About the Authors

Andrea Vahl is a social media consultant and speaker who works with small-and medium-sized businesses all over the world. She has spoken at events such as Social Media Marketing World, SMX, New Media Expo, as well as spoken about how social media is opening up opportunities for women at the World Islamic Economic Forum in London. She has presented at Stanford University and many corporations including Oracle, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Camp Bow Wow, and more.

Andrea has also worked closely with Social Media Examiner, one of the top-ranked social media blogs in the world, as their Community Manager for over 2 years. She is a regular contributor to Social Media Examiner as a guest blogger as well as other prominent blogs such as Copyblogger, Hubspot, Jon Loomer, and others. She also regularly writes for the new iBlog Magazine.

Andrea has also been a co-author of the previous two editions of Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies. She uses her improv comedy skills to blog as Grandma Mary, Social Media Edutainer. Learning social media is way more fun with Grandma Mary. You can learn more about Andrea and Grandma at www.AndreaVahl.com. In her spare time, Andrea continues to develop her comedic skills by performing stand-up comedy in Denver and Boulder as well as slowly running half marathons and other races.

Andrea can be reached at [email protected]. Your comments, corrections, and suggestions are welcome.

John Haydon is a digital marketing consultant helping nonprofits in the United States and Canada. John is also cofounder of Socialbrite, a cross-industry social media consultancy. He is an instructor at MarketingProfs.com, conducts educational webinars at CharityHowTo.com, and is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and Social Media Examiner.

John has also presented at New Media Expo, The Nonprofit Technology Conference, 140 Characters Conference, and many other regional conferences. You can read his blog at www.johnhaydon.com/.

Jan Zimmerman has found marketing to be the most creative challenge of owning a business for the more than 30 years she has spent as an entrepreneur. Since 1994, she has owned Sandia Consulting Group and Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing (www.watermelonweb.com) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Sandia is Spanish for watermelon.)

Jan’s marketing clients at Watermelon Mountain are a living laboratory for experimenting with the best social media, Facebook, online advertising, and other web marketing techniques for bottom-line success. Her consulting practice, which keeps Jan aware of the real-world issues facing business owners and marketers, provides the basis for her pragmatic marketing advice. Ranging from hospitality and tourism to retail stores, B2B suppliers, trade associations, colleges, and service companies, her clients have unique marketing needs but share similar business challenges.

Throughout her business career, Jan has been a prolific writer. She has written three editions of Web Marketing For Dummies, four editions of another book about marketing on the Internet, as well as the books Doing Business with Government Using EDI and Mainstreaming Sustainable Architecture. She has also co-authored two editions of Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies. Her concern about the impact of technological development on women’s lives led to her book Once Upon the Future and the anthology The Technological Woman.

The writer of numerous articles and a frequent speaker on web marketing and social media, Jan has long been fascinated by the intersection of business, technology, and human communication. In her spare time, she crews for a hot air balloon named Levity to get her feet off the ground and her head in the clouds.

Jan can be reached at [email protected] or 505-344-4230. Your comments, corrections, and suggestions are welcome.

Dedication

To my parents, Marilyn and Carl Sodergren, who taught me everything I know about being social, and to my wonderful family Steve, Devin, and Henry, who so generously supported me through this project and as well as the previous two editions.–Andrea Vahl

I dedicate this book to marketers everywhere who are in the middle of the biggest sea change, in marketing history. There’s never been a better time to be a marketer, and tools like Facebook are rewriting the rules. I hope that by providing you with straightforward, step-by-step advice, as well as sharing my real-world experience in marketing businesses via Facebook, you’ll become better at your craft and thereby take everyone to levels in marketing people have yet to explore. I also hope that you keep your Facebook marketing efforts in perspective, and always put family and friends first!–John Haydon

In memory of lost family and friends. Thinking of you brings sunshine.–Jan Zimmerman

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Andrea Vahl: I want to acknowledge my family and friends who supported me through this incredible journey, Steve, Devin, Henry, my parents and my sister and family, and the wonderful friends I’ve made online and off. I want to thank my incredibly intelligent co-authors John and Jan — I’m honored to be listed on this book alongside you both.

