Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs (Paperback)

by Brian Solis (Author), Geoff Livingston (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Now Is Gone seeks to help businesses embrace Social Media intelligently. Readers can learn if their organization is ready, how to begin, the predominant participation is marketing approach that other businesses are using, social media marketing strategies, and general social media insights. In addition to best practices, the book is laced with case studies that demonstrate corporate successes. This primer provides the quickest way for executives and entrepreneurs to figure out social media marketing.

About the Author
Geoff Livingston has worked as a marketing strategist in the Washington, DC region for 14 years. Dubbed a local blogging guru by the Washington Post, Geoff s Buzz Bin blog is nationally recognized, and is the top ranked independent PR blog in the Washington, DC region. He successfully launched FortiusOne s GeoCommons using an aggressive social media strategy, and marketed Godsmack lead singer Sully Erna s bio using a diversified My Space and blogosphere campaign.
He creates marketing strategy, media relations, branding and Internet marketing campaigns for public and private organizations. Some of his experiences include work for AT&T, the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bartleby Books, BEA Systems, Hughes Network Systems, ManTech, the Washington Nationals, Intelsat, Verizon Wireless and many others.
Brian Solis is Principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning PR agency in Silicon Valley. Solis blogs at PR2.0, bub.blicio.us, and regularly contributes PR and tech comments and articles to industry sites and publications. Solis is co-founder of the Social Media Club, is an original member of the Media 2.0 Workgroup, and also is a contributor to the Social Media Collective.
Solis has been actively writing about new PR and the idea of PR 2.0 since the mid 90s to discuss how the Web was redefining the communications industry. He is considered an expert in traditional PR, media relations, and also Social Media. He has dedicated his free time to helping PR professionals adapt to the new fusion of PR, Web marketing, and community relations. Brian is ranked in the Ad Age Power 150 index of leading marketing bloggers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Bartleby Pr (November 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0910155739
• ISBN-13: 978-0910155731
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #144,852 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Now is Gone is Provides a Strategic Outlook for Engaging with Social Media, January 5, 2008

By	Kami R. Huyse "the PR Queen" (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was more than a little shocked when I opened my copy of Now Is Gone and saw that Geoff used my Seven Categories of Social Media post as one of the forward chapters.

Before receiving the book, I had planned on doing a book review, but given that Geoff incorporated much of my thinking in parts of the book, I thought it would be better to tell you what I learned from the book instead.

Begin with Strategy

I appreciate Geoff's strategic way of thinking. The most important thing that I took away from the book is that before engaging in social media a company must make a series of decisions about resources, culture and transparency, rather than a rush to tactical concerns. He even suggests that some companies may not be social media ready.

Build Value to Become Relevant

The enduring principle of Now is Gone is to build value for your community. Chapter three, Building a New Media Effort, might as well have been called Building Value, because he outlines how to affect the online community by adding value. Geoff also suggests having an editorial mission and creating outstanding content, an idea first forwarded in the excellent book, The New Rules of PR and Marketing by David Meerman Scott.

Chapter four was my favorite because it puts the community front-and-center. Part of the reason PR manages to screw up so royally is because we fail to put the interests of the people who buy our products or services before our own need to get some press clippings or online impressions. Rare is the effort that seeks to build something (usually content) of value for our customers that are looking to interact online. As the contributing author to the book, Brian Solis adds his thesis that Participation is Marketing.

The later chapters in the book add an excellent section on technology and its impact on marketing, advertising and public relations. Sprinkled throughout the book are a series of case studies that run the gamut from small to Fortune 500 companies. Geoff caps off the book with his Seven Principles of Social Media.

The book also contains interviews with well-known marketing and PR bloggers Shel Holtz, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Defren, Laura Ries and Scott Baradell.

A Few Gems from Now Is Gone

* "Where social media shines is creating relationships, which is the first step to customer acquisition and the reinforcement of customer retention," an interview with Toby Bloomberg of the Diva Marketing Blog
* Companies must use new and traditional media to become part of their [online] communities...in an honest, relationship-driven way
* The single notion that one message inspires everyone is absolutely ludicrous
* Companies have to be honest, communicate, give as well as take, and be ready for feedback
* [Social Media] forces high-ranking officials to jump back into customer relations

A Few Caveats

Now is Gone was written and rushed to market in much less than a year. As such, it is highly relevant but suffers from the lack of a good editor. The nature of social media has made it much harder (and infinitely more stressful) for authors to get a timely book out that is also a masterpiece.

Additionally, I am not a big fan of the term "PR 2.0." I believe that the technology has enabled the communication process but shouldn't supplant it and terms that conjure up releases of software don't belong in most business environments. Of course, I generally don't practice in tech, so that might be my hang-up.

If you love perfect syntax and grammar, then Now is Gone, or for that matter this and most blogs, may not be for you. If that last sentence bothered you than this recommendation is for you. I wouldn't let a few typos stand between you and Geoff's excellent book on how businesses should strategically engage in social media.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Now Is Gone a Must Read for Today's Entrepreneurs and Executives, November 12, 2007

By	Lewis Green "bizsolutionsplus" (Avon CT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Geoff Livingston's Now Is Gone is a must read for those business people who want to stay out in front in marketing and communications with their customers. This is a primer that explains the importance and the value of social media. As a business person whose use of social media is responsible for 40% of my business growth in the past year, I urge you to read this book and to begin to imagine how Social Media can be part of your strategic plan.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Now is not worth buying, May 10, 2008

By	S. Naughton "Emergent Tech" (Los Angeles CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unfortunately Now is gone is not worth buying. It's a book that should have been a pamphlet. The essence of the book is barely a chapter's worth of meaningful material. The book belabors the same point over and over and yet provides little insight into the greater media landscape. I found the book to be a painful read and yet I slogged my way through more out of my own dedication to the topic than the hopes of finding something meaningful. The most interesting part of the book is the last chapter which is a series of interviews with other people. Again, it is from these interview that the author draws much of the material for the book.

If you are truly interested in the topic of social network's impact on media and society check out "Groundswell" published by Harvard Business Press.