10 Steps to Successful Social Networking for Business (ASTD 10 Steps Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)Unlike numerous other books in social media or Internet Marketing in general, this book is well-organized and easy to follow for the marketer/businessman on the go. Aside from its structure, it presents different templates that can be used in actually planning or executing social networking/social media strategies.
Actually...the ideas, structure and templates can be tailored to so that it can be used beyond social networking.
The text itself is insightful, well-researched, practical and straight-forward.

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Social networking as a business tool is evolving, and questions still remain about how to use it effectively and securely. 10 Steps to Successful Social Networking answers those questions, covering technology, sales and brand value, how to connect social networking to key business drivers, launch plan development, success-building, how to connect your business to the world and grow market share, and how to adapt the system to business needs.

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Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business Review

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(More customer reviews)
I liked this book very much. I read the author's first book on this subject back in July, 2007. And now he has a second great book out on the subject. It includes the following 16 chapters:
1. Making the case
2. Making choices
3. Ear to the ground
4. Courting online influencers
5. Corporate soapboxes
6. Customer conversations
7. The social network gorillas
8. Niche innovations
9. Learning from conversations
10. Basics of social media content
11. Picking your spot
12. Telling stories with words and images
13. Engagement through interaction
14. Promote thyself
15. Measuring results
16. Celebrating change
The book was very easy to read. It is full of great content. And it is very well researched. I found each of the chapters to be packed full of cites to Web sites that are critical players in the social media marketing realm of things. And I've read quite a few books on this subject. I can tell you this book is not simple fluff or something merely written in order to capitalize on the current popularity of the subject matter.
There are real world examples cited throughout the text. And I found them to be very good additions to the points being made in the main body of the book's content. So the numerous cites to Web sites and the inclusion of real world examples makes this book a goldmine of information for anyone hungry to learn about social media marketing. I had one problem with the book - its organization. When I completed it and sat down to write this review I said to myself: "There are 16 chapters in this book. How can they be broken down into three or four "parts?" I had hoped it would be easy for me to eyeball the parts. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. Below is how I think the book probably should have been organized to be a little more easily digestible. 5 stars!
[I] WHY PRACTICE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?
1. Making the case
14. Promote thyself
8. Niche innovations
[II] HOW DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WORK?
10. Basics of social media content
12. Telling stories with words and images
5. Corporate soapboxes
4. Courting online influencers
6. Customer conversations
13. Engagement through interaction
3. Ear to the ground
9. Learning from conversations
16. Celebrating change
15. Measuring results
[III] SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING OPTIONS
2. Making choices
11. Picking your spot
7. The social network gorillas

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Secrets of Social Media Marketing is a handbook for marketers and business owners to use in deciding how to employ the new social media for online marketing. Social media has quickly moved from the periphery of marketing into the forefront, but this is a new and quickly-evolving field and there are few established formulas for success. Building on the lessons set out in Gillin's acclaimed and oft-reviewed The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media, this book provides practical advice on strategy, tools, and tactics. It is a hands-on manual that will educate marketers on how to extend their brands, generate leads, and engage customer communities using online tools.

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Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business Review

