Just when you think you’ve seen it all…

If the idea of grown adults playing an online virtual farming game (and often shelling out real cash to do so) doesn’t surprise you, then check out FarmVille’s newest neighbor: Lady Gaga. Yup, the Pop Princess of Weird has partnered with online social gaming wizards Zynga to bring you the future of cross marketing. And it hurts so good.

Today I received a free $50 credit from Facebook in my inbox to try out Facebook ads. So I clicked the link in the email and walked myself through the process of creating an ad – and snagged screenshots along the way.

While I didn’t actually end up completing the process, I thought I would share the images of my test walk through with you in order to give you a rough idea of the INITIAL process.

Forgive me if you’ve already run across “Promoted” Tweets in your Twitter stream (as I believe they launched in April of this year). Perhaps I don’t follow enough major brands, perhaps they haven’t run until now, or perhaps they just haven’t been run on a big enough scale. Whatever the case may be, I’m seeing them now. And sadly (or luckily?) its to promote something I love. The Toy Story franchise.

Do you remember when the cable and satellite television network A&E was the place to go for higher brow entertainment and historical documentaries? I do. And many of us still associate A&E with the sepia toned tint of the past (they do own the History Channel after all). Perhaps thats why they are trying so hard to rebrand and reprogram themselves as HBO has done with high quality dramas and reality based shows (they even acquired the rights from HBO to rerun Sopranos episodes). But winning over the audience is only half the battle. Someone has to pay for all of that production and reinvention (Gene Simmons and Dog the Bounty Hunter don’t work for free you know), someone like advertisers. So how do you show media buyers and ad planners that your new face is the place to sell? With a smart ad campaign of your own of course!

A recent study of social media usage by market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies found that “60% of Facebook fans and 79% of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend those brands since becoming a fan or follower. And an impressive 51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers are more likely to buy the brands they follow or are a fan of”.

In this series of blog posts, I’m going to summarize articles and tutorials I read during the week. If you don’t have the time to scour the web for blog posts about web related news, technology, and techniques, then come back here every week for a summary of my most interesting finds! This week’s installment includes:
• Email Newsletter Designs
• Style Your Links
• Sell advertising on your low traffic blog
• Designing sites with AJAX