all posts tagged “book”
I'd like to start with a disclaimer. Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo, the authors of Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook, are friends. While I may be biased, knowing them for years also means I know the depth of the their knowledge and experience. And that's the big point of my review of their book - these people know what they're talking about because they live in social media every day and have for years. I've asked myself in the past - What would Darren and Julie do?
Friends with Benefits is very much a handbook. It provides direct, actionable and easy-to-understand advice on getting started with social media marketing. And that's one of the aspects of the book that I think is most valuable. They don't speak in generalizations, like you should blog "often." They say business bloggers should to try to blog 3 times a week. They don't say it takes significant time to do social media, they say to plan on at least 25% of your marketing time. This kind of directness takes away some of the anxiety that people feel about getting started and readers will appreciate it.
Along with in-depth introductions to the Twitters and Facebooks of the world, the book comes with a healthy dose of the realities of social media. The online world brims with supposed "social media experts" who will have you believe that anything and everything is possible. Darren and Julie know better because they've been there. The truth is, social media marketing can be amazingly valuable, but comes with real risks. I was happy to see that along with strategies for achieving the very real benefits, the book is clear about the reality of social media: it's difficult, it takes time and the results can vary widely. This book will keep you from looking foolish online.
If you're ready to get off the sidelines and get serious about social media marketing, you must read this book first. Friends with Benefits is tactical, practical and above all, useful.
The first is by Antione de Saint Exupéry, author of The Little Prince and a pioneer in aviation:
Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.
The second is by William of Occam (1288-1347) You might know the name from Occam's Razor.
It is vain to do more with what can be done with less.
These quotes mean a lot to me and were found, most recently, at the beginning of Chapter 5 of Tim Ferriss' book The 4-Hour Workweek. More on that later.
Managing Online Forums - A New Book By Patrick O'Keefe
Posted by: leelefever on April 8, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: book, commmunity, CommunityManagement, friends, recommendation
Patrick and I go way back in web terms, but met for the first time this year at SXSW. We've always connected around managing online communities - something we were both doing back in 2000 or so. That was when Patrick was teenager. Since that time he's grown his iFroggy Network of community sites and gone through just about everything you can imagine in terms of managing discussion boards.
Patrick recently put these experiences into a new book called Managing Online Forums - "everything you need to know to create and run successful community discussion boards."
I think the timing for this book is great. With so much emphasis on Social Media, a lot of people are jumping into the fray and discovering that managing people in a community setting isn't easy. I think Patrick's done a great job of getting to the real, practical issues and questions that arise and how to deal with them responsibly. You can find out more at ManagingOnlineForums.com.
Congrats on getting the book out Patrick! Nice work!
I while back, I posted an entry about an excerpt I read from Guy Kawasaki’s new book: Art of the Start. I just finished the book this week and thought I’d give you some of my thoughts.
I liked Guy’s irreverent style and simple delivery. In looking at the market for my services, the book made me ask myself these questions:
- What is the pain that my market is experiencing? How can I help them alleviate that pain?
- Who in my market has money in their pockets and how can I get that money into my pocket?
- What is the meaning I want to make in the world?
The chapter that I took the most from was about The Art of Pitching. Guy is the Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, so I know he’s seen plenty of pitches.
Here were some of my takeaways:
When pitching, imagine a little man on your shoulder that says “So what?�? after every point you make. This helps you be sure to follow your points with a real world example- a “for instance…�?
Follow these simple rules if you’re using Power Point slides:
- 10 slides
- 20 minutes
- 30 pt. font text
Others notes:
Take the Red Pill and get a Morpheus. This is a reference to The Matrix, where Morpheus speaks the truth to Neo shows him “how deep the rabbit hole goes�?. The point is that every start-up needs a Morpheus- someone to expose the harsh realities of the world. Otherwise you could continue to live a fantasy world.
It was nice to see the Guy is an advocate of humanness and community. In the Art of Branding he outlines these ways to achieve humanness:
- Target the Young- it helps you build a warm brand
- Make Fun of Yourself- To err is human
- Feature Your Customers- Saturn cars is an example- use “My Story�? ideas.
- Help the Undeserved and Underprivileged- Having a cause is a win-win
The cover of the book says “The Time-Test, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything�?. I’d say that the lessons are mostly universal, but the slant of the book leans heavily toward high-tech, venture-seeking start-up companies.
I just read (and recommend) this .pdf from Guy Kawasaki's book, Art of the Start. For folks thinking about starting a company, I think it's good and somewhat non-conventional advice.
I thought this was an interesting this "key principle":
POLARIZE PEOPLE. When you create a product or service that some people love, don't be surprised when others hate you. Your goal is to catalyze passion�??pro or anti. Don't be offended if people take issue with what you've done; the only result that should offend (and scare) you is lack of interest. Car design is a good example of the love-versus-hate reaction; consider the bifurcation of people's reactions to cars such as the Mini Cooper, In�?niti Fx 45, and Toyota Scion xB. People are either devoted fans or relentless critics, and that's good.
This reminds me of one of Leo Buscaglia's quote that I like a lot:
I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate -- it's apathy. It's not giving a damn.
Via: Nancy White via Change This
As usual, I get some of my best reading done at 35,000 feet. On the trip I just returned from last night, I read Barry Schwart's The Paradox of Choice- Why More is Less
I'm about 2/3 of the way through it and really like it so far. The basic premise is that, as a culture, we value choice and assume that more choices mean better experiences and outcomes. Yet, the research shows that choice has a downside.
Schwartz backs up his claims with a bevy of research on how people navigate decisions regarding choice- and what effects the decisions have on them. The results are often couterintuitive, showing that having multiple options can actually prevent people from making a decision and in many cases, prevent them from being satisfied with that decision.
The take-home for me was that an increase in choices also increases a person's anxiety about having made the correct one. For some people (what he calls "maximizers"), this anxiety can be crippling.
It provokes lots of thoughts about the choices I make every day- do I copy with crtl+c, right click, or edit menu?
Read it.
I don’t think anyone would disagree with the age-old adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know�?. It applies across our business and personal lives- the one who connects the best wins. Using a network of people to your advantage is as old as business itself- a strategy that hasn’t changed much over the years.
However, just recently, the networking landscape has changed significantly. The same principles of trust, communication and relationship building still apply, but the tools have changed. Internet-based resources such as online communities, weblogs, email lists, contact managers, etc. are enabling a new kind of networking- a new way to make and nurture the connections you value.
In the recent ebook “Making Your Business Click; Book 1: How to Value and Grow Your Network�? the authors provide (in my words) a clear and well thought out guide to online business networking for the average person. It describes how the Internet has changed business networking and how you can use the Web to develop an online presence that’s as authentic and as valuable as you are.
I think the book helps us overcome the bad reputation that online relationships garnered in the early years of the Web. Many of the initial experiences (including my own) in “talking�? to people online were bad experiences. The web was (and is) filled with anonymity, false pretense and hidden agendas. It was historically harder to develop real relationships and feel that you could trust someone online.
I believe we’re seeing a change in this reputation and the book helps the reader see how to establish trust and maintain online relationships that are honest and productive. If you’re curious about the best ways to use the web to network, I’d check it out. David, Donna and Scott did a great job.
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