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(More customer reviews)Executive Summary:
The book would be more appropriately entitled: "An introduction to Web 2.0" There is very little marketing advice, and the information in this book might have been cutting edge in 2002-3 but in 2008, it would only appeal to beginners, or non-tech oriented people. If you don't know what a "Blog" is, then this book is for you. If you do know what a blog is, I would go elsewhere.
Full Review:
I have read about a dozen books on marketing/advertising/community building on the web. Perhaps I didn't realize the scope of this book. First, if you are reading a review for what this book is about, you are probably more technologically advanced than anything this book has to offer...(IE: The "Social Web" as he puts it, Or Web 2.0, can affect hearts and minds. For example, you are reading this review before purchasing this book for some insight.)
To me it seemed as if the book was written for very large company's marketers who are 60+ years of age and are not familiar with the internet, or at best don't think there has been any evolution of the internet in the past 14+ years since it has gone commercial. I don't mean to be rude, but this book really seemed like something that would have had an impact and would have been interesting in about 2001. The fact that this book was written and released in the last year honestly amazed me, as I was certain that it was just re-released based on the material.
To be slightly more specific, the book concentrates heavily on not trying to hurt the ego's of marketers who have not been keeping up with the Internet by saying "Some of your old marketing knowledge is still useful." a bit too often. While true, it just seemed a bit overboard. Another quick example of the target market is that the book took about 4-5 pages in describing what a blog is. This is all well and good for an "Intro" book, but it is indicitive of the audience this book was meant for. I found this book too generic to be useful. It lacked specifics, strong case examples, adequate statistics, etc. If you are 60+ years of age and really aren't aware of what social communities are, or message boards, or online reviews of products (Oh the irony), I would recommend this book. Also, if you don't believe that having an online voice is relevant in today's global market, and are looking for a strong case to show you why it is, I would recommend this book. If you have ever participated on a message board, read a blog, posted/read an online review, etc...this book won't tell you anything that you don't already know.
However, if you are looking for effective ways to market to the "Social Web" AKA Web 2.0 by the rest of the world, go elsewhere. This book is too generic to be useful IMHO. I gave this book two stars instead of one because it was well written, and unlike EVERY other marketing book I have ever read, it didn't remind you to go to the author's website every other page (In fact, I don't even remember him naming his website in the book, which is to be applauded, as you can tell this info was legitimately designed to help the reader, not just another marketing tool by the author as many marketing books are). Also if you do want a BEGINNERS' book to what Web 2.0 is, this would be tough to beat. The author puts everything in non-techie terms, and is very thorough at explaining some of the core/basic concepts of Web 2.0.
BOTTOM LINE:
The people who could best be helped with a book like this are intelligent people who don't keep up with technology, but know the basics. I found this more as an introduction to what Web 2.0 was than a "How to" book which is what I believed the book to be about based on the title.
If you are looking for valuable "How to market to the Social Web" info, this book will GREATLY disappoint you.


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An updated and expanded Second Edition of the popular guide to social media for the business community

Marketers must look to the Web for new ways of finding customers and communicating with them, rather than at them. From Facebook and YouTube to blogs and Twitter-ing, social media on the Internet is the most promising new way to reach customers. Marketing to the Social Web, Second Edition helps marketers and their companies understand how to engage customers, build customer communities, and maximize profits in a time of marketing confusion. Author and social media guru Larry Weber describes newly available tools and platforms, and shows you how to apply them to see immediate results and growth.

Rather than broadcast messages to audiences, savvy marketers should encourage participation in social networks to which people want to belong, where dialogue with customers, and between customers, can flourish. in Networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and even Flickr are the perfect forums for this dialog; this book shows you how to tap into this new media.

In addition to the tools and tactics that made Marketing to the Social Web a critical hit among marketers, this second edition includes three entirely new chapters that cover recent changes in the field. These new chapters describe how Facebook will monetize its business and one day surpass Google; how companies can measure the influence and effectiveness of their social media campaigns; and how marketing to mobile social media will grow into an effective practice in the near future.

Marketing must reach out into new forms, media, and models. Marketing to the Social Web, Second Edition presents an exceptional opportunity to use these new tools and models to reach new markets, even in today's fragmented media environment.

Larry Weber has spent the last three decades building global communications companies, including Weber Shandwick Worldwide and the W2 Group. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange, the nation's largest interactive advocate association.

