SM_Zombies.png
You are here: Home / Archives for Books

The real truth: What business owners need to know about social media

January 12, 2012 By 2 Comments

When you work in social media regularly, one of the best things to have on hand is a book that you can hand to business owners that don’t recognize the benefits of social media. One of my favorites Eric Harr’s recent book entitled The Real Truth About Social Media.

Despite it’s modest size (about 100 pages), Real Truth is filled with actionable insights that are easily understood by traditional marketing executives and business leaders, without time-wasting jabber or hollow social media evangelism.  Real Truth answers the most common question that business leaders have about social media: Why bother?It’s not about social media. It’s about customer service.

“If you deliver old-school customer service to your customers — if you care, listen, and have humility, and if you put people first — you will reap rich rewards from social media. You will build a volunteer army of passion-driven, newly-empowered marketers,” Harr said. “The brands that are winning in social media do it old-school.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Facebook, LinkedIn, Misc T, Twitter, word of mouth, youtube Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Kerpen’s ‘Likeable’ is a good companion for social media

August 11, 2011 By 3 Comments

Although social media has become a mainstream business strategy, there are few ‘how-to’ books that you can hand business owners who are eager to get started with social media.  The newest of these is Likeable Social Media by David Kerpen.

At more than 140 characters, the title of Dave Kerpen’s 2011 social media handbook may be too long to tweet, but the book is definitely worth talking about.  Officially titled Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (and other social networks), Kerpen’s book shares 18 strategies  for effective Facebook marketing and provides an overview of the most popular and effective social media networks for business.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Facebook, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Social Pro Files: An interview with Go-Giver’s Bob Burg

April 28, 2011 By 1 Comment

We recently had the opportunity to interview Bob Burg, co-author of ‘Go-Giver’ books and  author of ‘Endless-Referrals’. Bob is a Social Pro, so we wanted to share this entire interview with everyone. Enjoy!

‘Go-Giver’ uses a parable in a fictional story to illustrate the power of giving. What made you guys choose a parable instead of a real life case study?

Burg: Well, you know, years ago I had a book out called Endless-Referrals and it was a how-to book. And it’s done very well. It sold a couple 100,000 copies over the years and we’ve been happy with it. But, I started to read a lot of parables… and I thought: “Wouldn’t it be great to write a parable on, you know, the basic principles of the ‘Endless-Referrals’, which is basically the premise: “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust”.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, interviews, Misc T Tagged With: , , ,

Social Media & Sales: They’re both about giving

April 26, 2011 By 3 Comments

Sales and social media have more in common than you’d think. The best social networkers and the best salespeople aren’t just go-getters. They’re also go-givers.

During recent travels, I had the opportunity to read The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg and John David Mann. The book is a short, 144-page parable about a salesman that is so focused on short-term results that he overlooks the value that comes from building effective long-term relationships.

Although the 2007 book predates much of social media hype we’ve seen in recent years, it provides some valuable insights for social networking. The book introduces ‘Five Laws for Stratospheric Success in Sales,’ but they apply equally well to social media: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Facebook, LinkedIn, Misc T, sales, Strategy, Twitter, word of mouth Tagged With: , , , ,

Nearsighted security cameras are the real ‘eye of London’

April 12, 2011 By 4 Comments

On a recent trip to London, it was difficult to overlook the city’s most common landmark: closed circuit TV cameras.  With nearly 2 million security cameras, London is the most watched city in the world.

Security cameras are everywhere in London: On street corners, on trains, in public spaces and in private homes.  To visitors, like myself, it all seems a bit too Orwellian.  However, locals have become so accustomed to the cameras that they’ve become invisible. And, that’s the point according to Jeremy Bentham, an 18th Century English philosopher and social theorist.

Bentham invented the Panopticon, a prison where the behavior of every prisoner was managed by a continuous perception of unseen surveillance.  The Panopticon prison is cheaper by design than other prisons because it requires fewer guards. Since the watchmen couldn’t be seen, they don’t need not be on duty at all times. CCTV is a modern day Panopticon.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Misc T, Privacy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts