Photo Credit: criana
Hi Social Media ReInvention Community Members,
We've migrated Social Media ReInvention's website to a new WordPress site!
I made this move to improve my services to my readers. Please continue following, reading, and subscribing to my blog at our new location.
Many thanks,
Tony Faustino
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
Sorry I didn’t publish last weekend’s editon. Super Bowl Sunday got a little crazy here. Yes, I’m still questioning Coach Carroll’s goal-line call for a pass play. Ugh.
Here are the Social Media ReInvention Community’s shareworthy links. Enjoy your Sunday Brunch!
1. The Wall Street Journal: Amazon Makes a Push on College Campuses. Amazon’s strategic and tactical approach to acquire, convert, and condition their most profitable customer segment, Prime Users, is genius.
And, a winning play to future growth.
Piper Jeffrey Analyst, Gene Munster, writes how Prime Customers spend on average three times more than Non-Prime Customers (Prime Customers spend an average of $1,200 annually). That’s serious coin when you multiply 40 million Prime Customers by $1,200 and the individual customer lifetime value (CLV).
Conditioning young Prime Customers to pay a premium for the convenience and speed of same-day delivery (aka Amazon Fresh) transitions perfectly as urban areas gain younger workers and residents.
2. Lifehacker: "Study Less, Study Smart” — The Best Ways to Retain More in Less Time. This article links directly to research proving why taking handwritten notes versus typing them (see item #2) in your laptop increases comprehension and mastery.
Multiple attributes impact the productivity of your study sessions:
I wish I read this article and viewed the accompanying video when I was in university ...
3. The New York Times: Tim O’Reilly Explains The Internet of Things. Tim O’Reilly introduced the term Web 2.0. He’s one of the smartest people in the world and an authority on all things Internet. This New York Times interview sheds light on his thoughts about:
My favorite part of the interview: IoT rockets beyond remotely controlling consumer or enterprise devices via our handheld or desktop devices. IoT is about augmenting human capability and decision making:
The IoT is really about human augmentation. The applications are profoundly different when you have sensors and data driving the decision-making.
Uber is a company built around location awareness. An Uber driver is an augmented taxi driver, with real-time location awareness. An Uber passenger is an augmented passenger, who knows when the cab will show up. Uber is about eliminating slack time and worry.
People would call it “IoT” if there was a driverless car, but it already is part of the IoT. You can measure, test and change things dynamically. The IoT is about the interpolation of computer hardware and software into all sorts of things.
But the IoT isn’t just about one sensor in two-way contact with a remote cloud computing battery of servers, or a driver and a rider with a smartphone. There are going to be lots of different data sets, and lots of different feedback loops.
The characteristics are that things are contingent, in relationship with other data. They are on demand. They are load-balanced, and aware of other parts of the system. That is why you get things like congestion pricing. It’s a more context-oriented world, because there is better data.
What I would give to be that smart.
O’Reilly’s explanation ties into what Eric Topol, MD described in his January 2015 Wall Street Journal article: The Future of Medicine Is in Your Smartphone.
Topol explains how wearable technology is moving past the one-way capability of monitoring our body’s vital signs. Wearable technology’s future pivots on devices sensing and diagnosing our health from the collected data.
That diagnostic context will give patients (and their physicians) greater control and smarter decisions.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
My favorite US National Holiday, Super Bowl Sunday, is coming soon! I’m rooting for the Seahawks because I have family in Seattle. I hope my allegiance to the defending champions doesn’t “deflate" the hopes of my Boston-based friends (insert drum rim shot here).
Here are your share-worthy links for the Social Media ReInvention Community. Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday Brunch!
1. Fast Company: Katie Couric — I’m In This Giant Petri Dish Where Anything Is Possible. Danielle Sacks’ profile of Katie Couric is a study in two (2) reinventions:
Couric's views on the news industry’s current state reads like a passage from The Innovator’s Dilemma (direct quotes follow):
"When you’re a part of an established entity, there’s so much incentive to maintain the status quo."
"Being on television in recent years, you just didn’t feel like you were on the cutting edge of where journalism was going. It seemed almost . . . what is the word where something seems kind of antiquated, or precious? Quaint! Our ideas of television seemed quaint to me, even as I was in it."
Her role as global anchor for Yahoo! News is high-profile and risky. I love it!
Katie Couric keeps moving. She continues adapting and reinventing herself. Result: Relevance.
2. Scientific American: A Learning Secret — Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop. Old school pen and paper versus new school laptop and tablets. Working with material versus capturing data. Learning versus memorizing.
There’s a difference (direct article quotes):
"New research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer demonstrates that students who write out their notes on paper actually learn more."
"In each study, however, those who wrote out their notes by hand had a stronger conceptual understanding and were more successful in applying and integrating the material than those who used took notes with their laptops."
"Thus, taking notes by hand forces the brain to engage in some heavy “mental lifting,” and these efforts foster comprehension and retention. By contrast, when typing students can easily produce a written record of the lecture without processing its meaning, as faster typing speeds allow students to transcribe a lecture word for word without devoting much thought to the content."
My undergraduate years described in two (2) words: Freak Show.
Mediocrity characterized my college grades (a generous self-assessment). I improved as an MBA student because I loved the coursework. Devouring Harvard Business Review case studies till 3 AM was enjoyable.
Undergrad plant biology (not so much). My D+ proves it.
My takeaways to earning high grades and increasing content retention based on Scientific American's research and my undergrad experience:
3. Economist.com: The Network Effect. I emailed the article hyperlink to Judy Robinett, author of How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+100 for Turning Your Business Network into Profits. Judy teaches how power connectors add value to other people’s professional lives and by helping their business connections reach their goals.
True power connectors genuinely want to people in their network to succeed. When one becomes a bridge to helping others achieve their goals, that’s how one achieves her/his reputation as indispensable. Power connectors prioritize serving and further the needs of their connections.
Without expectating something in return.
The Economist author’s premise is the exact opposite. His view: successful networking is based on trickery, manipulation and deceipt (especially among the power elite). Here are some direct quotes:
"The first principle for would-be networkers is to abandon all shame. Be flagrant in your pursuit of the powerful and the soon-to-be-powerful, and when you have their attention, praise them to the skies."
"But shamlessness needs to be balanced with subtlety. Pretend to disagree with your interlocutor before coming around to his point of view; that gives him a sense of mastery. Discover similar interests or experiences."
Judy submitted a great rebuttal to the article. As of writing this post, her comment hasn’t been posted.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: epSos.de
61% of survey respondents say their personal blog helped Them Win Their Latest Job. My personal blog launched my new career in digital marketing strategy and analytics.
My last post shares why our professional and digital identities shouldn’t be beholden to a single social media platform. Do more than the herd. A personal website or blog differentiates you from other job candidates by showing how you go the extra mile.
It feels scary in the beginning. That’s okay. Dance with those scared and excited feelings — it means you’re on the right track:
I’m a Mac Fan so my app suggestions comply with that platform. I have no affiliations or business relationships with these products. I’m a loyal fan who wants to share these helpful resources with others.
Let’s get to work!
Mars Edit is amazing. This Mac app turbocharges offline time into ultra-productive blogging goodness. No internet connection required.
I host my personal blog on TypePad. No WiFi access meant no draft posts. I worked in TypePad’s editor because copying/pasting from another offline application (e.g., Microsoft Word) meant more time formatting.
A top-notch blog editing tool:
RSS feeds (real simple syndication) are how I track and monitor hundreds of industry publications and blogs for content ideas. An RSS dashboard allows for headline scanning In the time it takes to chug a cup of coffee. Make it your heads-up-display (HUD).
There are several great RSS feed aggregators. I use Netvibes.
How do you remember all that amazing research you discovered for future blog posts? Answer: Evernote for Mac. Like MarsEdit, the desktop app maximizes offline time. You can search, find, and integrate hyperlinks into your post without WiFi.
I read a lot to stay current on trends and research in:
I accidentally trip over great articles when researching future content ideas. Google Chrome’s Evernote Web Clipper makes saving and finding articles quick and painless. Highlight key sections and record ideas in seconds. The Evernote iPhone app syncs information with your desktop app (and vice versa).
Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials is a go-to resource. As I learn more hacks and tricks, I’ll share Brett’s advice in future posts.
I love my Moleskine Cahier Journals. If I lose one of my idea journals, I’ll tweet Lost SOS Images every five (5) minutes until it’s recovered:
Set aside time everyday to write down notes and ideas. Writing on paper activates your brain’s cognitive and learning processes better than digital tools. James Altucher refers to this process as using and developing your idea muscle. The Goal: Transform yourself into an Idea Machine.
Build confidence in your writing, knowledge, and critical thinking by reading books. Mitch Joel says it best:
From Mitch’s post: The Five Business Books That Shaped 2011: Read. Read. Read. Blog posts are great. So are Twitter, online newspapers and magazines and the occasional Podcast, but if you really want to deep-dive into a topic and spend more than a grazing moment with it, you have to read a well-written book about the topic that interests you.
My best 2014 professional development investment: Upgrading my Kindle. I read more at night without disturbing my wife (my snoring already annoys her, but that’s a post for another time).
Knowledge is competitive advantage. Reading one book per month, propels you ahead of the average American book reader by a factor greater than 100%. Thought leaders know this professional development habit rigs the game in their favor.
I like those odds. Don’t you?
Bonus: Here’s a 2014 review of my favorite books in digital marketing and entrepreneurship.
My go-to destination for beautiful, memorable pictures is Flickr’s Creative Commons Site. Pictures convey thoughts our words cannot.
Always cite the author and link back. The person who created that memorable picture, article, quote, etc. deserves the credit. Do the right thing.
Photo Credit: Abee5
Fast Company is my favorite business publication. The thought-provoking articles inspire me. Their talented writers teach me how to write: Jason Feifer, Austin Carr, Danielle Sacks, and Lydia Dishman.
A close second is Wired. Jessi Hempel departed Fortune.com last summer to join them, Might be time to ditch my Fortune Magazine subscription. If Christina Warren leaves Mashable, I’m toast.
In Fortune 500 years, I’m ancient. My personal reinvention process started six (6) years ago (one blog post at a time). Pivoting your career in a different direction is a good thing.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). I hope you’ll also share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
I’m still shocked Big Ten Football captured the first-ever national championship game playoff. I hope these share-worthy links ease the sting for other SEC fans. Stay warm Social Media ReInvention Community Members and enjoy your Sunday Brunch!
1. Fortune.com: How to Approach Your Own Career Like an Entrepreneur — Fortune’s Insider Guide to Launching the Startup Called ‘You.’ Sound familiar? Erika Fry's article is one of the best I’ve read in describing concepts and applications from Reid Hoffman's and Ben Casnocha's book, The Startup of YOU. Ben posted the article in LinkedIn’s Startup of You Discussion Group.
Fortune created a “startup of you” category for future articles. This career development concept exploded in two (2) short years to become a permanent part of business thinking. Start with this article If you’re newbie and with the book’s concepts such as: permanent beta, doing the hustle, tapping network intelligence, etc.
I fell in love with The Startup of YOU in 2012. I wrote a popular blog post series about the bookIn case you thosel posts, here they are:
2. Michael Hyatt: How to Get Your Kindle Notes into Evernote. Michael Hyatt’s book, Platform, is a how-to-manual for how he built his influential digital identity. He publishes some of the most helpful content on the web. His latest post shares how to maximize two of my favorite secret weapons: Evernote and My Kindle Paperwhite.
I love reading and writing reviews on books in digital marketing strategy and entrepreneurship. This productivity hack turbocharges my process for finding my favorite quotes and notes for future book reviews. Michael cites Brett Kelly’s book, Evernote Essentials — The Definitive Getting Started Guide for Evernote as THE resource in making Evernote a steroid-like productivity tool.
I bought Brett’s book yesterday and will share additional helpful tips with our community in future posts.
3. TechCrunch.com: East of Palo Alto’s Eden. Kim Mai Cutler’s heartbreaking article portrays the stark economic situation between Silicon Valley’s nouveau riche techies and the low income African American / Latino communities in East Palo Alto. Silicon Valley’s socio-economic extremes are well-documented. Kim’s article is the best and most comprehensive piece I’ve read (and I’ve got a ton of articles Evernoted on this subject).
