Socially Adept

What a Week for Social Media!!!

Greg Verdino joins Crayon!!! Jaffe welcomes child number 3...and Twitters about it an hour later!!! Larry Weber's Book Released!!! 

I finally take a needed week long vacation to Hawaii and the Social Media Mavens make all sorts of moves in my absence.  Was it worth it?  Ummm.... YES... but so much has happened in just a weeks time.  The three stories above are just highlights of another active week in the social media world.

Well, I am back now and hope to keep the few readers I have up to date and educated on the things I find in my daily routine. 

First up, Mack Colliers review of the Monster Blog at The Viral Garden.  As a former employee of Monster Worldwide, I've seen a lot of progress in their social media involvement over time.  Unfortunately, the company just continues to struggle with leadership changes and growing competition.  Most of the content they offer is generic stuff you can find on any of their competitors sites and even if they do monitor commments, it doesn't appear to be taking up too much of their time as the blog doesn't seem to have any.

There are so many open possibilities for Monster considering the relationships they have with their huge Fortune 500 customers.  Having been on the inside, I know that the relationship folks have developed solid partnerships that could be tapped for content.  Monster could leverage the blog to generate interest in the million dollar customers and provide insight from those "in the know."  Who would you rather hear about getting a job from... Monster or the company itself?  Maybe I am way off base, but I know there are some customers who have great insight regarding the hiring process at individual companies and I would love to see how they differ. 

Another nice tip might be to have customer recruiters tell some horror stories... I heard some great one's while I was working with some of the Fortune 500 over there and I know they would be entertaining.

I am glad Monster is getting involved, but if they are going to beat HotJobs and Yahoo! they need to up the ante.  Give us a call (you know where we are)... we've got a lot of great ideas for Monster...and none of them are "When I grow Up!" (Best commercial!)

Seth Godin's "The Dip"... $13?

While perusing the shelves at Barnes and Noble today for books to pass the time during my pending 13 hour plane rides to Hawaii, I stumbled across Seth Godin's "The Dip."  I've been following Seth's blogs for quite some time, so I immediately picked it up as a possibility.  My first thought was, "This could kill 45 minutes at the most."

Then again, great thought provoking content can come in small packages.  So I flipped over the book and saw the $13 price tag.  Now, maybe I am getting cheap in my old age, but I couldn't splurge the $13 for such a quick read (96 Pages).... Not without hearing from those who have read it.

So, before I hand over the $13 for "The Dip," I'd love to hear some thoughts from those who have read it.  (see...social media isn't only for larger purchases!) The reviews on Amazon lead me to believe I may have made the right choice putting the book back:

"OK, I keep buying Godin's books expecting more. But, all I get is content that seems like a well constructed blog posting. Seth is a very good writer and communicator, but this book added zero to my life."

Maybe I'll put the $13 toward Jaffe's forthcoming "Join The Conversation" or Larry Weber's "Marketing to the Social Web" (I'm hoping Larry will give me a free one though... since I work for him!)

Book Review: Citizen Marketers - When People are the Message

So, I took Typepad's advice and picked up their recommended book of the month "Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message," by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba.  I bought it on Saturday night and just finished it about 5 minutes ago.  It's a quick read and I would recommend it to anyone who is trying to wrap their head around Social Marketing.  It's a quick read and any CEO looking for a snapshot into the future, could benefit from the compilation of stories and examples.

To be honest, I didn't learn anything new, but I've been doing this for awhile.  What I really enjoyed about the book was the inclusion of old media stories and the history of media in general.  As a college graduate with a degree in Media Studies, it really brought me back and reminded me how much of the old is incorporated into the new.

What is most valuable to my clients is making sure they understand the 1 percenters.  So often, people are unrealistic in their expectations.  It is imperative to set measurement goals early on when launching a Social Media campaign and "Citizen Marketers" does a great job at providing examples and numbers that anyone can reference with ease.

Anyway, the book got me thinking and anything that can bring me back to my media studies days is A+ in my book.  However, I want more!  So, I implore all of you Social Media experts and those just beginning to send me three titles that you have enjoyed and really provide some insight into the space.  I'll be reaching out to some of you in the coming days, so start thinking now!  Until then...

For those looking to purchase, you can find the book here.