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The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social Review

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(More customer reviews)In case you've been living in a cave, Jay Baer and Amber Naslund have teamed up and published The NOW Revolution - 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social.
Their new book has been receiving rave reviews and I received a copy with the understanding that I would share my thoughts after reading it...
There is a high probability that this book will frustrate you.
Yes... frustrate you, but follow me here. Jay and Amber have decided to tackle the challenge businesses are facing to adjust to being social and not just doing social. For those of us in or around the "social" industry, we completely grasp this concept.
The NOW Revolution is organized into seven sections - the 7 shifts mentioned in the title. Each shift walks us through the process of becoming social, scalable and sustainable. There are action items, questions, summaries and plenty of additional documents linked via Microsoft Tag technology.
But, you're wondering why this book may frustrate you.
Most companies are not social.
Even the companies that do social.
Most companies have processes and organizational hierarchies that inhibit being social.
If you have a finger on the pulse of where you work... there is a good chance that reading an actionable guide of what you should or can do to infuse social into your business will lead you to the conclusion How the *$&^ am I going to make this happen?
Being a social company is not a fluffy thing. It isn't a trendy thing. It isn't creating cool content that is sharable. It is changing the entire culture of your organization and embracing the fact that there are TONS of things out of your control.
If this was an easy thing to do, we wouldn't need a book, guide, agency or consultant to help.
What will you get out of The NOW Revolution?
- Lots of ideas for things to do within the workplace
- A better understanding of scaling social
- What to look for and cultivate in employees to become more social
- How to handle real-time crises
- A more in-depth knowledge of what listening and monitoring really means
- Potentially frustrated, depressed or overwhelmed trying to make this happen
Again, I'd like to reinforce the fact that if this was easy... every company would be social. This book when read, understood and placed in the correct hands can be a catalyst to help you start the process of becoming social.
Who should read this?
- Ambitious, social savvy folks that don't mind overcoming adversity
- Executives who don't want to be years behind the curve (hint: you're already a few behind)
- Agencies and consultants that are tasked with improving or creating social strategies and business units
This book isn't a get rich quick scheme. It isn't a guide to monetize your blog. It isn't a direct aide to your personal brand. It isn't something one person can read and do themselves. However, this book is one that can be passed around to a few key folks and used as a guide to restructure, revamp, create or destroy business practices and processes.
The NOW Revolution is one of the better books I've seen to tackle the business and organizational challenges of social media and give you a roadmap to improve things.

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The social web has changed the way we do business forever
The future of your company is not in measured, considered responses and carefully planned initiatives. Business today is about near-instantaneous response. About doing the best you can with extremely limited information. About every customer being a reporter, and every reporter being a customer. About winning and losing customers in real-time, every second of every day. About a monumental increase in the findable commentary about our companies.

Having the time and information required to make a considered business decision is a luxury - a luxury that's quickly facing extinction. Yet business hasn't adapted to this evolution. And adapt you must.

This book isn't about how to "do" social media. Instead,The Now Revolutionoutlines how you must retool your organization to make real-time business workforyou rather than against you. Read about seven shifts that will help you make your company faster, smarter, and more social:

Engineer a New Bedrock

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eMarketing eXcellence, Third Edition: Planning and optimising your digital marketing (Emarketing Essentials) Review

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(More customer reviews)e-Marketing eXcellence, third addition, covers the entire scope of e-Marketing:
Objectives - Do you want to sell? build a brand? talk to and or serve customers?
e-Models - e-commerce, communications, online revenue, web2.0.
e-Customers - Who are they? why do they/don't they buy online? how do they buy? how do you build relationships with them? how do they communicate with each other?
Tools - Not just the internet! iDTV, Digital Radio, Mobile etc.
Site design - Establishing the purpose of the site, best practice design, navigation, structure and copywriting.
Traffic building - SEM, display advertising, e-mail, viral, PR.
CRM - Developing lasting relationships with your customers - database marketing, profiling and personalisation.
e-Business - From value chains to value networks; an analysis what's involved in setting up and managing an e-Business.
The main body text is well written, and the depth of coverage for each topic is just right for a book this size.
Throughout the book you'll find the following boxes:
e-Marketing Excellence - Real world case studies of how large corporations have used the topic being discussed in that part of the book.
Practical/Best Practice e-Marketing tip - Specifics on how you can use the topic being discussed in your own e-marketing campaigns.
e-Marketing Insight - Views from corporations, technology providers (e.g. Google), e-Marketing experts to get you thinking in multiple directions.
The book is also littered throughout with high quality charts, graphics and screenshots of actual websites, all in colour, to give you actual examples of how these techniques are being used.
This third edition of the book has extensive coverage on the latest trends in e-Marketing - viral marketing, web2.0 approaches such as social networking and online PR.
One of the highlights of this book, for me, is thorough coverage of the SOSTAC® approach to e-Marketing planning. Created by Paul Smith (who is a co-author of this book), the model provides a structured framework for building your e-Marketing plans. The model can be applied to projects from small to massive. The book concentrates on how to apply the SOSTAC® model specifically to e-Marketing. Essential reading for anyone involved in writing e-Marketing plans.
This book has broadened my knowledge of e-Marketing in a way that I would not have been able to do so without it. I found myself constantly thinking in new directions when reading it. I now have an appreciation of many more aspects of what's involved when planning for, implementing, and testing e-Marketing campaigns, and I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone involved in all aspects (strategizing, managing, implementing) of e-Marketing. The book also serves as an excellent resource for the e-Marketing student.