Here’s a direct quote from her article’s introduction:
But today, with Facebook constructing a Frank Gehry-designed office complex that will let the company support roughly 7,000 workers while Palo Alto and Menlo Park balk at building housing even though median home prices have soared beyond $2 million, East Palo Alto may change enormously over the next decade.
Moreover, the questions being asked today about why the tech industry lacks racial diversity, and what the long-term consequences of gentrification are in the U.S.’s most economically vibrant regions like the San Francisco Bay Area are deeply intertwined in a way that is hard to perceive unless you step back.
This is a story of how two neighboring communities followed entirely different trajectories in post-war California — one of enormous wealth and power, and the other of resilience amid deprivation. It’s about how seemingly small policy choices can have enduring, multi-generational consequences.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Cubosh
These posts in the blogosphere and LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform showcase employment trends describing why a personal blog or website is a vital 2015 professional development goal:
Facebook changed its policy for business and fan pages to a pay-for-play model. Small business owners who built their livelihoods around that platform are struggling to adapt. Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited Program continues eating away the monthly incomes of entrepreneurial authors / writers.
Adam Singer published this warning five+ years ago in his classic post, 19 Reasons You Should Blog And Not Just Tweet. Here are key snippets of Adam’s foresight from 2009:
3. Remember, you’re essentially contributing to someone else’s network on Twitter – certainly there are returns, but make no mistake they profit from your attention. I know you might not have a problem with that because you gain something too, but it’s good to be conscious of that fact.6. You own your work in a self-hosted blog and are in total control over how it is presented.
I know it’s not as “sexy” anymore (in reference to blogging) but it is still far more valuable and should not be discounted merely because the early adopters have shiny new object syndrome.
Long form content and blogging is coming back. Potential employers cite critical thinking and writing as key skills. Let's take advantage of our personal blogs / websites to show our thinking, analysis, and stories.
Transforming a complex or technical insight into a simple story is rare and sought after:
Hugh Macleod's home-spun wisdom from page 38 of his remarkable book, Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear speaks volumes:
My grandfather was a Scottish Highlands “crofter” — i.e., a small-time, mostly self-sufficient tenant farmer with his own little patch of land, who raised sheep and grew potatoes, turnips, and other stuff. And as I wrote in my second book, Evil Plans: hey, guess what — we’re all crofters now. Even people with secure day jobs in big corporations.Thanks to the Internet, we all have a little electronic “croft” — an electronic smallholding — to call our own what is commonly referred to as our own digital identity, which we can cultivate, like a small farm, however we see fit.
The good news is that, unlike my grandfather, we don’t have to spend our whole lives growing potatoes and shearing sheep for a mere pittance. We can sell things people find valuable — art and cartoons in my case, maybe consulting gigs or whatever in your case….
The Internet makes all this possible.
Go.
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I want to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Share my work with your friends. Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like).
Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
Brrrr! It’s cold in The Midwest (East/West Coaster Translation: The Flyover States). Please keep warm and enjoy these share-worthy links during your Sunday brunch.
1. NYTimes.com: Whether Working or Job Seeking, The Algorithm is Watching. Natasha Singer of The New York Times profiles two upcoming books in 2015:
Both detail how our online actions shape our personal and professional opportunities. Fertik’s book describes how machines trumps humans in important stages of the hiring process: Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in resume screening.
21st century job-hunting demands a personal, digital marketing strategy. Here’s the article direct quote:
To better position oneself for such technology-aided hiring and workplace ranking systems, the authors suggest that people make their résumés “machine-readable.” For instance, they recommend that job seekers include concrete descriptions of their professional skills and competencies in their areas of expertise as well as signposts enumerating their career trajectories — all in language that algorithms could easily parse.
“A machine can figure out from your résumé how quickly you progressed from manager to senior manager to director — and whether your pace outstripped or lagged the typical pace,” said Michael Fertik, a co-author of “The Reputation Economy” and the chief executive of Reputation.com, a company that helps people and companies manage their online images.
So, before job candidates start worrying about whether they will be properly dressed for a job interview, he said, “it’s important for them to figure out if they’re dressed for the Internet.”
