Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web [Hardcover]

Brian Solis (Author), Ashton Kutcher (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2010

The ultimate guide to branding and building your business in the era of the Social Web?revised and updated with a Foreword by Ashton Kutcher

Engage! thoroughly examines the social media landscape and how to effectively use social media to succeed in business?one network and one tool at a time. It leads you through the detailed and specific steps required for conceptualizing, implementing, managing, and measuring a social media program. The result is the ability to increase visibility, build communities of loyal brand enthusiasts, and increase profits.

Covering everything you need to know about social media marketing and the rise of the new social consumer, Engage! shows you how to create effective strategies based on proven examples and earn buy-in from your marketing teams. Even better, you'll learn how to measure success and ROI.

• Introduces you to the psychology, behavior, and influence of the new social consumer
• Shows how to define and measure the success of your social media campaigns for the short and long term
• Features an inspiring Foreword by actor Ashton Kutcher, who has more than 5 million followers on Twitter
• Revised paperback edition brings the book completely up to date to stay ahead of the lightning fast world of social media

Today, no business can afford to ignore the social media revolution. If you're not using social media to reach out to your customers and the people who influence them, who is?

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Social media has democratized influence, forever changing the way businesses communicate with customers and the way customers affect the decisions of their peers. With platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, anyone can now find and connect with others who share similar interests, challenges, and beliefs—creating communities that shape and steer the perception of brands. Without engagement in these communities, we miss major opportunities to shape our marketing messages.

However, use of the tools does not guarantee that people will listen. Engagement is shaped by the interpretation of its intentions. In order for social media to mutually benefit you and your customers, you must engage them in meaningful and advantageous conversations, empowering them as true participants in your marketing and service efforts.

With Engage! as your guide, you can effectively compete in this new era of digital Darwinism while engendering the support of online champions. Social and participatory media significantly contribute to the success of every modern business, and with this book, you will find out how to:

• Create a space in the online ecosystem that truly represents your business and cultivates your customers' loyalty and trust

• Participate in the unique culture of each available social media platform to engage your customers

• Establish an organizational structure that constantly targets the next new media trend

• Attract online champions and change agents who will uncover the social networks you need to reach and the influencers who will help build your reputation in the networked world

• Consistently adapt your company to market needs and trends based on the invaluable connections you forge and the empathy and insight you garner in the process

There are thousands of customers waiting to hear from you about your business and vision. It's the minimum ante to create a vibrant and loyal online community. When you engage, you will build an authoritative social network that increases your visibility, relevance, influence, and profitability. It's time to Engage!

From the Back Cover

Praise for Engage!

"It's no longer an era of business as usual. Executives and entrepreneurs must embrace new media in order to not only compete for the future, but for mind share, market share, and, ultimately, relevance. This book helps you engage. Without it, you're competing for second place."
—Mark Cuban, owner, Dallas Mavericks; investor; entrepreneur; and Chairman, HDNet

"Affinity is personal and emotional. Without personifying the company and what it symbolizes, it's difficult for customers to connect with your brand. The concepts from this book can help your brand engage in a way that inspires communities to extend your message, promise, and reach."
—Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com

"The power of the top-down, A-list influencer is winding down. Now brands must engage on a direct-to-many basis. Social media makes this possible, and Solis makes this happen. Read his book or be left in the dust."
—Guy Kawasaki, cofounder, Alltop

"Social media is changing everything about the way people relate socially, in commerce, and in politics. Engage! gets you up to date regarding current trends and technology, and shows you how to build a serious social media strategy. It's the real deal."
—Craig Newmark, founder, Craigslist.com

"Before Solis, I was cluelessly competing in the attention economy of the twenty-first century. Solis's Engage! provides me with the intellectual capital to build relevancy amidst our cacophonous culture. This book is worth its weight in attention—the digital gold of the twenty-first century."
—Andrew Keen, author of the international hit Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470571098
• ISBN-13: 978-0470571095
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research-based business advisory firm in San Francisco. Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, publishing, and culture. His new book, The End Of Business As Usual, looks at the changing consumer landscape, it's impact on business & what companies can do to adapt & lead. Solis' previous book, Engage, is regarded as the industry reference guide to build and measure success in the social web.

Briansolis.com is one the world's most read and linked to business and marketing blogs in the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars wish there was more ACTION steps for small companies, June 29, 2010

By 

Jacob Versluis "music enthusiast" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web (Hardcover)

The book clearly explains that we're in the process of a paradigm shift here regarding marketing/PR and the like. So props for that. I guess I was looking for more of a manual of "how-to's" in the social media realm. There was some good stuff in here. But as a small business owner I found myself skipping over a fair amount of the pages that were discussing how different departments should respond and what their goals should be. I would say pick this book up if you're part of a big organization trying to better understand "social media" and you want to find a place for it in your mid to large size company.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creating a Social Media Plan to "Engage", March 23, 2010

By 

Marylene Delbourg-Delphis (Palo Alto & Boston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web (Hardcover)

"Perhaps the biggest mistakes committed by businesses, personalities, and brands in social media occur when people jump into social networks blindly without establishing guidelines, a plan of action, a sense of what people are seeking and how and why they communicated, an understanding of where people are congregating, a definition of what they represent and how they will personify the brand online, and the goals, objectives, and metrics associated with participation." Albeit fairly late in the book, this sentence sums up the purpose of Brian Solis in Engage! One more book about Social Media, sure; but this one is one of the best written. It's almost reassuring to read sentences that exceed 140 characters (or twenty words), and, while you can find all the trendy buzzwords and expressions on virtually every page, the author authentically tries to assist social media managers as they transition from the broadcasting age to the intricacies of a new form of netcasting architecture where both users and corporations exchange "social objects." How well or efficiently can they do so? This book provides social media managers with the background knowledge and practical notions that they can leverage to design a consistent strategy.

