As always, this was a group effort: Alex Smith and Courtney Miller were instrumental in the technical and design aspects of the site, while Barbara Dozetos managed the overall project and Heather Michon assisted with content.

We hope you’ll check out the Crop site, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook. More importantly, we hope you’ll make the trip up to Stowe and sample what promises to be a premier dining experience.

Most Facebook posts have a line at the bottom, printed in blue, giving you the option to Like or Share the item.

When you click the “Like” button, it’s like giving it a thumb’s-up. The original poster and that person’s friends can see that you liked it, but that’s about it.

The “Share” button is much more powerful. It re-posts the message to your Wall, where all your Facebook friends can see it. It gives you the chance to say something about what you’re sharing. It’s a great opportunity to spread the word about important issues.

So, if you want to alert the maximum number of people, use the Share button!

With the single click of a button, you can get the word out to all your Facebook fans and friends…and they, in turn, can pass on the information to all their fans and friends.

So, how do you start this chain reaction?

Just share.

Say you’re surfing a site and an interesting item catches your eye. Look around the page to see if the site provides you with a share button.

For example, if you wanted to share this It’s My Life video from PatientChoices.org, all you have to do is click the little “Recommend” button above the video:

(This is how the button looks a little closer up)

And it will show up on your Facebook page like this:

Other pages use a “Like” button, rather than “Recommend”

(Clicking a Like button often pops up a box where you can add a message to the post before you post it. Or you can just click “Post to Facebook” without a message)

And voila, it appears on your page:

You can also share information you find on Facebook. Look at the bottom of a post, and you’ll see a Share button.

A box will pop up, giving you the option to add a comment before posting it to you Facebook wall:

This is what it looks like once it’s posted on your Wall:

So there you have it…the basics of sharing your interests with your friends on Facebook

Next: What’s the Difference Between Sharing and Liking A Post on Facebook?

“The WBON organizers had heard from their membership that they wanted a useful social media presentation. They didn’t want to do another 101,” says Dozetos. “So I built my presentation with an eye toward showing the attendees that the concepts behind a good social media presence are not rocket science.”

“I wanted them to see that they could take a step back and figure out what’s right and what wrong. I also wanted them to take away a sense of the real power in good social media marketing so they’d be inclined to take it seriously for their businesses.”

An audience of around 85 was on hand to discuss the pros and cons of the social media sites of three brave volunteers: Mary Catherine Jones from Voice-Over Vermont, Elizabeth Warren from Otter Creek Awnings and Paula Diaco from Sign-a-Rama Vermont.

“The best part was toward the end, when I could tell they were getting the message – some of the attendees started finishing my sentences for me,” she says. “It was really gratifying!”

Says Barbara Dozetos, owner of Above the Fold and a founding board member of the Gay & Lesbian Fund: “The Fund wanted to optimize their Web presence in preparation for a social media push going into the holiday giving season.”

Our design and technical team, Courtney Miller and Alex Smith created and implemented a new template for the site, while content manager Heather Michon migrated and organized content from the old site.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the organization, Above the Fold will be managing the Web site and social media presence, giving potential and dedicated donors access to the information they need to make the best choices for their charitable giving.

But there is a simple way to avoid social media gaffes, Jeff Stibel argues in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review: be authentic.

“Success is no longer about fancy packaging and carefully controlled messages. When everyone can see what you’re doing, the most essential values are transparency, honesty and credibility. Even with advanced privacy tools — like private lists, tweets and circles — the most foolproof way to stay safe on social media is simply to be who you say you are,” he writes. “Pretending to be something you’re not, or attempting to conceal or manipulate the truth is a surefire way to lose. ”

Read more at the Harvard Business Review.

Above the Fold is chock-a-block with book lovers, so there was no way were were going to miss an opportunity to redesign a library website.

Pierson Library in Shelburne, VT serves a population of around 7,000 and has for the past several years been operating their site from the town’s main web portal, limiting their ability to give patrons the kind of functionality any modern library needs.Our design and technical team, Courtney Miller and Alex Smith, created and installed a custom-built WordPress template, while Content Manager Heather Michon migrated and organized content. Barbara Dozetos oversaw the entire project, consulted on design issues, and began the process of staff training.

The goal was to put critical information up front, adding custom elements like a “Featured Book” tool to showcase the hottest new arrivals and integrating search results from the regional library catalog directly into the site. We also wanted to make the new system easy for the staff to update, modify and share through their growing social media platform.

We hope it will provide a user-friendly experience for patrons and staff for years to come!

