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Hardcover
245 pages
ISBN 9781591843283 Published June 2010
Portfolio
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Posted June 21, 2010 7:29 a.m. by jon
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
Last week, while hanging out at Translator, we talked about corporate use of social media, and how if used poorly, can actually hurt your business more than help it. The lesson being that just because the tools are available, doesn't mean you necessarily need to use them. For instance, I've never used a conche, and don't think I'll ever need to, while it's likely totally useful for others.
But social media is different, of course, and we should consider how we can strengthen our relationships online. What's important to understand is that the etiquette between friends online and off shouldn't be too far apart. If it's all about building relationships (either case), you simply want to be a friend. Amber Mac would agree. Her new book Power Friending: Demystifying Social Media to Grow Your Business uses that philosophy as its premise.
Being friends actually involves a bit of strategy, and this book addresses it from the business standpoint - creating a listening plan, being authentic, messaging execution, and building long-lasting credibility. While being friends comes as part of human nature, the history of business can make us confused as to how to act when behind the face of a company. By rethinking the issues Ms. Mac discusses in the book, we can begin to see how businesses might be overcomplicating the process. A jam-packed, but easy-to-read guide on how your business can connect with people online and turn them into friends for life.
Friday Links
Posted May 21, 2010 11:27 a.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
➻ The new episode of The Business Beat has been released by the wonderful crew over at Portfolio. It's a DIY issue, featuring Mark Freuenfelder, author Made by Hand (one of our favorite new books), and Power Friending author Amber Mac. Though their books look vastly different on the surface, they both discuss building things from scratch. Our peerless leader, Jack Covert, also discusses building something—a business—bringing the conversation to one of the hundred best business books of all time, The Art of Start by Guy Kawasaki.
➻ Newsweek's Nancy Cook interviewed Richard Florida, author of The Great Reset, about Blue Collar Blues and "'upgrading' the service economy." Florida usually writes about the Creative Class, but he can speak of the service industry just as eloquently. Speaking of service arena jobs, Florida says:
We owe it to ourselves to make a national effort to improve these jobs. We will never generate enough manufacturing jobs to fill in the gaps, and not everyone can work in the creative class. It's very hard to offshore the person who cuts your hair or takes care of an elderly parent. Those are the jobs we should make an effort to make better. No one in our national political dialogue is talking about this. People just say these are bad jobs. We can't give up on the work lives of 60 million Americans.
➻ The working class in the virtual future of Cory Doctorow's new book, For the Win, form The Industrial Workers of the World Wide Web. This prompted a question about unions from the folks at the Morning Media Menu. Doctorow answers fully in their favor:
"The thing that unions do is something we need a place for. And, the thing unions do is attempt to rebalance the negotiating differential between employers and workers ... the only thing that makes the boss pay attention is her conscience, and historically that hasn't been a really good, reliable source of improvements in working conditions."
The interview then moves into an issue most of us know Docotorow more for: releasing free eBook versions of his books under the Creative Commons license. Speaking of why he does this, he offers that "It may be hard to monetize fame, but it's impossible to monetize obscurity." He has an equally brilliant suggestion in his latest Guardian column, "that we collectively kill the expression 'Information wants to be free,' in favor of better, more comprehensive slogans such as 'People want to be free.'"
➻ Friend of the company Phil Gerbyshak discussed eBook creation (and self-publishing versus traditional) in an interview with Jim Raffel at a bar playing music too loudly. Phil's most brilliant insight here? "Books are the business cards that nobody throws away."
➻ Kathryn Schultz has been interviewing folks on the art of being wrong over on Slate. This week she interviewed Diane Ravitch, assistant secretary of education under George H.W. Bush and author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Ms. Ravitch warns, "You have to be careful what you choose to engage yourself with, because the thing you're fighting could be the very thing you want." I'm really looking forward to Schultz's interview with the author of The Soul of Baseball and The Machine, Joe Posnanski.
➻ The Turners are an interesting organization. They began in Germany in the early 19th century as a "nationalistic gymnastic" organization. (Yes, you read that right.) After the Revolution of 1848, many Turners left Germany and brought the movement to America's German enclaves—cities like Milwaukee, the "Deutsches Athen" (German Athens). They believed heavily in the health of mind and body—hence the gymnastics—but they were also still very politically active, supporting the election of Abraham Lincoln and even providing the bodyguard for his inauguration (and, later, his funeral). The Turners have been around Milwaukee since 1853. They built the lovely Turner Hall here in 1882 and are still tumbling around town today. The Turner Hall Ballroom is now one of the best places in town to see a show, second probably only to The Pabst Theater. Speaking of The Pabst, would you see the Tallest Man on Earth playing in the upper balcony there?
The Tallest Man on Earth - "Shallow Grave" @ The Pabst Theater: Blue Ribbon Vision #4 from Pabst Theater on Vimeo.
I thought you might.
The reason I began the story of the Milwaukee Turners and Turner Hall, however, is that tonight The Turner Hall Ballroom will be filled with the gorgeous sound of Mono.
Next week, we will be discussing Victor Berger and Milwaukee's Sewer Socialists. (Not really... well, maybe.)