Dorie Clark, author of ReInventing YOU and the upcoming Stand Out, teaches traditional resumes are obsolete. There's a better way to acquire potential employers -- leave digital footprints via blogging, posting past project deliverables on Slideshare, updating our LinkedIn Profiles, etc.
Video via The Wall Street Journal: What Happens When You Submit Your Resume Online
Photo Credit: The Wall Street Journal — Your Resume Versus Oblivion
2. Entrepreneur.com: The 3 Ways Entrepreneurs Fail at Personal Branding and LinkedIn.com: Why You'd Better Start a Personal Website in 2015. Personal branding matters. Everyone participates in social media participation. Demonstrate to potential employers and clients you go the extra mile. Create and promote a personal blog or website to:
3. Bloomberg Businessweek: Tony Hsieh Is Building a Startup Paradise in Vegas. Bloomberg’s Susan Berfield describes the highs and lows of The Las Vegas Downtown Project. Tony Hsieh’s entrepreneurship and urban experiment to revitalize, reimagine, and reinvent downtown Las Vegas relies on 3C’s: Collisions, Co-learning, and Connectedness. His involvement consumes 50% of his day (the other 50%--- being Zappos CEO).
The "Return on Collisions” metric fascinates me:
Hsieh also came up with a way to calculate the value of people who “subscribe to downtown Las Vegas” but don’t want to live there. He’d tried to persuade Jake Bronstein to leave New York in 2012. Bronstein is the founder of Flint & Tinder, which makes the 10-Year Hoodie and other clothes. Hsieh invested in the retailer and says Bronstein comes to Vegas one week every month. “We did the math on Jake. When he’s here, he’s out about 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 12 weeks a year. So he’s worth 1,000 collisionable hours, too.”
Hsieh began to apply this metric to investments that might not make money for a while. “Say we want 100,000 collisionable hours a year from an investment. That works out to 2.3 hours per square foot per year,” he says, with a slight smile. “If we’re going to invest in a 3,000-square-foot restaurant, we can do the math and see if it yields that 2.3 hours per square foot per year. We’re kind of agnostic about what goes into a space. It’s ‘are you going to yield those collisionable hours?’ If not, we can say no without judging the quality of the idea.”
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). Please share my work with your friends.
Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: TechCrunch
Dear Marissa,
Navy Seals say, "the only easy day was yesterday."
I can’t imagine what you feel as negative press swirls around you during your CEO tenure at Yahoo!. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems like you’ve been under personal siege since the summer of 2012 when you accepted Yahoo!’s top job. Tomorrow, a well-publicized book will be released about you. I’ve pre-ordered it to review and draw my own conclusions.
But, I don’t have to read the book to conclude how “tearing down Marissa Mayer” exploded into a schadenfreude, spectator sport.
I’m not a Yahoo! stockholder, but I cheer and root for you. Everyday.
I have personal and selfish reasons for writing this public fan letter:
"Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of, who do the things that no one can imagine."
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). I hope you’ll also share my work with your friends.
Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
Happy 2015! Hard to believe a new year's already here?
I found many interesting and thought-provoking articles to share this week. Thank you for supporting the Social Media ReInvention Community. Enjoy your brunch!
1. Fast Company: 14 Tips to Make 2015 Your Most Productive Year Yet. How are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions? I’ve already slipped up. Maybe, there’s a better way: Focus on Themes Not Goals. Let's focus our efforts on one thing at a time so these changes become productive, lifelong habits.
That’s a goal worth shooting for (yes, rah-rah puns intended)!
2. Seth’s Blog: The Meritocracy Trap. Seth Godin calls out the David Sacks quote discussed in Joe Nocera’s New York Times Op-Ed piece on personal success and meritocracy — "Silicon Valley’s Mirror Effect.” Seth’s post describes the perils in achieving ultra-phenomenal success: it can lead to self-serving cultures, attitudes, and mindsets.
Seth’s and Joe’s articles make me think what I can do as a proud dad and father to two young daughters. I want the best for them. I want them to have the same opportunities (and more) my parents created for me and my sister.
That’s how this next article comes into play ...
