Dude, It's Marketing

The Whuffie Factor Helps You Find Your Higher Purpose

I've been reading a number of books, blog posts and articles about social networks recently and finally got a chance to read The Whuffie Factor by Tara Hunt. The book has a lot of great insights and focuses on the power of conversations and communities rather than the tools themselves which I think is very important.

For those that aren't familiar with the concept of "whuffie", it's the social capital you earn and can then use as currency in the online world. While the term was new to me as well, Tara did a good job of explaining it and then used it as a theme throughout the book which helped to tie it all together. 

I really liked the chapter called "Find Your Higher Purpose" and in particular the section on "Think Customer-Centrically". Tara lists a number of items, including doing everything to keep your customers on your website to thinking you don't have any competitors, that signal your company is not thinking customer-centrically. I wrote about the need to understand your competition recently as well.

As I read the list, I realized that most if not all of us would be hard pressed to admit we have not done at least one of these items in the past. In many cases, you may even be still doing them. Continuing to follow this flawed strategy will definitely not lead to more whuffie.

Tara then goes on to give examples of companies including Southwest and 30 Boxes that take a very customer-centric approach. She then builds a compelling list of signals that demonstrate you are more customer-centric and explains that if you are doing these things you likely have a strong whuffie account.

Of course, there are many other great insights and lists in this chapter and the book, including a summary at the end of how to get started and raise your Whuffie Factor.

My one complaint was that the start of the book was somewhat repetitive with others as it used examples that are very similar to those used in other books and articles on social networks. Then again, if this is the first book you've read on this topic they would be new to you. As well, I may be finding them more repetitive because this is an area I've been reading about a lot lately. I do appreciate new examples and this book had those too.  

I definitely recommend reading this book for great lessons from a number of different companies on how to build better communities and have meaningful conversations with your customers. I know I learned many things I can apply and also look forward to finding ways to achieve my higher purpose. Thanks Tara.

[Image courtesy of Tara Hunt''s The Whuffie Factor website]

Twitterville: A Great Place to Hang-out and Learn

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been hanging out and learning from Shel Israel's new book Twitterville and it's definitely been a great time. Shel does a masterful job of teaching you how Twitter can be used for business and personal use through a multitude of case studies.

This is not a book about how to use Twitter or how to create a social media strategy which is exactly what sets it apart.There are already books like that you can read and they say many of the same things.

By taking the approach of telling the story of Twitterville through the eyes of those that have used it successfully gave me a lot of ideas and ways to apply it myself. That to me is the sign of a good marketing book. I want to be inspired and challenged when I read and that happened here.

Shel looked at the early days of Twitter both from how the tool got started to how companies started to use it. This is an interesting background especially when you see how certain companies thought they would use it one way only to evolve their usage and then see the benefits the organization received.

He then looks at a lot of different case studies from many different vertical markets including small business, B2B, healthcare, non-profits and even newspapers which many have given up for dead. Shel gives them some suggestions for becoming more relevant in the social media age.

Throughout these case studies you would be surprised at how much you can learn from industries that appear to be very removed from your own. For example, if a hospital allows tweeting during a surgery is there really any reason your company should be concerned about joining Twitterville? I think we can all use that example if there is any question about whether it makes sense for your organization. 

I did disagree with Shel in one area and I'm not the only one as he points out in the book. Shel doesn't think that companies should tweet as brands but should tweet as a person from that company. While I agree that you need to be transparent about who is tweeting, there are many reasons that it makes sense to use the brand or company name as the Twitter handle including continuity, consistency and the need to separate personal from business in some cases.

Regardless of whether you agree with Shel's position or mine on company Twitter accounts, there are lots of lessons for you to learn from companies and people who have used Twitter successfully to reach their goals. Kudos go to Shel for putting these together in a book that should be part of any social media library.

I encourage you to read this book and let me know what you think. You won't be disappointed.

[Image courtesy of Shel Israel's Twitterville website]