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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4833
EAN: 9781422125007
Edition: 1
ISBN: 1422125009
Label: Harvard Business School Press
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: April 21, 2008
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Studio: Harvard Business School Press
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Product Description:
Corporate executives are struggling with a new trend: people using online social technologies (blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, podcasts) to discuss products and companies, write their own news, and find their own deals. This groundswell is global, it s unstoppable, it affects every industry and it s utterly foreign to the powerful companies running things now.
When consumers you ve never met are rating your company s products in public forums with which you have no experience or influence, your company is vulnerable. In Groundswell, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester, Inc. explain how to turn this threat into an opportunity.
Using tools and data straight from Forrester, you ll learn how to:
-Evaluate new social technologies as they emerge
-Determine how different groups of consumers are participating in social technology arenas
-Apply a four-step process for formulating your future strategy
-Build social technologies into your business including monitoring your brand value, talking with the groundswell through marketing and PR campaigns, and energizing your best customers to recruit their peers
Timely and insightful, this book is required reading for executives seeking to protect and strengthen their company s public image.
"Groundswell is jammed with big ideas, useful stories, and quotable stats. This is the new industrial revolution. Are you on board?"
-Seth Godin, author, Meatball Sundae
"This book will rock your world, if social technology hasn't rocked it already. It's a tsunami of unstoppable force. Amazon, Procter & Gamble, Facebook, Google, and Dell are profiting from the crest of the wave. Are you? Li and Bernoff are the apostles of the tsunami. This book will be your bible."
-Scott Cook, Founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit
Groundswell provides practical advice on how to stay nimble and flexible in an ever-morphing digital world. Enabling your company to respond to change quickly especially when talking to and supporting your consumers is essential for business success.
-Cathie Black, President, Hearst Magazines
"The first phase of the Internet was about getting everyone connected. In this next phase, which changes the way we work, live, play, and learn, we re starting to realize the value of those connections as well as the new communications and experiences those interactions lead to the human network. Groundswell effectively documents this shift and underscores the opportunities available to all from this major market transition."
-John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco
"Heed the Groundswell! It's critical reading and helped us master the new dynamics of social media."
-Christina Norman, President, MTV
"Groundswell is a comprehensive look at the tidal wave of change engulfing marketers. Nobody should attempt to engage the newly empowered and emboldened consumer without first hearing what Li and Bernoff have to say on the subject."
-Clark Kokich, CEO, Avenue A | Razorfish
"Social technologies and the groundswell impact every business and organization worldwide. Li and Bernoff have written an insightful book that takes a refreshing research-driven approach to helping businesses transform themselves and successfully navigate this new dynamic landscape."
-Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President, Edelman Digital, and columnist for Advertising Age
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies -
I have been playing in the Groundswell for a little over a year or so. I have come across many folks that told me, this book was a must read. I have to admit they were correct. Something that I wish I would have read early on - in my engagement in the Groundswell. Looking back when this was written to today - still spot on.
Rating:  -
As an online marketing manager in my organization, I came across various challenges in order to fit my company in social media. We did some research with the help of our vendor and across some strange findings. We were already being talked about on various social media channels. We did not know what to do next. Did some analysis and also some measurements like Traffic, Tonality etc. Though we were planning a lot of things but we needed some direction. I am not embarrassed to disclose that our first approach was to match or beat the competition.
The project went on hold for few months and I started understanding social media more. In the process I went through blogs and books etc. Some materials like Cluetrain Manifesto, Wikinomics helped me understand the concept a lot, however, I needed to organize my understanding or not even the understanding but the approach that I should be taking for the Social Media project.
Groundswell helped me do just that,
What approach to take?
What tools to use?
What to discard and what not to?
The books gives you actionable understanding rather than a generic information. It is specific to the point that you can even select a particular tool or even some of the companies that you can use for your project. We signed up with Constant Contact for email marketing and fixed our goal on a particular approach.
You can even take and approach by filtering tools and your audience, the Social Technograhpic Profile is one of the best and most simplified classification I have come across in years. It helps measure your efforts.
Three most important takeaways from the book are:
1) Classify your Community
» Creators
» Critics
» Collectors
» Joiners
» Spectators
» Inactives
2) Approach that you should take:
» Listen
» Talk
» Entergize
» Help
» Embrace
3) Tools that you should use:
» Facebook
» Email marketing (With social media capabalities)
» Twitter
» Forums
» Communities
» Others
Read the book for better understanding the case studies are also very helpful.
Rating: -
Groundswell is by far the best book I have read on social media.
The authors have researched this area in detail and combine both quantitative and qualitative research.
They present a concept called the social technographic ladder which is a massive help to anyone wondering how to decide what social media strategies might work for their customers or target market. (see [...]) for an intro to the social technographic ladder)
There are also some great case studies from a range of industries
Rating: -
Groundswell is a great book to help people understand the revolutionary social technology changes that are occurring, why they are happening, and how to tap into it and transform your business. It's a very interesting read with good information, much of it familiar though, particularly for those already actively involved in social media.
The authors explain that people utilize social media to connect, collaborate, react, organize, and accelerate consumption. They give numerous examples of tools for each of these categories, and explain which of the five primary objectives these tools help companies meet. For example, blogs are effective tools for talking and getting feedback, while ratings, reviews, and online communities help energize the groundswell. In addition, people engage more or less with social media, and their involvement will range from completely inactive to active creators, with several levels of involvement in between.
Thus, planning is a large part of success. The idea is to look at the objectives first, especially since technology constantly evolves, and select appropriate tools that will develop the relationships to get there. The authors introduce a four part planning process that consists of people, objectives, strategy and technology.
Concrete examples and case studies provide additional substance and make the information easily digestible, enabling you to create actionable steps to move your company into the groundswell. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about social media and the steps to take to get involved.
Rating: -
The Groundswell is a great introductory book for the topic of online social relationships. If you don't have much experience in the world of social networking is the right book to understand the basic concepts, start learning the jargon and get introduced to some of the most common technologies.
If you are an experienced user of social networking, it will show you look a different angle of the applications you already use. You will see it from the marketer and social researcher point view; this book will show you the most appropriate ways to get your business involved in the groundswell, and it will deepen your knowledge about the type of consumers you can reach with the different technologies.
The most prominent aspect of this book is the social technographics profile. This profile is a proprietary consumer research method of Forrester Research, which focuses on how people use social networks to share their knowledge with others. As a plus the publishers share their blog site where you can get access to general profiles, which might be useful for individuals and companies who can't pay Forrester fees, but want to use the profiles to make decisions.
In addition, the authors use their experiences as consultants to illustrate with cases the scenarios where companies had successfully tapped into the groundswell, as well as unsuccessful attempts. The case studies are short, concise, and easy to read and flow very well in the context of the chapters. It definitely helps put the theory in perspective.
The book has three structural units, the first one is "Understanding the Groundswell" which is the introduction to the topics and research. In the second unit, "Tapping the Groundswell" the authors explain the different techniques available to dip into the groundswell. Finally the third unit "The Groundswell Transforms" explains how the right approach towards internal and external groundswell can transform companies and gives future perspectives for the groundswell.
The only shortcoming I see is that they dedicated only one chapter to the future of the groundswell, I think they should have given it more importance.
All in all, this a great book, loaded with information, nonetheless fun, entertaining and engaging; I recommend it for anyone interested in the "groundswell".
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