Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A fascinating, research-based look at the impact of social media on businesses and consumers around the world, and what's in store for the future

Social Media. You've heard the term, even if you don't use the tools. But just how big has social media become? Social media has officially surpassed pornography as the top activity on the Internet. People would rather give up their e-mail than their social network. It is so powerful that it is causing a macro shift in the way we live and conduct business.

Brands can now be strengthened or destroyed by the use of social media. Online networking sites are being used as giant, free focus groups. Advertising is less effective at influencing consumers than the opinions of their peers. If you aren't using social media in your business strategy, you are already behind your competition.

• Explores how the concept of "Socialnomics" is changing the way businesses produce, market, and sell, eliminating inefficient marketing and middlemen, and making products easier and cheaper for consumers to obtain
• Learn how successful businesses are connecting with consumers like never before via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media sites
• A must-read for anyone wanting to learn about, and harness the power of social media, rather than be squashed by it
• Author Erik Qualman is a former online marketer for several Top 100 brands and the current Global Vice President of Online Marketing for the world's largest private education firm

Socialnomics is essential book for anyone who wants to understand the implications of social media, and how businesses can tap the power of social media to increase their sales, cut their marketing costs, and reach consumers directly.

From the Inside Flap

Social Media.

Social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are fundamentally changing the way businesses and consumers behave, connecting hundreds of millions of people to each other via instant communication. This is a massive socio-economic shift that is fundamentally changing the way consumers and companies communicate and interact with each other.

Welcome to the world of Socialnomics—where consumers and the societies they create online have a profound influence on our economy and the businesses that operate within it. Online word of mouth and the powerful influence of peer groups have already made many traditional marketing strategies obsolete. Today's best businesses and marketers are learning to profitably navigate this new landscape.

Brands can now be strengthened or destroyed by the use of social media. Advertising is less effective at influencing consumers than are the opinions of their peers, making direct-to-consumer marketing messages less valuable each day. But savvy companies are using online networking sites as massive focus groups and as an efficient means of communication with consumers. If social media isn't a part of your business strategy, you've already fallen behind the curve—and your competition.

In Socialnomics, Erik Qualman offers a fascinating look at the impact of social media on business to reveal what the future holds and how businesses can best take advantage of it. He explores how social media is changing the way businesses produce, market, and sell products; how it eliminates inefficient marketing tactics and middlemen; and how businesses are connecting directly with their customers through popular social media platforms.

Social media will continue to change the way businesses market products and how consumers and businesses interact with each other. If you're a marketer or business owner, the big question is whether you'll keep up with those changes. Socialnomics is an essential resource for anyone who wants to understand the implications of social media, and how to tap its power to increase sales, cut marketing costs, and communicate directly with consumers.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470477237
• ISBN-13: 978-0470477236
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,189 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An effective wake-up call for corporations and marketers, September 11, 2009

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

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It took about ten years for Brick-and-Mortars to figure out how they could best exist within the Web 1.0. They will have far less time to understand that marketing is turning into a completely new social and linguistic genre. Erik Qualman's book, Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business is an effective wake-up call for corporations and marketers, and is written by a sincere and authentic practitioner.

Amazon, Qualman reminds us, did a stellar job when it introduced the concept of affinity marketing, but as efficient as it was, it had its shortcomings, especially if buying My Little Pony for your niece was a one-time thing. Going a step further, Amazon started to showcase other books that people who bought the same book as the one you are looking at, also bought. The social media approach is a next era and shows that in the "people-driven economy," effective affinity marketing is a contagious recommendation process operating within affinity groups. Instead of being told what people in general are interested in, we want to know what people in our network, people we appreciate, would advise based on their experience - an experience to which we tend to pay attention because we generally trust our friends. "People referring products and services via social media are the new king. It is the world's largest referral program in history." This is a new world that Qualman calls "the world of socialnomics."

A few years ago, the very notion of "socialnomics" would have sounded like an odd linguistic construct, and, in the end, simply meant "management/rules of what is social," just as economics originally designates the management/rules of a household. In many respects, the term "socionomics," coined by Prechter in 1999, could have also been used, as it is the "study of social mood and its results in social actions." However, through the word "socialnomics," Qualman wants to emphasize the idea of an economy governed - I should say "mediated" -- by social media as it leads to the creation of innumerable communities and tribes. This "social-media mediation" is perceived by individuals as a form of disintermediation and deliverance, shielding them from the marketing litanies imposed upon them by impersonal marketing machines. What we hear in our social media world comes from people we have chosen to listen to. The intermediaries are not mercenary message-carriers (or so we hope), they are peers of sorts and therefore, are not perceived as middlemen (even when there can be a bit of a sandwich man about them). This is why the world of "socialnomics" is not felt as yet another form of social pressure. We have the freedom to select the circles to which we belong, ensure that they mirror our needs and tastes, exchange points of views and ask questions with the hope of getting a candid response.

The eight chapters of the books analyze the new challenges and opportunities that the social media re-segmentation and restructuring of the market will present to businesses. Are customers going to reduce their reliance on the results they get from search engines? It is most likely. "I care more about what my neighbor thinks than what Google thinks," if I want to buy a baby seat. It is also obvious that customers expect companies to converse with them in "open, two-way conversations" and that customer "services" are poised to become the customers' voice and, consequently, a central part of marketing departments. Therefore, "businesses need to fully transform to properly address the impact and demands of social media." And companies that fear to venture into the open, display their customers in the social media fora, will atrophy much faster than they think. Installed bases are joining the "Glass House Generation" at a fast pace, and follow its lifestyle -- hang out anywhere and at all times in public view. Qualman indicates that "by 2012, eMarketer projects that more than 800 million users worldwide will participate in social networks via their mobile device, up from 82 million in 2007." Meeting these new challenges as well as leveraging these new opportunities will definitely require new skills and new tools!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The new frontier: Erasing the line between businesses and their customers., September 26, 2009

By	S. Cece (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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There are rarely times in history where a content rich book is published in the midst of the very revolution that it is addressing. Typically, those books are written after the fact, looking back in time. Socialnomics looks forward. As the leader of a company that is in the midst of this very transition--from "creating and pushing" to "engaging and listening," I found Socialnomics to be timely, informative and full of very useful, practical information and case studies. If you want to harness the power of social media for your business, read Socialnomics.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and insightful, even with the "crazy talk" parts, October 26, 2009

By	Justin S. Dickinson (Lancaster, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At first thought I would give this a 3 out of 5 stars. However it is so comprehensive with regards to social media and the impact it is and will have on commerce and marketing I am giving it a 4 out of 5 stars.

At times I found the author to be right on the mark and quite insightful and at other times I found myself thinking that the incredibly insightful person who wrote the book had been kidnapped, forced to drink the "social media Kool-Aid" and live with Care Bears for 45 days, thus morphing his sense of society.

Having said that, this is absolutely well worth the read. But if you find yourself from time to time thinking "where is this guy coming from?" ignore your apprehension and just read on to the next section, he will come back to reality and it will get good again.