I also want to thank both of my previous co-authors Phyllis Khare, who is my own social media success story connection — you never know where those connections will take you, and Amy Porterfield who I’m honored to call a friend — love watching your success! Thank you to all my online friends, fans, links, followers, and community! I hope to meet you all someday and am happy to call you friends.

Finally, I also need to profusely thank Amy Fandrei, acquisition editor at Wiley and Mark Enochs, project editor at Wiley, for their support and mentorship throughout this process. Also thank you to copy editor Teresa Artman and technical editor Michelle Krasniak for your work on the moving target we call Facebook. Thank you!

John Haydon: This project couldn’t have succeeded without the help and support of many people.

First, I want to express deep appreciation for my family, especially Guthrie and Kate, who support my passion for helping nonprofits make the world an even better place. The time spent away from you can never be replaced. I also want to thank the stellar team at Wiley, including Teresa Artman, for her amazing copyediting; Tonya Cupp, for her careful development of the text; Michelle Krasniak, for her superb technical accuracy; Amy Fandrei, who originally reached out to me and continues to hold my hand through the entire process; and finally Mark Enochs, my project editor, who kept me on track every step of the way. I couldn’t imagine working with a better team!

Thanks to scores of bloggers, especially Beth Kanter, Mari Smith, Amy Porterfield, Jon Loomer, and many others who keep me informed about changes at Facebook and what they mean for nonprofits and businesses. Most of all, I want to thank Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his team of young entrepreneurs and software developers for their vision in realizing the most popular online social network on the planet.

Jan Zimmerman: The more books I write, the more I realize how much I depend on others. My contributions to this book couldn’t have been completed without my wonderful researchers, Esmeralda Sanchez and Patricia Jephson. Ms. Sanchez, in particular, did an extraordinary job researching numerous modifications in Facebook’s advertising interface and reshooting art under tight deadlines to make the book as current and accurate as possible.

They both provided background research and rooted out arcane online facts. They checked hundreds of links and reviewed dozens of sites for screen shots and case studies. They both deserve enormous credit for dealing with the constant changes for which Facebook is infamous. Their patience and tenacity are astounding!

Diane Duncan Martin supplemented their services with her usual persistence obtaining copyright clearances. I owe my staff, also including Shawna Araiza, a great debt for giving me the time to write by working overtime with our clients — not to mention their personal and computer support.

As always, my family, friends, and cats earn extra hugs for their constant support. I’m lucky to have friends who accept that I cannot be there for them as much as they are there for me. The garden, the house, the car, and the cats, alas, are not so forgiving. Special thanks to my clients, who teach me so much and give me the opportunity to practice what I preach.

I’d also like to thank Mark Enochs, project editor at Wiley, for his flexibility and good humor in the face of Facebook challenges, and copy editor Teresa Artman and technical editor Michelle Krasniak for their knowledgeable assistance. Together, they have made this book much better than it started out. My thanks to all the other staff at Wiley — from the art department to legal — who have provided support. If errors remain, they are indubitably mine.

My appreciation also to my agent, Margot Hutchison of Waterside Productions. Margot and her extraordinary family continue to teach us, at http://teamsam.com, lessons about what’s truly important in life. If you profit from reading this book, please join me in donating to The Magic Water Project in memory of Sam Hutchison at www.magicwater.org. Thank you in advance, dear readers, for making a contribution “because of Sam.”–Jan Zimmerman

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

Acquisitions Editor: Amy Fandrei

Sr. Project Editor: Mark Enochs

Sr. Copy Editor: Teresa Artman

Editorial Assistant: Claire Johnson

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Special Help: Tonya Cupp, Debbye Butler

Project Coordinator: Lauren Buroker

Cover Image: Main photo © iStockphoto.com/Yuri_Arcurs; Laptop Screen © iStockphoto.com/Robert Churchill