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eMarketing eXcellence third edition has been completely revised and updated to help you create effective and up-to-date customer-centric e-marketing plans. A hugely successful practical guide to creating and executing e-marketing plans, it combines established approaches to marketing planning with the creative use of new e-models and e-tools. It is designed to support both marketers who are integrating e-marketing into their existing marketing and communications strategies and experienced e-marketers looking to optimise their e-marketing. Written by two highly experienced eMarketing consultants, the book shows you how to:* Draw up an outline e-marketing plan* Evaluate and apply e-marketing principles and models* Integrate online and offline communications* Implement customer-driven e-marketing* Reduce costly trial and error * Measure and enhance your e-marketing * Drive your e-business forwardEstablished marketing concepts such as customer relationship management, the marketing mix and widely adopted SOSTACplanning system, are re-examined in the new media context - and new approaches explained including blogs, search engine marketing, viral marketing and E-CRM.Offering a highly structured and accessible guide to a critical and far-reaching subject, eMarketing eXcellence third edition provides a vital reference point for all students and managers involved in marketing strategy and implementation.*Learn how to create a digital marketing strategy and get better campaign results* This jargon-free, understandable and applicable text is proven to help marketers maximize the potential of online promotion* Each chapter is structured with the following fantastic features: Introduction; Chapter Summary; References; Further Reading; Web Links; Self-test; eMarketing practitioner interviews

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The Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy: How Social Networks Are Radically Transforming Your Business (Wiley and SAS Business Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book hits the nail on the head. It covers all topics of social media clearly and concisely. As the co-creator of a social media certificate program at a state university in New York I think I will use this book as a text for my next course. Thanks for writing this!

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An actionable framework for developing and executing successful social media strategies supporting collaboration, teamwork and communication in modern corporations
Using straightforward language, this book offers real-world stories and revealing anecdotes to demonstrate how executives and business leaders develop successful corporate social media strategies.
High level guidance to developing the practical business frameworks and policies necessary for implementing and managing successful corporate social media strategies
Describes the actual processes, organizational structures, and technology platforms required to develop and execute a strategy of continuous engagement with customers, partners, and stakeholders
Provides both how-to advice as well as best practices on creating an enterprise social networking strategy
Other titles by Barlow: Partnering with the CIO: The Future of IT Sales Seen Though the Eyes of Decision Makers


