Listen First!: Turning Social Media Conversations Into Business Advantage [Hardcover]

Stephen D. Rappaport (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2011

"This superb book synthesizes the industry's best thinking on the massive upside of listening. Listen First! is an invaluable resource for marketing executives and will help organizations create real competitive advantage."
—Dave Hudson, CEO, NM Incite, a joint venture of McKinsey and Nielsen

"Listening is a business imperative . . . especially in a world of empowered consumers. Brands are getting built and nurtured in a very different way. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in this new world order."
—Stan Sthanunathan, Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Insights, Coca-Cola

"One by one, the best marketing companies are putting 'listening to consumers' on their strategic agenda. Following each announcement, we hear . . . silence, as staff groups try to grapple with the new directive. Listen First! is a timely, unhyped, and pragmatic field guide for those exploring the world of listening."
—Ted McConnell, EVP Digital, Advertising Research Foundation; former head of Digital Marketing Innovation, Procter & Gamble

"How many of you have an effective listening strategy? To help guide you in the listening maze, identify new business opportunities, and select the right partners for the development and implementation of an effective listening strategy, this book is a must and an enjoyable read!"
—Prof. Yoram (Jerry) Wind, The Lauder Professor, The Wharton School

"We started J&D's with a single idea – to make everything taste like bacon. All we needed now were customers. So we decided to go where the conversations were, and we've been listening ever since. We use social media to connect with our customers, promote our advancements in bacon-o-vation, and ask for their feedback on new product development. If you're an entrepreneur or run a small business, this book will give you lots of examples and terrific and practical ideas for creatively listening to your customers and growing it."
—Justin Esch, cofounder, J&D's Foods

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Shhh Listen. Hear that? That's the sound of your business. The conversations taking place online and in the marketplace tell you nearly everything you need to know about your company and your customers—what people are saying about you, how they use your products, whether they'll buy or recommend your product, and how they respond to your marketing and advertising. Listening provides unrivaled insight. If you do it right, you'll have a decisive edge over your competition as you adapt faster to customer needs and market changes. Listening is ultimately about gaining business advantage.

Based on authoritative research from the Adver-tising Research Foundation, Listen First! delivers a playbook for marketing and advertising success-fully in our conversational era. This book explains what listening is, how to do it, how it's used, and where it's headed. Done well, social media listening uncovers pivotal insights that guide marketing as well as product development, customer service, and just about all business functions that touch customers and other stakeholders. You'll learn the tools, winning plays, and proven tactics for listening so that you can:

• Understand what customers are thinking, feeling, and doing in their lives that affect demand and interest in your products or services

• Identify threats to your reputation

• See how customers position competing brands in their minds, not as advertisers position them

• Sense market shifts that threaten existing business or present new opportunities

• Develop new products or refine your current lineup by bringing customer voices into R&D, innovation, and concept testing

• Make your messages more relevant and sharpen targeting by directing messages to people according to their conversational interests

• Keep sales humming, even when business conditions might be unfavorable—or better predict short-term sales based on the volume and specifics of conversational activity

• Determine competitors' strengths and weaknesses

• Plan and buy advertising based on where conversations are happening

• Organize your company to maximize listening's value across all its departments

Listen First! gives you evidence, research, and expert viewpoints that will enable you to take advantage of listening and build your business over the short term and for the long haul. If you want your company to have a sustainable business advantage in an uncertain world, it is time to start—and act on—listening.

About the Author

STEPHEN D. RAPPAPORT is the lead author of The Online Advertising Playbook: Proven Strategies and Tested Tactics from the Advertising Research Foundation (Wiley). At ARF, Steve is Knowledge Solutions Director. A sought-after speaker at industry conferences, Steve holds workshops and strategy sessions with leading brands and lectures at major business schools.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470935510
• ISBN-13: 978-0470935514
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,348,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen D. (Steve) Rappaport, Advertising Research Foundation Knowledge Solutions Director, is responsible for creating the knowledge resources, tools and services which help members build brands.

Listen First! draws upon Steve's decades of experience in listening, through harvesting online content, media content analysis, issues analysis, text analytics and unstructured data management. Steve's listening interest started in academia, where he trained under a number of distinguished researchers who pioneered media content analysis, and then continued in business. There his work focused on reputation management, customer insights, marketing strategy, and corporate positioning primarily in the financial services, media, entertainment, sports, and pharmaceutical industries. Steve is the lead author of the best-selling The Online Advertising Playbook: Proven Strategies and Tested Tactics from the Advertising Research Foundation (Wiley 2007, translated into multiple languages.