3. WSJ Online - Digits Blog: The Year Silicon Valley Spilled Its Diversity Data. This interactive, diversity data website simply and visually explains the hiring data story behind Silicon Valley’s gender and diversity gap in The Valley’s most prestigious and successful companies:
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). I hope you’ll also share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Abee5
I love reading books. They’re my secret weapon for accessing critical thinking. Here’s a short listing of my favorite books / authors who inspired me and exhausted my Kindle in 2014 (by the author’s last name in alphabetical order). Note: Some of these titles are pre-2014.
Mitch Joel described Seth Godin's 18th book as the most beautiful illustration of Seth’s teachings. You can’t buy Seth’s latest book on Amazon (or any mainstream book retailer). You can only buy it at http://www.yourturn.link/. Beautiful, glossy images explode with color on every page. If I were a Hollywood producer, I’d pitch it as Linchpin and The Icarus Deception collide in a 20-car pile up at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week.
Seth calls out our schadenreude, spectator sport culture, and it’s power in curbing intelligent risk taking (except in Silicon Valley). When It's Your Turn is an in-your-face, call-to-arms, entrepreneurship manifesto. The battle cry rallies around showing up everyday, to create and ship our art. Now’s the time to revel in that uncomfortable place of “this may or may not work."
I'm moving into a new career as an entrepreneur in an early stage startup, That’s a scary leap after corporate life. But, those simultaneous feelings and fear are the right place to be:
I’m late in reading this classic marketing book. I hope to meet Seth, shake his hand, and talk marketing strategy. That requires fluency in Ideavirus terminology (i.e., sneezers - both promiscuous and powerful, the hive, persistence — not the one related to effort, vector, vacuum, amplifier, smoothness, etc.).
Ideavirus parallels Malcolm Gladwell’s idea diffusion theories from The Tipping Point and Geoffrey Moore’s insights from Crossing the Chasm. Like the Beatles music catalog, Ideavirus remains simple, timeless, and relevant.
I’m a die-hard fan and friend to Ann Handley. Last year, I published a public fan letter expressing my appreciation and respect for her work and generosity. Two weeks later, Ann sent me a signed copy of Content Rules and other great marketing books. Her attitude to give versus receive says it all.
Writing Matters. Writing with Purpose Matters More. Ann is an important inspiration for my blog post about six (6) C-Suite traits among awesome female executives who stand out. The media’s endless joy in reporting our children lag their global counterparts in the STEM 100 meter dash ignores an important fact: writing and storytelling skills propel financing for ideas and inventions.
Technical prowess and technical insight aren't enough. Creative storytelling and written communication carry equal weight (direct quote from Everybody Writes, page eight):
What’s harder is to find a book that functions for marketers as part writing and story guide, part instructional manual on the ground rules of ethical publishing, and part straight talk on some muscle-building writing processes and habits.
What’s also hard to find is a book that distills some helpful ideas about the craft of content simply and (I hope) memorably, framed for the marketer and businessperson, as opposed to say, the novelist or essayist or journalist.
I wrote this book because I couldn’t find what I wanted—part writing guide, part handbook on the rules of good sportsmanship in content marketing, and all-around reliable desk companion for anyone creating or directing content on behalf of brands.
Everybody Writes teaches disciplined practice to elevate and sustain our writing skills. Ann’s book reads like cozy conversation with her while enjoying a great cup of coffee or a couple of frosty Sam Adams beers (keep in mind, she’s a Bostonian).
Ann poured her heart and soul into this work (or as she says “gave birth to a Volkswagen”). I guarantee you’ll benefit from her knowledge, talent, and heart.
Bonus 1: Mitch Joel’s Episode #426 Six Pixel of Separation Podcast: Everybody Writes With Ann Handley.
Bonus 2: Speakers Spotlight YouTube Video — Ann Handley - Chief Content Officer | Bestselling Author.
If I could time travel to 2009, I would grab two books and my MacBook Pro before jumping into a hot tub time machine:
1. Tribes by Seth Godin
2. Platform by Michael Hyatt
If Tribes is the strategic and conceptual framework for digital leadership, Platform is the tactical roadmap for its successful execution. Creating and managing a personal brand is imperative in a crowded marketplace and recovering economy. Michael’s book unpacks the why's and how’s of building a digital platform — i.e., the collective fans who subscribe to and follow your blog, email newsletter, podcast, Twitter feed, etc.
