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
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Yesterday was not Dick Costolo (Twitter CEO) and Twitter’s Investor Relations Team's best day.
The Wall Street Journal’s Yoree Koh published this article, Twitter Shares Tumble After Nasdaq Leaks Results Early, after Twitter’s 2015 Q1 Earnings Conference Call. Her story describes important challenges confronting the company:
Real-Time Havoc Breaks Loose Around 3:07 PM Eastern Time. Addressing these difficult issues was the least of Twitter’s problems. Selerity, a self-described real-time analytics and media company, stole the show by live tweeting Twitter’s 2015 Q1 unreleased financials BEFORE the Twitter’s earnings call.
Koh writes that Selerity’s web crawling software discovered an early and publicly available version of Twitter’s earnings release. Selerity started posting the following tweets about Twitter’s financials around 3:07 PM Eastern Time:
Here’s the Problem. Twitter’s 2015 Q1 Earning’s Conference Call wasn’t scheduled to take place until 5 PM Eastern Time. This real-time news event forced Twitter’s Investor Relations Team to ask The New York Stock Exchange to halt trades of Twitter’s stock:
A Small New Jersey, Real-Time Analytics Firm Earns Massive and Previously Unaffordable News Coverage. Selerity pounced on this real-time event and scored a public relations bonanza for its brand. As of 10:50 AM Eastern Time, my quick Google News Search on the phrase “Selerity” yielded 18,000+ results:
$4 Billion Evaporates in Forty Minutes. Rob Daumeyer (Editor of The Cincinnati Business Courier) writes that the 18% drop in stock price cost Twitter $4 billion in market value. The math works out to:
Important Note: The annotations to this chart are mine.
Ouch. But, Give Twitter’s Investor’s Relations Team Credit for Handling and Managing this Real-Time News Crisis. They understand the implications of managing events and shaping the story (in both good and bad times). Their swift actions with The New York Stock Exchange on a contingency plan minimized further damage to their plummeting stock price.
This event and Twitter’s actions will become a landmark case study in handling, learning, and recovering from a real-time public relations and investor relations crisis.
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
Hi Social Media ReInvention Community. Sorry for not publishing and keeping in touch over the last few months. Some personal hiccups derailed and distracted me. Writing about these share-worthy links and giving my take on why I believe you’ll find them value is part of the process to get myself on track.
Thanks for your patience and support. Enjoy these links during your Sunday Brunch:
1. The New York Times: Farhad Manjoo’s Apple Watch Reviews: Apple Watch Review — Bliss, but Only after a Steep Learning Curve and Dear Diary: My Week Wearing an Apple Watch: It’s no surprise Apple asked Farhad Manjoo asked to test drive the Apple Watch as part of its product launch strategy. Farhad and his New York Times articles are HUGE influencers in the technology community. 96,500 Twitter followers can’t be wrong.
Read both articles. His Apple Watch Review serves as the Executive Summary. The “Dear Diary” Account delivers his comprehensive report. If you’re a tech geek (like me), read Farhad's seven-day recollections. Pure Gold.
And, I’m not saying this because there’s a $17,000 Apple Watch available for purchase.
He shares his Day 1 - Day 3 frustrations to learn and slog through the Apple Watch’s complexity (rather un-Apple-like) to the Day 5 Eureka Moment. He also touches upon the new Apple technologies: Force Touch, Taptic, and Glances are also explained. All of the above break new ground for this category.
My favorite parts of Farhad’s review focus on his thoughts around why the Apple Watch may achieve what Google Glass could not: social acceptability. Some of these key phrases from Farhad’s review explain why the Apple Watch’s design for subtlety may not experience the Google Glass Stigma or Glass-Hole Backlash:
“handsomely elegant without being flashy"
“you’ll forget its there until you notice it"
“only a handful of people asked what it was"
This understated elegance without the conspicuous consumption guilt contains the luxury goods marketing fingerprints and influence of Angela Ahrendts’ from her time as Burberry CEO.
After re-reading these articles, I believe the Apple Watch represents a major bet by the company to convince both Apple believers and non-believers on the long term benefits inherent in The Apple’s Ecosystem. Why?
2. recode.net: The Social Media Megaphone Every Brand Forgets. Cory Edwards (Adobe’s Head of Adobe’s Social Business Center of Excellence) wrote this article about brand management's lost opportunity: Employee Advocacy. Brands and companies frequently overlook and underrate this marketing tactic. Cory quotes statistics from an Altimeter Group study stating only 41% of brands have an employee advocacy strategy.
He describes how employee advocates can amplify a brand’s reach via employees’ participation in personal, social media channels. Employee advocacy scales marketing for companies of all sizes (from early stage startup to Fortune 500).
Check out Cory’s article (with its many helpful links):
3. The Wall Street Journal: Google Gives Boost to Mobile Friendly Sites and recode.net: After Prepping Publishers, ‘Mobilegeddon’ Search Tweak. I love how Rolfe Winkler (WSJ) and Mark Bergen (recode) simply explain the business implications and drivers behind Google’s latest search algorithm update:
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). 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
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: Matt From London
Earning Twitter followers for new users can be challenging. Are there best practices for organically increasing Twitter followers? Yes!
A quick Google search for “best practices for increasing twitter followers” generates 28,300,000 search engine results pages (SERPs):
28 million-plus! No wonder new users find building a following daunting. Who has time to rifle through SERPs totaling more than the individual populations of Peru or Afghanistan?
