Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




Great specific knowledge about a nascent industry, January 6, 2009
By C. Friedman (Atlanta, GA)
"Marketing to the Social Web" by Larry Weber is a brief, though comprehensive look at the new applications of marketing on today's internet. The book was written in 2007, which is important as anything over two or three years old feels dated (especially in the realm of social networking, which has only really taken off over the past 4 years or so).

It feels like the most coherent and professional thing I read so far, as relates to such a nascent field. He takes you through all the steps of developing a marketing campaign for the web, and utilizes a few case studies to emphasize the considerations that specific companies would face (as well as how he would choose to go about solving them).

It is these case studies in particular that give you a really great sense of how smart this guy is, and his ability to apply laser-focus to the issues big companies face when trying to take advantage of the immense capability of the internet in general (and social media in particular).

He references successes in advertising on the web, such as the Gillette campaign designed to counter the popularity of the scruffy, unshaven look on guys (see one of the viral videos they posted on the site, which is now, unfortunately, down) as well as failures such as fordboldmoves.com (which has also since been taken down.)

The Ford site, the company proclaimed that it was genuinely looking for customer input to take a bold new direction in the way they do things, and became, in practice, a series of ads with little user input (comments of even the slightest negative or constructive tone were deleted and ignored, and only positives left on the site...leading to its demise.)

Among the most patently obvious (though often ignored) pieces of advice for corporations is this:

As technology and markets evolve, you can't simply create a site and leave it unchanged. If you don't regularly improve the community's benefits on terms that make sense to the members, your site could fade away. Remember Friendster

I was a bit surprised at how tricky it is to find insightful books about marketing on social media (or, actually, anything at all)...but Weber's book has been full of insight. Check it out on Amazon here...or wait for the second edition, slated to come out next month. He also has a website related to the book. Do you have any suggestions on other insightful books to read? Leave me a comment!



Great read for people working with Web 2.0 , December 15, 2008
By V. Edwards (Tampa, FL)
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in marketing and web 2.0 as a whole. Weber offers some great urls to visit and great examples to help support his ideas.



Marketing to the Social Web and it I can't get it on the Kindle!!, December 11, 2008
By Terry Cunningham
this is laughable. These guys have the balls to publish a book about marketing to the social web and yet they have not released a Kindle version!!!!???? I was going to buy this book but out of principal I am not going to. Clearly they missed the concept that people who live in the social web want stuff online not in hardcover.





Marketing guide for online communities, December 9, 2008
By Rolf Dobelli (Luzern Switzerland)
At first glance, this is yet another cover of a familiar tune: Get online because it is the next big thing! Hurry, hurry! However, within a few pages author Larry Weber introduces the one thing missing from most of these refrains: hard data. He provides statistics that document precisely how the marketing landscape is changing, then goes on to analyze what this information means for business. Almost as refreshing, Weber is careful to point out where information does not exist, often calling for new metrics or a software tool that will give statistical substance to the visceral understanding of Web-savvy marketers. Weber reviews case studies that demonstrate approaches that have worked, as well as some glorious and instructive failures. He builds on these to develop a set of principles and tactics readers can use to develop a realistic strategy for online marketing. getAbstract recommends his book to established businesses that wish to get into online marketing and to all would-be Internet entrepreneurs.



A good intro for corporate marketers, December 2, 2008
By Janice King (www.writinghightech.com)
Unlike some of the other books about social media marketing, this guide starts with the understanding that blogs, online communities, and social networking sites require a significant mindshift for corporate marketers. The author provides useful, high-level insights about how to get started with this type of marketing, enough to inspire confidence in exploring these media further. However, marketers will need to do more research, in both online and offline sources, for specific strategies and examples that might be effective for their audiences and markets.