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Highly Recommended: Harnessing The Power Of Word Of Mouth And Social Media To Build Your Brand And Your Business (2013)

by Paul M. Rand(Favorite Author)

4.17 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0071816216 (ISBN13: 9780071816212)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

McGraw-Hill

review 1: This was another of my Firstreads wins. I was interested to read it because it discusses marketing by word of mouth and social media. I am about to retire and wanting to do some Internet marketing of art products to earn extra money.I really learned a lot from this book. Traditional marketing and advertising are being swamped by word of mouth recommendations via social media. I also learned that, despite the fact that it's online, it is a very interactive and pretty democratic form of marketing. The author outlines how to encourage recommendations from your customers, how best to interact with them, how to interact with critics and transform them into supporters. He outlines various audiences that need to be addressed such as fans, industry eminents, peer influencers and d... moreetractors. He points out that understanding your detractors is of equal importance to understanding your fans. He suggests systematizing your interactions via social media, and even goes so far as to recommend setting up an online suggestion process. He feels that listening to our customers is the most important way to improve our products. He feels transparency is paramount and extends all of his thoughts to employees of the company: they need to feel listened to, part of the process, and should be looked to for recommendations of your company as a good place to work. (This inclusion of employees was important to me, as I am currently working in a very bureaucratic setting in which employees are not listened to or valued much at all.)The one critique I would have is that occasionally the book sounds like a traditional marketing format: i.e., analyze, analyze, analyze so that you can outsell your competitors. (I helped a friend working on an MBA do a paper on marketing, so I am somewhat familiar with traditional marketing techniques and terminology.)The main benefit of this book is that it helped me examine my own buying habits. I HATE traditional advertising-it has misrepresented products (the example in the book that struck me was tobacco being touted as healthy by the industry). This has led to a massive distrust on my part (and others) of advertising. That is why word of mouth is becoming a primary source of information on what to buy or not buy. Also, I often respond to e-mail or advertisements which offer giveaways, sweepstakes, or contests. One of my personal behaviors in regard to this is that I respond to these via e-mail, but I don't put them on Facebook because I have to look at them daily on Facebook. On my e-mail I can delete them, I can't on Facebook. Thus, the only ones I respond to on Facebook are ones I like seeing everyday.This word of mouth trend in marketing is a very positive one to me. I feel that advertising is for the purpose of informing people honestly about a unique or interesting product you are offering, not to bully you or shame you into buying a product that is falsely represented or not that interesting or unique. I feel it is a game of informed choices on the part of the consumer.
review 2: I read a great deal of these types of books and this book really summarizes one basic principal. All someone has to ask is, "would you recommend X" and if the answer is yes, chances are they'll buy it, read it, watch it, hire it, book it, etc... If you answer no, they won't. Period. It doesn't matter if you've stayed at a hotel a hundred times. If you wouldn't RECOMMEND it, your friend won't stay there. I highly recommend this book. less

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