The Definitive Twitter Guide: Making Tweets Work for Your Business: 30 Twitter Success Stories From Real Businesses and Non-Profits Review

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(More customer reviews)I started reading this book and almost immediately started saying things like, "I didn't know that", or "Well, that makes sense, why didn't I think of that?", or even a few versions of "Huh?". The book isn't written over my head, nor is it under my ability. Let me give you a better idea. I'm no genius. I frequently misspell frequently misspelled words. I'm no slouch either. I'm proud of the fact that I essentially taught myself much of what I needed to know in order to pass the tests that helped get me in a classroom. I guess I'm average.

But in being average, I feel that I'm like a lot of people out there. I use Twitter, but probably not to the full potential. I have a blog, but I'm sure I could do more with it. Just like a lot of other people out there. Given that, I feel uniquely qualified to tear into this book and give it a good once-over.
I think this book is essential for those who want to use Twitter for more than telling us what you are making for dinner. When I talk to young people, many want to start some sort of business. That's great, and for those people I suggest finding ways to use Twitter to their best advantage. The Definitive Twitter Guide should be your first stop.
This book is extremely well written, to the point that it could hold my attention long enough for me to read it, start following it, and get up here and write a bunch of words about it. If you are like me, young enough to use Twitter but old enough to be slightly intimidated by the tech, Shannon makes the information accessible.
The PF guy in me wants to leave it at "buy this book", but the teacher in me feels the need to jump in as well. Any of my students will tell you that I rarely give "A's". This is one of those times.


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Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn help businesses share information and connect with potential customers. What business can succeed without getting to know its customers? What business can survive without being seen as a reliable place for information or products? Social media promotes and supports businesses prospecting for new customers, connecting with existing customers and listening to what is going on in their community and their industry. Twitter is a powerful way to connect with people and other businesses. Connections ultimately keep you in business. This book will help you de-mystify Twitter for business. focused on small business marketing on the Internet. The Definitive Twitter Guide provides quality resources, tips, and techniques for small business owners looking to effectively compete on the web.

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Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to Develop Your Business Online Review

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(More customer reviews)Will books be replaced by blogs? Social Media 101 is a blog in book form. While there's some good information here, the book lacks narrative, mixes cliches with some worthwhile tools and serves up a lot of scattered information.
The longer I read Social Media 101, the more I wondered if author Chris Brogan had read a book lately and realized that what works in an interactive medium looks like a mess on the printed page. Readers of blogs find their minds wandering after 800 words. Book readers expect more than a bunch of ideas that flashed through someone's head. Moreover book buyers expect a product that provides more value than something free. Much of Social Media 101 reads like a stream of conscious conversation. Brogan starts with "Above all else people," gives us a few cliches and then moves on to "People like to be engaged." As he skips from topic to topic the book gets worse. A chapter entitled Velocity, Flexibility, Economy includes a blurb on Google's smart phone, Flexibility, a blub on various applications and Economy, descriptions of things like Skype which reduce the costs of many jobs. The fact that the author, publishers and editors all okay'd this (probably because the topic "Social Media" is such a draw) is pretty sad.
I know that everyone is dying to find out more about social media and what they can do with it. Unfortunately what readers' need is a thoughtful, well organized tool that will help them put together a strategy. This book of tips won't cut it. The author never bit the bullet and took the time to write a real book from the notes in his blog.


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UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging. Review

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(More customer reviews)The new book UnMarketing from Canadian viral marketer and Twitter gadfly Scott Stratten takes the rules and purees them, Blendtec style.
Here's what makes UnMarketing an unusual, yet worthy use of your marketing education time:
UNpretentious
Unlike so many marketing books, Stratten doesn't overcomplicate the subject matter. He believes that common sense should prevail, and that UnMarketing success is rooted in the creation of everyday "wow" moments. His self-deprecation adds a hilarious, warm tone throughout.
UNstructured
Like Gary Vaynerchuk's Crush It, Stratten dictated some of the book, and it reads very conversationally. Also, there isn't a narrative or progression in the book, but rather a collection of 57 short observations, lessons, and anecdotes. For readers that consume material in bits and pieces, this format is ideal. You can easily read UnMarketing over time in 10 or 15-minute chunks.
UNafraid
Sacred cows are slaughtered in UnMarketing, both in the material and in the book's packaging. (The faux testimonials on the back of the book are priceless, including:
"This book is the greatest business book in the world, besides mine."
- Author who only gives testimonials for people who give him one in return
Stratten's rant against direct marketing - "People still teach courses on how to cold-call better! That's like finding a better way to punch people in the face" is one of the more memorable examples of his outlook.
UNderstandable
One of the most commendable aspects of this book is Stratten's gift for boiling down a marketing principle to its simplest form. His "Pull and Stay" advice; segmenting customers into barrels; platforming; social currency, and other concepts are instantly applicable to real world marketing challenges fitting a wide variety of circumstances. The examples and mini case studies he presents provide insights that leave you nodding your head and thinking you could adopt the same approaches.
UNsettling
Stratten has a knack for gaps. The two sections in the book on the Trust Gap and the Experience Gap are among the strongest in UnMarketing. Both are wake-up calls for marketers, and make the case that separating marketing from day-to-day customer experiences is an impossibility. Greg Verdino's excellent book MicroMarketing hits on similar themes. Stratten writes: "
The space between the best services, often what a new customer receives and the worst experience is what I call the Experience Gap. As a business owner your goal needs to be having no gap at all, optimizing every point of contact with your customer."
A tall order, to be certain.
UNdercover
The best parts of UnMarketing are when the author uses his own circumstances to make a point about the importance of people and customer experience. His tale of his switch of coffee loyalty from Tim Horton's to McDonald's is a documentary-style account of how real people perceive and are impacted by business details we all too often take for granted. Based on consistency of product, suitability of packaging, and convenience of location, Stratten shifted his daily coffee habit - to the tune of perhaps $30,000 in lifetime value, underscoring the ultimate importance of every customer acquisition or defection.
As you might expect, UnMarketing is not your typical marketing and business book. It's a boullabaise of advice and observations on social media, viral marketing, and customer experience, with a side order of social media how-to. There are a few sections devoted to the mechanics of Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and other social media operational specifics. Because they are relatively high level overviews, these aren't the strongest components of the book, and if you want details on Twitter or Facebook best practices, I recommend Kyle Lacy's Twitter for Dummies and Mari Smith and Chris Treadway's Facebook Marketing an Hour a Day.
But, if you're looking for an always-interesting, impactful, funny, practical book to get you excited about marketing again, you should pick up a copy of UnMarketing. Scott Stratten is a compelling character with panache and wit, and he puts these strengths to great use in his first book.

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