The problem with communication and relationships, which are both the hallmarks of social media, is that their effects are often a challenge to quantify. Most people don’t know how to connect online efforts to bottom-line sales, amount of funds raised or other business results, or even to softer measures like improved relationships and competitive advantage. Because of this, companies and organizations tend to measure the easy stuff in social media – following counts, blog traffic, rankings, and if they are really sophisticated, engagement measures like number of comments on Facebook or a blog, ReTweets and mentions on Twitter, links to read more...
Book Shelf: Free e-Book with Fresh Viral Marketing Case Studies
David Scott Meerman published a e-book yesterday, The New Rules of Viral Marketing, with some fresh case studies of marketers that used viral marketing to get out the word out about their product. Here is an excerpt: Gordon and her counterpart at Warner Bros. chose to launch The Wizarding World of Harry Potter by first telling the exciting news to a very small group of rabid fans. Seven people at the top Harry Potter fan sites, such as Mugglenet , were hand-selected by read more...
Book Shelf: ‘Now Is Gone’ Acts As Quick Primer for Social Media Strategy
It has almost been a month since Geoff Livingston's book, Now Is Gone, was launched. I have gotten to know the Geoff much better since he called to interview me for his book earlier this summer. I am a regular reader of his excellent blog, the Buzz Bin and am a recent contributor to the Now Is read more...
Social Media: Facebook Friends Compile Summer Reading List
While I haven't written about it much, I have been using social networks a lot lately to put together some of the things I share with you here at Communication Overtones. A fun exercise started a few days ago when Geoff Livingston used a new question feature on Facebook to ask his network to help him compile a list of recommended books to offer as additional reading on social media for his upcoming book, "Now is Gone." Here is the the list of 25+ must-read social media, marketing and PR books. This list was compiled by Chris Abraham, Toby read more...
Recommended: New Rules for Marketing and PR in a Book
Author David Meerman Scott has just released his new book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR. I am about halfway through and I am finding it a very interesting read:
- How the Web has changed the rules of marketing and PR (how the Web has changed the rules)
- Web-based communications to reach buyers directly (a tour of the various tools)
- Action plan for harnessing the power of the new rules (how to read more...