An executive handbook and referencefor social media strategy planning and development, The Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy answers all the questions you have on this topic, including why every corporation needs a social media strategy and how it can be successfully leveraged to achieve business objectives.
Praise for The Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy: How Social Networks Are Radically Transforming Your Business
"This book is an ‘executive summary' of the e-social revolution, as it applies to business. Thomas and Barlow have distilled the most thrilling and life-changing technological revolution that any of us will witness in our lifetimes into a clear-eyed set of ‘nothing-but-the-facts-ma'am' data points for business managers. A great read, well worth the effort.—Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., co-authors of Rules to Break & Laws to Follow
"Forgot all the social media buzzwords! Dave and Mike cut through the social sphere hype with his practical guide helping you hone in on making social media a vital business success tool. After reading David and Mike's book, you will understand why you need to integrate your efforts in social media with your overall business objectives. Through new (not-your-everyday-Zappos-Dell-Facebook-example) and varied case studies, analytical direction and measurement insights, Dave and Mike's book provides the fundamental strategies for your brand to truly connect with people via social media."—Zena Weist, Director, Social Media, H&R Block
"Thomas and Barlow have nailed it. I wish I wrote this book."—Chris Brogan, co-author of TrustAgents
"As a social media strategist for a large brand, I understand the challenges companies face integrating social media. This book presents practical solutions in a way that makes sense for large enterprises."—Bert DuMars, Vice President E-Business & Interactive Marketing, Newell Rubbermaid
"Lots of companies try their hands at social media and are unhappy with the results because they don't do their homework. Success in social media comes from smart preparation and making sure your online actions support your key business objectives. This book lays out the groundwork in a way that's easy for companies to understand and implement."—Justin Levy, author of Facebook Marketing: Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign
"Many enterprises continue to treat social media as a box they'd rather not open. With Enterprise Social Media Strategy, David Thomas and Mike Barlow not only provide organizations with the keys to that particular box, but also clear, actionable strategies for dealing with its contents. The payoff: happier customers, better products and services, and a potentially enormous trove of valuable business intelligence. Highly recommended."—Tom Webster, Vice President, Strategy, Edison Research

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Ranking Number One: 50 Essential SEO Tips To Boost Your Search Engine Results Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is packed with excellent strategies, explained concisely with good examples and screen shots of reports, etc. There are so many good ideas here, it is difficult to figure out which ones to act on first.

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With millions of websites on the Internet, search engine optimization - or SEO - is the difference between ranking one in Google and remaining invisible. This book breaks the latest SEO techniques into 50 tips that can help any website - from a small company to the largest corporation - rank number one in the search engines and boost your visitor traffic and sales.

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Customer Worthy: Why and how everyone in your organization must Think Like a Customer Review

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(More customer reviews)While everyone talks about a new marketing model, Hoffman defines what needs to be done to make that happen. Some marketing professionals will hate it, as it requires more effort, continual follow-through, and repeated and critical self-assessment to be successful. Customer Worthy defines the metrics to ensure that every "customer facing" group, from the internet, to order entry through shipping and service is proactively involved. Lastly, every customer interaction point owill be monitored, measured and qualified to ensure organizational alignment and ownership for the the customer relationship.

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Your company's internal measurements might look fine but customer and contact flow may reflect disengaged and indifferent customers. The result is revenue decline and business erosion. Companies that cannot monitor contact data are continually surprised by revenue shortfall, inventory outages, cost overruns, and diminished customer satisfaction. Traditional financial measures lag too far behind customer activities to be effective for timely decision-making. In this forward-thinking approach, Hoffman challenges companies to critique every business decision using one simple, inarguable criterion, Is it Customer Worthy? Customer Worthy shows marketers how to leverage new and future technologies and explains "marketing" to technologists and other management disciplines. Hoffman delves into customer experience as the most critical and under-used company asset. He shows how to thread persuasion and innovation through every customer contact across advertising, marketing, sales, operations and customer service. In this groundbreaking book, Michael Hoffman explains how to use what he calls the CxC Matrix to craft each customer experience, contact by contact, to script the best business outcome. The CxC Matrix exposes untapped marketing opportunities resident in every company in every medium. Hoffman delivers a process to visualize, analyze, monetize and optimize every customer opportunity. Hoffman is a software development and management consultant focused exclusively on technology, analytics, and services that deliver businesses optimum yield per customer.Recommended for chief information officers, chief operating officers, CMOs, marketing directors, brand managers, marketing operations managers, and customer experience managers.

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