He explains step-by-step how he built his influential online presence and to power his career as a publisher, educator, and public speaker.
Read this Wall Street Journal article by Taylor Swift (yes, that Taylor Swift). Her anecdote about an actress friend losing a movie role to another actor with a higher Twitter following extends beyond the entertainment industry. It's the heart of Michael’s book: the reach and influence of our digital platforms (or lack thereof) either rockets (or torpedoes) opportunity.
Art takes many forms (e.g., words, pictures, spreadsheets, presentations, sculptures, music, photographs, process diagrams, or anything we create with pride). These remarkable books capture Austin Kleon's philosophies and experiences on creating and promoting art. These fun, short reads answer two common questions among artists, writers, entrepreneurs, or marketers:
David Meerman Scott influences my thoughts and writing about reinventing marketing strategy every day. I fell in love with digital marketing and inbound marketing strategy after reading The New Rules of Marketing and PR five years ago. I own all of his marketing strategy books, and envy his ability to write with a rebel's heart.
When David sent me an advance copy of his latest book, I was honored and thrilled. He's leading the pack in describing how diverse organizations (from the Fortune 500, SMBs, and individual practitioners) use social selling to engage customers throughout the buying process. He published social selling success stories long before LinkedIn Sales Solutions made “social selling” in vogue.
His latest work may finally make organizations pay attention to their most valuable customers---their existing ones. Loyalty, fandom, and connection matter are game changers when fickle consumers can leave with a glance and a tap of their smartphones.
What has changed in the world of selling from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.
LinkedIn's Economic Graph Challenge generated tremendous hype. If Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn’s CEO), can morph How to Be a Power Connector’s core principles into simple, seamless, and intuitive features, he will create the world’s most valuable social network.
Inc. Magazine selected How to Be a Power Connector as the Number 1 Business Book of 2014. I’m twenty percent through it, and I’m convinced Judy's book and Seth Godin’s What to Do When It’s Your Turn (and It’s Always Your Turn) will prove indispensable in my new career as an entrepreneur.
I usually don’t publish reviews until I’ve finished reading the book. I made an exception with How to Be a Power Connector. Judy’s 25 years of wisdom and experiences are that important. I’ve arrived at the sobering realization my networking skills are deficient. I’ve done some things well. But, I lack consistency in adding value to my business network as well as strategically assessing, prioritizing, and systematizing it.
Thank goodness that's exactly what Judy teaches! Her book will change my life. Invest in yourself by buying and studying How to Be a Power Connector. It will change your life too.
Judy Robinett Speaker Reel from Creative Realm Entertainment on Vimeo.
Change the World. Every time I hear that overused cliche from another self-appointed, Silicon Valley genius, I wanna hurl (or please insert your own Wayne’s World reference).
Study Peter Thiel’s work (and his former Stanford Computer Science 183 Startup student, Blake Masters' notes) to learn and think like the real deal. The resounding themes throughout Thiel’s book: (1) think like a contrarian; (2) question and take action against conventional wisdom:
That courage to ask and act upon, "why does it have to be this way,” drove not only Thiel's entrepreneurial successes, but also the successful ventures of Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, and other PayPal Mafia members.
As a parent, I’m making it my life’s mission to inspire the same thinking and action in my daughters.
Traction delivers a clear, how-to method supported by real-world, actionable insights. Gabriel's and Justin's interviews and case studies describe the successful execution of Traction’s Bulls Eye Methodology. Bulls Eye focuses on the second most important aspect of an early stage startup’s life cycle:
I’ve ultra-summarized the book’s thesis. Read the first three chapters of Traction for free by joining the Traction Book mailing list. If you’re a team member of an early stage startup (like myself), invest in your company’s development by studying Gabriel and Justin’s book.
Please share in the comments the digital marketing and entrepreneurship business books you read in 2014. What did you love about them? How did they inspire you?
I’m here to learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. Let’er rip!
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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Inbound Marketing Certified Professional and Author, Social Media ReInvention Blog
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