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 Groundswell - Nov 16, 2009
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies -
I have been playing in the Groundswell for a little over a year or so. I have come across many folks that told me, this book was a must read. I have to admit they were correct. Something that I wish I would have read early on - in my engagement in the Groundswell. Looking back when this was written to today - still spot on.
 They are talking about you - You must act ! Nov 15, 2009
As an online marketing manager in my organization, I came across various challenges in order to fit my company in social media. We did some research with the help of our vendor and across some strange findings. We were already being talked about on various social media channels. We did not know what to do next. Did some analysis and also some measurements like Traffic, Tonality etc. Though we were planning a lot of things but we needed some direction. I am not embarrassed to disclose that our first approach was to match or beat the competition.
The project went on hold for few months and I started understanding social media more. In the process I went through blogs and books etc. Some materials like Cluetrain Manifesto, Wikinomics helped me understand the concept a lot, however, I needed to organize my understanding or not even the understanding but the approach that I should be taking for the Social Media project.
Groundswell helped me do just that,
What approach to take?
What tools to use?
What to discard and what not to?
The books gives you actionable understanding rather than a generic information. It is specific to the point that you can even select a particular tool or even some of the companies that you can use for your project. We signed up with Constant Contact for email marketing and fixed our goal on a particular approach.
You can even take and approach by filtering tools and your audience, the Social Technograhpic Profile is one of the best and most simplified classification I have come across in years. It helps measure your efforts.
Three most important takeaways from the book are:
1) Classify your Community
» Creators
» Critics
» Collectors
» Joiners
» Spectators
» Inactives
2) Approach that you should take:
» Listen
» Talk
» Entergize
» Help
» Embrace
3) Tools that you should use:
» Facebook
» Email marketing (With social media capabalities)
» Twitter
» Forums
» Communities
» Others
Read the book for better understanding the case studies are also very helpful.
Groundswell: Excellent book on Social Media Nov 11, 2009
Groundswell is by far the best book I have read on social media.
The authors have researched this area in detail and combine both quantitative and qualitative research.
They present a concept called the social technographic ladder which is a massive help to anyone wondering how to decide what social media strategies might work for their customers or target market. (see [...]) for an intro to the social technographic ladder)
There are also some great case studies from a range of industries
A Great Book to Learn About and Understand Social Media Oct 31, 2009
Groundswell is a great book to help people understand the revolutionary social technology changes that are occurring, why they are happening, and how to tap into it and transform your business. It's a very interesting read with good information, much of it familiar though, particularly for those already actively involved in social media.
The authors explain that people utilize social media to connect, collaborate, react, organize, and accelerate consumption. They give numerous examples of tools for each of these categories, and explain which of the five primary objectives these tools help companies meet. For example, blogs are effective tools for talking and getting feedback, while ratings, reviews, and online communities help energize the groundswell. In addition, people engage more or less with social media, and their involvement will range from completely inactive to active creators, with several levels of involvement in between.
Thus, planning is a large part of success. The idea is to look at the objectives first, especially since technology constantly evolves, and select appropriate tools that will develop the relationships to get there. The authors introduce a four part planning process that consists of people, objectives, strategy and technology.
Concrete examples and case studies provide additional substance and make the information easily digestible, enabling you to create actionable steps to move your company into the groundswell. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about social media and the steps to take to get involved.
Great Social Networking Marketing Introductory Book Oct 20, 2009
The Groundswell is a great introductory book for the topic of online social relationships. If you don't have much experience in the world of social networking is the right book to understand the basic concepts, start learning the jargon and get introduced to some of the most common technologies.
If you are an experienced user of social networking, it will show you look a different angle of the applications you already use. You will see it from the marketer and social researcher point view; this book will show you the most appropriate ways to get your business involved in the groundswell, and it will deepen your knowledge about the type of consumers you can reach with the different technologies.
The most prominent aspect of this book is the social technographics profile. This profile is a proprietary consumer research method of Forrester Research, which focuses on how people use social networks to share their knowledge with others. As a plus the publishers share their blog site where you can get access to general profiles, which might be useful for individuals and companies who can't pay Forrester fees, but want to use the profiles to make decisions.
In addition, the authors use their experiences as consultants to illustrate with cases the scenarios where companies had successfully tapped into the groundswell, as well as unsuccessful attempts. The case studies are short, concise, and easy to read and flow very well in the context of the chapters. It definitely helps put the theory in perspective.
The book has three structural units, the first one is "Understanding the Groundswell" which is the introduction to the topics and research. In the second unit, "Tapping the Groundswell" the authors explain the different techniques available to dip into the groundswell. Finally the third unit "The Groundswell Transforms" explains how the right approach towards internal and external groundswell can transform companies and gives future perspectives for the groundswell.
The only shortcoming I see is that they dedicated only one chapter to the future of the groundswell, I think they should have given it more importance.
All in all, this a great book, loaded with information, nonetheless fun, entertaining and engaging; I recommend it for anyone interested in the "groundswell".
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