It seems that everybody is writing a book about the fundamental changes brought on by the "new marketing" and how "social media" are a key component of that.

So, when I heard about "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies," I was a little skeptical. But, in an example of the power of Word-of-Mouth, enough of the bloggers I read and respect came out with some positive comments on it. (Sidebar: for a nice analysis, check out MGH's post on VALUING WORD OF MOUTH)

Most of the books I've read lately are big on theory and short on practice. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it IS a new discipline, but Groundswell was strong on both counts and I was impressed. And, for a bonus they were rigorous in their use of analysis and data, a critical component in this evolving area.

By my count, I had 12 dog-eared pages (out of 250), that's 5% right? A high number by my standard.

What did I take note of?

1. Had never heard of SplashCast, which seems like a nice widget/tool to add value to your site
2. The concept of the "Alpha Mom," which highlighted a great disciplinary practice within their book...the understanding that social media is not a "one size fits all" solution and you can't get away from understanding your customers. In other words, don't chase a fad b/c you think it's cool. It may be irrelevant to your audience.
3. How they segment the social media world using the "Social Technographics Profile"
1. Creators
2. Critics
3. Collectors
4. Joiners
5. Spectators
6. Inactives
4. A simple acronym POST (people, objectives, strategy, technology) to help guide the evolution of your thinking regarding a social media strategy
5. "Businesspeople are people, too. There is no such things as a social network for businesses for a business commenting on a blog. Businesses don't interact. People do." [I liked this one b/c it validates my post here]
6. How starting a conversation will change the way you think about marketing (from shouting to listening), again validating a post of mine. Hey, I need to feel good, right? (p.125)
7. Fred Reicheld's Net Promoter Score (NPS). I'd heard of it, but nice to be reminded of it again.
8. A nice quantification (p. 138) of the ROI of ratings and reviews (including allowing negative ones) for a site
9. Some good fundamental guidance such as:
1. "ask yourself 'what is my customer's problem?'
2. "pick a strategy that fits your customers social technographics profile and problems"
3. "don't start unless you can stick around for the long haul"
10. a nice case study of Bearing Point and their wiki (p. 168)
11. Del Monte's (p. 181) story of community co-creation that yielded Snausages Breakfast Bites
12. I'll leave one for you...got to have a reason to read the book right

I also liked how they touched on some of the challenges and opportunities that internal change agents face (for a good primer, see Sean O'Driscoll on Some things to do and not do )

All in all, a great book and as I launch my career as a WOM/Social Media Change Agent, this is going to be a trusted manual.

Now, the real question is...are Charlene and Josh (the authors) listening to my corner of the 'groundswell?" :-)