Customer Reviews

Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read both of David's social business books and found them very useful. You will learn a lot from his books, but you must be ready to put in the time to complete the exercises and follow up (reading additional articles, looking up experts that Dave mentions, etc).

Dave is one of few who talks about Promise vs. Delivery (marketing & operations) and the importance of holistic touch point analysis. His feedback loop for social media is right on. The information on touch points, promise vs. delivery, and social business funnel are alone worth the price of the first book.

I highly suggest reading Dave's first book, completing the exercises, and then moving on to the second book. I also recommend that you drop a copy of the second book on your Senior Marketing Manager's desk.

Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement was packed with "Ah-hah" moments on every page. Dave's extensive understanding of customer expectations and behavior in the new era of social media provides immediately useful information that can be applied to build your SM strategy or improve upon your existing efforts. The book dissects complexities into understandable building blocks for readers new to the social media world, while providing valuable insights for experienced leaders in the SM space. The Hands On exercises at the end of each chapter combined with real-life examples from Pepsi, Dell, Zappos, Starbucks, etc. provide clarity and instant ideas for implementation. Additionally, all of the suggested links and resources throughout the book offer a comprehensive guide to using Social Media to transform "customer relationship management" into "customer advocacy" for any organization. Dave provides thought leadership and specific activities to intelligently shape social media efforts to maximize listening opportunities, create a community of collaboration and measure SM effectiveness. The guidance in this book will help you consistently use SM to convert your customer's comments (or complaints) into the ultimate goal: customers who are brand evangelists for your company.

I received my copy of Social Media Marketing this morning, and have been relishing each chapter as I read through for the first time. The book is well organized, dense with theory as well as actionable next steps that are easy for any business to implement, and is still lively and readable. Dave Evans has really outdone himself with this effort.

There is theory, and then there is practice. I am always on the look out for both, as an instructor and consultant in Social Media Marketing (click on my profile for more information about me). The best books combine theory and practice; Social Media Marketing by Dave Evans is unfortunately much more a theory book than a practice book. It builds on his earlier work, and really assumes that your business already is up and running with social media... Or, you are quite a large organization. Regardless, it is more a book about ideas than about practical hands-on tips to get started on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube or other social media.

Conceptually, ideas like a "Brand Outpost," "Social Analysis," or a "Social Object" can be quite interesting and useful. I found the most useful to be his discussion of metrics - how, where, and why to measure Social Media Marketing - traffic leads, membership levels, activity, conversions, mentions, and virality... It would have been a stronger book if the concepts were taken down to the level of details, which he does adequately in his discussion about metrics, but not elsewhere in the book.

Social Media Marketing remains a very new endeavor, so this book may be an important book that begins our collective challenge of moving beyond mere technical details in setting up Social Media Marketing to practical yet guided to do's. We are still waiting.

Dave Evans has produced a comprehensive, yet practical view of social media in his most recent book - which also happens to be a great read. Having worked with Dave, I value his encyclopedic knowledge of social networking and how companies are increasingly using this form of 'digital word of mouth' to expand their businesses.

Social Media Marketing provides a basic overview of social media and then digs deeper, teaching readers how to create strategies and execute social marketing programs with real life examples. Dave's insight on customer engagement and social CRM are compelling for any organization looking to establish a world class, return driven social media program.

This book is for any professional, regardless of experience level.

I bought this because it was "suggested reading" for a seminar I was going to take. The book presents good info, but is so long winded about getting it's points across that 1/4 of the way through it, I put it down and went looking for another book on the same subject.