At ARF, Steve leads the Digital Media and People councils. Steve speaks with and counsels leading companies such as diverse as Kraft, Campbell, Toyota, Taco Bell and Kaiser Permanente; keynotes, presents or panels at major industry conferences, ranging from the World Federation of Advertiser to the Mobile Marketing Association, lectures at leading business schools like Columbia and NYU; publishes in academic journals and the trade press, and is quoted in a variety of places.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Listen First! A Strategy for Effective Marketing Research Thru Social Media April 20, 2011

By Jason L. Mcdonald

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Quick Review:

Being a good listener, argues Stephen Rappaport, is an increasingly important skill in the age of effective Internet marketing. This playbook by the Advertising Research Foundation is a detailed (perhaps over detailed) effort to help businesses both small and large learn how to leverage social media as a platform for marketing research. Although quite difficult to read, its value lies in its difference: unlike most social media marketing books, this one is all about listening and research.

I teach Social Media Marketing both online and in San Francisco (you can click on my profile or Google Jason McDonald to find me), and this book is a one-of-a-kind new perspective on social media marketing and reputation management, that I will recommend to my students and colleagues who want to look before they leap into social media marketing!

Detailed Review:

Listen First! Social Media Marketing Research

Marketing ultimately is about selling; marketing is to selling, as strategy is to tactics. So as marketers, we are the eyes and ears of our companies - constantly scanning the environment for opportunities and threats. As Rappaport argues in this book, the new social media landscape provides unprecedented opportunities for us to 'listen in' to our customers - and thereby gain insights into both opportunities and threats.

Whereas previously marketing research was largely about surveys, focus groups, observational methods, and sales data, now we can hear customers as they complain, customers as they praise, customers as they suggest ideas to us (and to each other). Social media venues such as Twitter, Facebook, Yelp and the like are a veritable gold mine of untapped marketing intelligence.

For that brilliant insight alone - I recommend that you buy this book. Heretofore, most social media marketing books have largely been about talking and getting customers to talk about you; this book switches our focus to the logic of listening.

Defining Marketing Objectives

As marketing needs clear objectives, so too does marketing research and so too does listening in to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Rather than provide clear outlines and guides, however, this is where the book falters a bit. It has many, many case studies but all written in small fonts without clear breaks between concepts and best practices. There is a ton of information in the case studies, but it is really up to you (the reader) to tease it out. It's unfortunate that the book's editor didn't know where the BOLD key was in Microsoft word! That would have made the book a lot easier to read, and to get the correct take-aways.

I especially liked the distinctions made. For example, Rappaport distinguishes between Brand Backyards like one's own Twitter account, blog, or forum and consumer backyards such as the Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter accounts of others. Too often, corporations have tried to control the social media marketing dialogue rather than embrace the necessary chaos of this new marketing world order.

The case study on Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow who provide bacon-flavored products is especially informative. Rather than getting stuck down with academic research agendas and objectives, the two basically trolled user forums and blogs to realize the obvious: everything tastes better with bacon! From this social media marketing insight a bacon powerhouse was born.

At the level of theory, Rapaport reminds us, an overly academic researcher might have objected to the lack of statistical rigor in the I-love-bacon listening strategy. But, he reminds, us the results (sales!) speak for themselves.

So first define your objectives, and then listen. Or better yet: define your marketing objectives as you listen, and don't get too hung up on social science rigor!

Reputation Management and Social Media Marketing Listening

Among the new social media marketing buzz words is reputation management. Rapaport only touches on this subject, but reminds us that listening is a critical element of an effective reputation management strategy. You have to know your reputation, after all, before you can manage it!

He concludes the book with a list of online resources, that I will peruse and investigate during my summer break. I track hundreds of free social media tools, and I am eager to investigate his picks. My hat goes off to him for having a list of resources as many otherwise great books, leave us hanging. In this age of the Internet, no book is complete without a list of links and Rapaport obliges. Thanks!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Listen First!" - Efficient Listening Playbook For Serious Marketing & Branding Business Advantages!!!... November 27, 2011

