If you are a regular reader of The Fresh Peel, then you are most likely aware of the ever verging and increasing power of social media. Joseph Jaffe has made it his business to keep several fingers on the pulse of this growing medium. Join the Conversation, is the latest work to be born out of his passion for the subject.
Many have reviewed the book already under Jaffe’s UNM2PNM experiment, which is an abbreviation for Use New Marketing to Prove New Marketing. So rather than create some elaborate outline telling you what you will read if you buy the book (Or win one here. Keep reading to find out how.), or repeating some of the common occurring thoughts on the book, I have offered up two reasons why I think you should read Join the Conversation.
1. Leading by Example
Even before day one, Jaffe hasn’t been afraid to implement the very ideas that he talks about in his book, into his own marketing.
My first experience with Joseph Jaffe’s Join the Conversation occurred about two weeks before I even had the book in my hands. I blogged about it the morning of the event, and then reported the successful results the next day.
On October 20th of last year Jaffe rallied his social media community around a single cause, to bum rush the Amazon and push Join the Conversation, his newly released books up the the charts. It worked! The book made it as high as #26 on the overall bestsellers list and #2 on the business book list.
UNM2PNM is also another Jaffe brainchild, built to spark fires under blogs all over the world in a marketing endeavor for Join the Conversation. (One thing I might note is that the books were given out in true social media fashion, to those who promised to review the book, no matter if their final review is good or bad.)
2. Some Starting Measurements
It’s amazingly easy to criticize a company or organization for not being as conversational as they should be. I mean it’s just learning to talk to your customers through a new channel new, right?
It’s more complex than just connecting to a group of customers that are sitting in one spot, waiting to talk to you. With over 70 millions blogs (and growing) and thousands of social networks, many companies quickly find themselves under prepared and overwhelmed. It can be easy to get caught up in chasing fads and trends, instead of meeting the social media goals they should be after.
This is where I believe Join the Conversation shines. Lots of other books and blogs make the same case for companies getting off their rumps and getting into the waters of social media, but this is where most of them stop, giving little or no advice as to how they should start doing this.
Jaffe, on the other hand offers a variety of tools to measure any companies progression into the social media forum, and it is through this less glamorous side of social media that really makes it shine. Many of these measurements are the same ones that are implemented at Crayon, where Jaffe is the ‘President and Chief Interruptor.’
—–
Want a free copy of the Join the Conversation?
Since I bought a few copies of the book during the Bum Rush, I’ve got a fresh new copy waiting to be mailed to you. All you have to do to get it, is answer the following question in the comments:
For a company looking to ‘join the conversation’ by getting into social media, what should be their first step and why?
I’ll choose the best answer from the comments submitted from now until Friday, February 9th.
A first step in engaging customer conversations effectively using social media should start with an understanding of the goals that are important to the organization as a whole and an understanding of ways that specific social media strategies and tools can be used to save money, create new revenue, better engage word of mouth referrals and meet other goals.
Chris – thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! You’ve made my job as a crayonista that much more bearable. As you can imagine, it’s much easier to have a happy Chief Interruptor to work with!
If I get a second copy of JtC, I can lash them to my feet and ride them like skis around my agency. I will upload photos. Let’s see someone top that offer.
@David – That’s a compelling offer. I’m game!
In fact, I’ll give out a second copy of the book to anyone that proposes the best stunt involving JtC. The only stipulation is that you must follow through with whatever you come up with, and provide action photos (video would be even better) as proof. And you have to give it to someone else who hasn’t read it (because it is still a good book, no matter how well it functions as footwear).
David has set a high standard. Can anyone top it!
wow – Adfreak has read my book? I’m honored 🙂
Happy Skiing
That’s usually the last stop before NYT best-seller status.
@David – I’m just wondering what’s going to make this like skiing and not just walking around with books on your feet.
Where’s the momentum and speed going to come from? Going down stairs? Pulled by a team of interns?
If I explained it all now, there wouldn’t be any mystery left when I upload the video. But I will say I did friction tests on our flooring before I made my initial post.
@David – Awesome! We’ll leave it at that then.
The first step that any company needs before joining the conversation is ‘Commitment”
a) Cultural change
b) Resources
c) Transparency
Once they accpet this commitment they can set their objectives :
Conversation Channels
Engagement measurement
Result measurement.
Shashi
@David – Your book should be in the mail soon. Please wear a helmet!
@Shashi – You make some very valuable and important points on things that companies should consider before joining the conversation. I can see your Network Solutions experience shining through!
However, I think Susan’s answer provides what I believe to be the most important first step. (Really there are a lot of things to consider and figure out right in a row, jumping in the waters of social media.)
@Susan – Entering social media is a lot like starting a new company. The first thing you have got to find is your purpose (goals).
Thanks for the conversation.
@Chris Thanks so much for your kind comment. I agree that there are many similarities to entrepreneurship when an established company joins social media conversations.
@Shashi’s points were very well-taken and are steps that should definitely be included in the process. Understanding the organization’s goals and how social media can help meet them is an important part of creating the essential internal commitment and creating the key that Shashi’s post described.
Looking forward to reading and reviewing Join the Conversation. :^)