Barbara Dozetos, owner and principle of Above the Fold, will be participating in a panel discussion on “How to Use Twitter for Fundraising, Public Relations and Branding” at this week’s 2011 Boston Social Media Summit, hosted by the Center For Nonprofit Success.

With over 200 million registered users, Twitter can seem like a cross between the world’s noisiest dinner party and the world’s biggest pillow fight.

Reading through your tweet stream, you’ll find followers sharing really interesting ideas and links all jumbled up with those posting baby pictures and their lunch plans.

When crafting your social media strategy, it’s tempting to just to jump and join the fray.

Resist that temptation. Yes, it’s easy. But it’s the Twitter equivalent of shouting into an empty room, and it’s unlikely to be effective.

Instead, treat your followers just like you would the people you meet at the Starbucks or party or after a meeting.

Take an interest in their lives. Read what they have to say and try to figure out who they are. Engage them in conversation. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn in just 140 characters.

The more time you spend listening to your audience, the better you’ll be able to build a message that they can’t help but hear above the chatter.

Like all Vermonters, we here at Above the Fold are heartbroken by the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Irene in August.

To assist in the recovery effort, we have volunteered our services to the Vermont Irene Flood Recovery Fund, a program designed to help flood-damaged small businesses get back on their feet and back to work.

The project got off to a flying start: within hours of joining the effort, we learned that the Fund would be featured in a Burlington Free Press story the next morning.

In under 12 hours, Barbara Dozetos established a Web and social media presence, Alexander Smith and Courtney Miller designed a logo and Web site, and Heather Michon created Web content. Some of us didn’t sleep much, but by the time the paper started hitting the doorsteps the next morning, potential donors had Web access to all the critical information about the Fund and its work. Just a few hours later, they could help by credit card.

Social media is becoming a powerful organizing tool in the aftermath of natural disasters; it can be a quick and efficient way to steer donors and volunteers to the places their efforts can be most immediately effective. We’re glad to play our part in helping that happen.

The first thing you need to do is prepare to take this as seriously as any marketing effort your company makes. Just because people play games there, doesn’t mean Facebook isn’t serious business. This is not a set-it-and-forget-it proposition. If your page isn’t kept fresh and interesting and conversational, it will reflect badly on your business.

So, before you press that ‘publish’ button, know the answers to these questions:

How often will you add new content to the page?

Remember, status updates aren’t the only content. Every time you add a photo to an album, it hits the news feeds of the people who have ‘liked’ your page. Too often and people will find you annoying. Too seldom, and you’re wasting the platform. The ideal amount of activity is different for every business. However, if what you’re posting, whatever form it takes, is interesting and engaging, then you can get away with more of it. If it’s all self-serving announcements, you’ll have people dropping off your ‘like’ list like flies!

Who will be the voice of your company?

You have the option of making other people administrators of your business Facebook page. It’s a good idea to have at least one other person you trust on that list, so there’s someone else to manage things if you can’t. Seriously, you’re going to take a vacation, right? Be sure that anyone with access to the account is very clear about your policies and understands the image you want to convey as a business.

What do you want on the page before it goes live?

Since you’re going to want to make a great impression as soon as you unveil your page, it’s a good idea to have some content loaded before you launch. You can do a lot of work on your page before publishing it for the world to see. A couple of photo albums with pictures of events from the past, and other items that are going to be interesting, even if it’s not hot-off-the-presses news. Photos of people are always great, because they lead to tagging, which draws even more traffic to your page.

What will you post in the first week after you go live?

You’ll want to have the first week or ten days of content at least roughed out. It’s a great idea to have a handfull of things on standby all the time that you can drop in as conversation starters when you’re having a drought of timely news. Remember that at first, there won’t be a lot of people seeing what you do. Don’t waste great stuff on an empty room. Save some juicy items for when you get more people watching your posts. Early on, you want to focus on posting items that people will share with others. Photos and links are good for this.

How will you get followers? (I refuse to use the term ‘likers’)

Once you publish your page, anyone who is an administrator on the page will have the option of suggesting the page to friends. By all means, use this option to invite the people on your friends list to follow the page, if you’re comfortable. You can pick and choose.

Ask your employees and colleagues to help by ‘sharing’ your page with their friends. (They’ll find that option at the bottom of the left column when they view your page.)

You might also consider some kind of promotion or contest for followers of your page. Gift certificates and company swag make great prizes.

Having answers to these questions and using them to create a specific plan before you launch your page will go a long way toward making your business Facebook presence pay off for you.