By Michael Sykes

Format:Hardcover

>>>..."Listen First!" is an InDepth Playbook that responds to Four Questions often heard : What is Listening to Social Media? / How is it used? / How is it done?, and Where is it headed?!!!...At Present, It seems that Listening has No Authoritative Source that organizes & synthesizes what is known about Social Media Listening & Presents Social Media Listening in a way that was useful for making Marketing & Branding Decisions!!!...>>> Stephen Rappaport, Author, Authority, Thought & Team Leader, etc. offers "Listen First!" to address & fill that void!!!..."Listen First!" provides the State-of-the Art Knowledge, Context & Content in Social Media Listening over 23 Chapters, 302+ pages, selecting cases based on Solid Research that will StandUp to Careful Scrutiny & Whose Methods are supported from doing Excellent Listening Work!!!...>>> "Listen First!" will start the Internal Conversations on Listening in All Organizations, Companies, etc. that want to Listen More Efficently!!!...>>> For Those Who Care, Invest in a PurchaseReview of "Listen First!" & Your Journey Will Begin!!!...
>>>..."Listen First!" starts with a combined MustRead Foreword from Bob Barocci - President / Advertising Research Foundation / ARF & Stephen Rappaport / Knowledge Solutions Director / ARFListen First!: Turning Social Media Conversations Into Business Advantage, followed by a Detailed MustRead Introduction from Stephen Rappaport!!!...
>>>..."Listen First!" has Four Parts / 23 Chapters.
>>>...Part 1 - Steps to Effective Listening has 3 Chapters.
>>>...Chapter 01 - Organize for Listening and Define Objectives, Key Measures, and Conversations.
>>>...Chapter 02 - Evaluate and Select Listening Solutions.
>>>...Chapter 03 - Field, Analyze and Report, and Evaluate Listening Research.
>>>...Part 2 - Listening-Led Marketing and Advertising : Applying Listening Insights to Achieve Key Business Objectives has 11 Chapters.
>>>...Chapter 04 - Understand the Consumer's Mind-set.
>>>...Chapter 05 - Discover New Customers.
>>>...Chapter 06 - Drive New Product Development and Innovation.
>>>...Chapter 07 - Create Messages That Resonate.
>>>...Chapter 08 - Improve Products and Services.
>>>...Chapter 09 - Increase Sales.
>>>...Chapter 10 - Sense Change to Compete in the Present.
>>>...Chapter 11 - Rebrand and Reposition Products and Services.
>>>...Chapter 12 - Manage Reputation.
>>>...Chapter 13 - Compete Strategically.
>>>...Chapter 14 - Provide Customer Care and Increase Customer Satisfaction.
>>>...Part 3 - Listening-Led Marketing and Media Innovations has 4 Chapters.
>>>...Chapter 15 - Social TV Measurement.
>>>...Chapter 16 - Listening-Based Targeting.
>>>...Chapter 17 - Achieve Share of Market Goals.
>>>...Chapter 18 - Listening-Based Sales Prediction.
>>>...Part 4 - Listening's New Frontiers has 5 Chapters.
>>>...Chapter 19 - Listen to New Signals.
>>>...Chapter 20 - Focus on Culture.
>>>...Chapter 21 - Change the Research Paradigm.
>>>...Chapter 22 - Rethink Marketing, Media, and Advertising.
>>>...Chapter 23 - Become a Listening Organization.
>>>..."Listen First!" closes with an Appendix Vendor Profiles ( A Resource / Five Groups / Guide ), Information ARF / Advertising Research Foundation, Acknowledgments, References, Glossary & the ever helpful Index!!!...
>>>..."Listen First!" Delivers & Needs Your Organization, Company, etc. to Read, Absorb & Use it to Your Business & Competitive Advantages, etc.!!!...Now / Today...Time is of the Essence!!!...Carpe-Diem / Seize The Day!!!...Michael.

5.0 out of 5 stars A great source book for online social listening resources and possibilities August 10, 2011

By M. Sponder

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I like this book but it wasn't easy to read - though I read it entirely on my iPad Kindle and made a lot of highlights and notes, as well as a book review on my blog [...]

What I like about this book is the ARF's extensive library of Case Studies and ARF best practices on online social listening which are shared in the book, esp if someone has the time and patience to read through it.

On the other hand, I felt as if, by chapter 9-10, had been so blitzed out with case study and caste study after case study that Steve said was an example of this or that initiative, I began not to care any more - it's almost has if what Rappaport created was a college textbook on online listening - something out of sociology or chemistry - that takes a lot of work to read though and think about.

Nothing wrong with that ... but I suspect most people won't have the attention span to fully get this book - however they are the poorer for it, by far, when they don't (get it).

Marshall Sponder
Author of Social Media Analytics, a McGraw Hill publication
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