The first half of the book surveys the world of social media in general, describing all the aspects of social interactions and their impact on corporate marketing and communication, as well as customer service departments. Traditional marketing schemas have irreversibly imploded under the pressure of a crowd represented in a "conversation prism" that factors in behavioral guidelines implicitly or explicitly set by the multiple socialization channels. So marketers must listen. What can they do with so much information? "Instead of inhibiting the pace and breadth of information flow, we must channel relevant details and data," a task that does not only require "attention" (nice reference to Linda Stone's Continuous Partial Attention), but also some understanding of applied social sciences or researchers' and analysts' categorizations (such as Charlene Li's and Jeremiah Owyang's Socialgraphics). Achieving a state of the art "unmarketing" to use a time-stamped word by Scott Stratten - i.e. rebuilding a marketing strategy from the bottom up - entails, for many companies, a serious reassessment of some entrenched marketing habits. Hence the resolutely didactic approach of the two parts of the book: "The New Reality of Marketing and Creating Customer Service" and "Forever Students of New Media."

The second half of the book comprises four parts that detail the new responsibilities that come up with the potential of social media, and focuses more specifically on what a "new marketing" approach may look like. One of the most remarkable sections is related to "defining the rules of engagement." It unambiguously shows to the skeptics that the social media revolution is not a passing phenomenon spurred on or controlled by influencers, but the reality of today's computing, one of the incarnations of the social Web, and that it is set to transform every single company from the inside. The examples of IBM's and Intel's guide-lines (and its digital IQ Program) do not only demonstrate the forward-thinking intelligence of people like Bryan Rhoads or Ken Kaplan, but also the proactive approach of highly regarded companies as they define new roles and responsibilities to adapt to a new world. Digital intelligence is not simply the prerogative of a handful of gurus appointed to task forces or advisory boards, it will also be part of the job description of most employees in the close future if they want to be up to par with educated customers. The scope of the book stops here, but it's clear that the social media revolution will lead to the reassessment of corporate cultures, employee empowerment methodologies, and linguistic and artistic skills. "Unmarketing" just like any vibrant "marketing" starts from within. Corporate stonewalling doesn't have too much future.

End result: a serious book that gathers the Zeitgeist (and will bring many people up to speed with trends and idioms). Somewhat voluble, yet kindly extroverted and definitely useful if you want to create a social media plan.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engage by Brian Solis (Wiley), April 15, 2010

By 

BlogOnBooks "BlogOnBooks" (Los Angeles CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web (Hardcover)

Much like the de rigueur necessity of having a website a decade ago, it has become increasingly apparent that any company looking to establish a direct connection with their consumers now needs to have a social marketing strategy as well. Yet, with a daily growing array of platforms and tools now available to accomplish such goals, the choices and strategies needed to achieve such relationships can often seem overwhelming at best.

With a surfeit of so-called social marketing `experts' now in the marketplace, how can a brand be sure they are getting the best advice and a full understanding of the expanding number of options available to accomplish this mission? Enter Brian Solis. In recent years, Solis has emerged as one of the foremost experts on social marketing. His new book, `Engage! The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web,' offers a truly comprehensive guide to managing a company's online brand awareness and customer interaction that is second to none.

Solis opens the kimono on everything from establishing a company's initial messaging goals and approach to a deep dig into the tools and platforms currently available to facilitate and evaluate the success of an effective social media campaign. While admitting various brands have different needs, Solis lays out his program like a college curriculum offering fourteen chapters that create the rubric for `The New Media University: 101 to MBA.'

`Engage' reveals the best practices for establishing brand identity, reputation, rules of engagement and feedback, both through carefully planned corporate planning as well as through the use of tools ranging from social networks, widgets, feeds and more designed to facilitate the best messaging systems, listening devices and conversational workflows. Solis provides access to a broad array of resources, some so new that they aren't actually even in full operation yet when we tested their websites!

At the end of the day, Solis appears to cover every single aspect of social marketing and while the book eventually gets into some very heady stuff regarding feedback metrics, charting and tracking programs, it is clear that this book goes further than any volume we have yet to see on this subject. Whether most companies can keep up with the extensive options Solis presents has yet to be seen. Of course, this new medium is far from a static state and therefore there are clearly more platforms and tools just around the corner (Gowalla, anyone?) For that Solis offers a website to carry on from here. Well done!