post calling it “16 Easy Steps” and the actual post on Copyblogger is “17 Easy Steps”.

Shit changes so fast online and maybe the name of the post changed, but no matter what happened I’ve lost a little confidence in you in the first 5 seconds on the site. (The make or break time)

• Follow your own ideas. The second tip on her Copyblogger post was, “Make sure you have one idea per post”.

I didn’t understand the one idea from the post on her website. The post was ramblings about the different things she does. I got an overview of her, but I don’t know what her website is about or what she’s selling.

• Don’t ask me to sign up for anything. I’ve read through your page a few times and I have no clue what you do.

You are bringing in a whole new audience, you need to make sure they know exactly what it is you do and what you can help them with.

She says, “You might even want to sign up for our weekly ezine (and fabulous freebies).  At the very least, it will spike my analytics graph and give me something else to look at during my weekly site statistics seminar.”

I love humor online, but I still don’t know what your ezine is or more importantly why I should sign up for it

What am I getting at? Nobody is perfect and I still love what she did. I wish instead of a long post she told me why I should care about her product or her.

There is a lot of ways to do this, but I like the soft sale.

I would have made a short post about what the site is about and what’s in it for the reader. After that, post a list of the best posts she’s written, so the reader can get a better idea if it’s a site they care about and want to opt into. The ironic thing is in her copyblogger post she littered the post with links to other copyblogger articles, but on her site she only linked offsite.

(P.S. I tried my best to use Jill’s 17 tips in this post, they are good)

Photo Credit: antmoose