A few weeks ago, Jay Baer and Amber Naslund announced that if you submitted a creative idea on how you would give two copies of their book away, and if you promised to write a book review rather quickly after receiving the books, you would win 2 free copies. I did, and I did!
Because the book is all about NOW, as per the name, I’m going to do my review a bit differently. Instead of reading the whole book and then writing a thumbs up or thumbs down review, I thought I would blog each chapter as I go – it’s what I’m reading now.
The contest
Once I finish this process, I will ask you the following question – why would reading this book and writing your own review help you and/or your blog? I’ll leave submissions open for 1 week, pick two winners, and each will receive one free copy of The Now Revolution. Sound good?
And now, about Chapter One
I’m going to fully admit that when I saw the title and the first paragraph of chapter 1, my gut reaction was, “Oh not THAT again!” You see, chapter 1 is about developing a culture in your company (or within yourself if you work alone) that can get to a point where it can accept and use Social and other modern marketing techniques successfully. I figured this was going to be one of those Social Media rants about how companies need to just jump into gear, get ready and go.” You’re losing time!!” I expected it to say.
Well, it’s a good thing I kept reading.
In fact, chapter 1 is pretty different from a lot of the content you encounter in the Social Media world about companies using Social Media. For 1 thing, the chapter is not *really* about Social Media, it really is about a company’s culture, and what kind of culture works best with and for a Social Media presence.
A second nice surprise was that there weren’t any long diatribes about how stupid companies are who haven’t jumped into Social Media yet. I thought we were headed there as the chapter moved into reasons why a lot of companies aren’t using Social Media right now. Jay and Amber talk about things like fear, for example. A lot of people rant and rave about how fear is stupid. Jay and Amber don’t coddle, but they do show that they understand from whence that fear comes. That makes this chapter different, too.
Finally, this chapter is different because it gives you activities to make the content become real. QR codes are interspersed throughout so that you can listen to podcasts and watch videos – if I didn’t have a Blackberry I would totally be taking advantage of that feature – unfortunately Blackberries and QR codes don’t get along very well, and 1 thing that could perhaps be added in a 2nd edition would be a short URL so that people could go to the extra content via other devices and means. In addition to those, there is a “culture quiz” where a company can begin to diagnose where its culture could be strengthened.
There are a lot of really good ideas in chapter 1 – I envisioned, after awhile, a company doing a book club and taking the chapter in bit by bit. Jay and Amber talk about how the head of the company needs to be able to translate the heart of the company to every single employee, and they also talk about the freedom and trust employees need to be able to do things in the best way possible. Yes, these cultural aspects help in setting the bedrock (their word) for a Social Media presence, but it’s also just great business advice in general.
My review of chapter 1 – I’m excited to move on to chapter 2 🙂
Thanks so much for the kind words Margie. We’re proud of that chapter too, and fell like it sets to tone that this isn’t just another social media book.
On the QR Codes, because we’re using Microsoft Tag, you “should” be able to make it work. Just go to gettag.mobi and download the reader, and you’re all set.
Now, for bonus points: Who wrote Chapter One?
Margie
One of the things I really like about you is your honesty in your book reviews. You do not say it is a great book when you barely read it. You use a conversational tone in your writing that makes us think out loud with you. N0t that I am writing a book anytime soon but if I ever am crazy enough, you are the one review that I would be so nervous about.
I look forward to chapter 2 as so far chapter 1 seems to have started off pretty good.
Thanks so much for doing these reviews the way that you do.
Okay. I’m following…
Right off the bat, I’d like to see a book that can apply these techniques. It’s one thing to say, “Here’s what you can do.” Wouldn’t it be cool if we took a book and said, “Here’s the game plan. Do it this way. Let’s see what happens.”