Here are 11 important Twitter best practices to increase followers. 17 research articles validate these best practices. I hope this post saves new users precious time (and frustration).
Fill out your Twitter profile completely. People won't follow eggs (or take those profiles seriously).
Source 1: Dan Zarella -- [Infographic] 5 Scientifically Proven Ways to Get More Followers
Source: Dan Zarella -- 5 Scientifically Proven Ways to Get More Followers
Tweet short. 70 characters is killer. Make your tweets easy to share. You’ll earn more RTs (and followers).
Source 3: Fast Company: THE PROVEN IDEAL LENGTH OF EVERY TWEET, FACEBOOK POST, AND HEADLINE ONLINE
Source: Fast Company: THE PROVEN IDEAL LENGTH OF EVERY TWEET, FACEBOOK POST, AND HEADLINE ONLINE
Posting lots of helpful links earns more followers. Positive correlations exist between high follower counts and high link sharing.
Source 4: Dan Zarella: New Data -- Tweet Lots of Links to Get Followers
Source: Dan Zarella: New Data -- Tweet Lots of Links to Get Followers
Tweet a minimum of 3 to 5 times daily. Your followers probably didn’t see your first tweet. “Second-chance tweets” help you reach 30% of your Twitter audience.
Research shows higher engagement later in the week (especially on weekends). Click Through Rate CTRs) and retweets (RTs) are higher.
Source 8: Kiss Metrics — The Science of Social Timing, Part 1 -- Social Network
Think of the “.@twittername” as an "Email Reply All.” It makes all the difference in gaining new followers (for you and the account you mentioned). Not including the “. (period)” shares your tweet with a smaller subset of his followers and yours.
Source 10: Twitter: The Basics -- What are replies and mentions?
Many Twitter sharing widgets automate only the article / blog post title. Go the extra mile by tracking down and mentioning the author's Twitter handle in your tweet.
The Internet rewards intentional and consistent acts of kindness in the long term.
Source 11: 7 Ways I Accidentally Got More Twitter Followers (and 7 Ways You Can on Purpose)
Hashtags create strategic opportunities for non-follower discovery. They differentiate your tweets from the herd. Hashtags increase the chances of another account noticing and taking action on your tweet.
That action could be “a follow."
Source 12: Buffer — 10 Surprising New Twitter Stats to Help You Reach More Followers
Source 13: CoSchedule: Best Practices Guide For Making Sure Your Posts Look Good on Social Media
Source: Buffer — 10 Surprising New Twitter Stats to Help You Reach More Followers
Review these charts from Buffer’s research. Images are everything.
Source 14: Buffer — How Twitter's Expanded Images Increase Clicks, Retweets and Favorites
Most #FF / #FollowFriday tweets cram as many Twitter handles as possible into one tweet. It’s great this person wants to introduce seven new people to her/his following:
The Problem. What's the reason for following these accounts?
The Solution. Personalize your #FF tweets with specific recommendations.
The Result. You may make someone smile.
Source 15: Ask Aaron Lee: How To Do Proper Follow Friday on Twitter
Source 16: Search Engine Journal: How to Get Twitter Followers
Link your Twitter profile with important online assets: your social networks (i.e., LinkedIn and Facebook), blog, website, and email signature. Include your Twitter profile on key offline marketing collateral (e.g., business cards, company letterhead, etc.).
Integrate your personal brand assets.
Source 17: Search Engine Journal — How to Get Twitter Followers
Photo Credit: Danny Sullivan
What did I forget?
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. Let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time). 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: 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: 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+.
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
I hope you enjoyed a blessed and joyful Christmas Holiday with your family, friends, and loved ones! Here are your share-worthy links to enjoy during Sunday Brunch. Have a great Sunday!
1. Careerealism.com: Don’t Let Your Job Title Define You. The title says it all (pun intended). Pouncing on personal branding and reinvention opportunities matters more than ever. We're all individual startups. Resumes are becoming less relevant in a digital age so make a New Year’s Resolution to build your online presence.
2. Unreasonable.is: The 7 Emails You Need to Know How to Write. Email isn’t dead. It remains one of the first ways we build and establish relationships. If you want your emails noticed, read, and acted upon by important/busy people, read this great, how-to article. This one went straight into Evernote for frequent and easy reference.
3. NYTimes.com: A Brand New World In Which Men Ruled — Instead of narrowing gender gaps, the technology industry created vast new ones for Stanford University’s pioneering class of 1994. If you Google "gender equity” or “gender gap,” you'll find the work of The New York Times' Jodi Kantor. Her thought-provoking and must-read article provides smart perspectives and analyses on the root cause(s) of the current Silicon Valley gender gaps.
Kantor's root cause analyses reveals:
The most successful Stanford Class of 1994 female entrepreneur, Jessica DiLullo Herrin, executed a flanking strategy to build and grow Stella & Dot. She created a digital services company but shunned The Valley’s traditional route creating a product or using venture capital funding. In her words (direct quote from the article):
“I’ve never tried to sit at the boys’ table.”
DiLullo Herrin's flanking strategy may prove to be the best way for women to beat The Male Silicon Valley Establishment at their own game.
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. 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+.
Inbound Marketing Certified Professional and Author, Social Media ReInvention Blog
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