The first, "socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business," was published in August and written by Erik Qualman, currently the Vice President of Online Marketing for the world's largest private educator.
To generate interest in the book they've created a compelling video with data about the growth of social media which is likely worth 2 and 1/2 minutes of your time. (If you don't like it, let me know and I'll send you a time voucher refund. :-) )
Socialnomics proposes a simple and useful framework to describe how companies should continuously interact with customers via social media:
The 8 step cycle begins with the company listening. Notice that the company shouldn't begin selling until they've listened, interacted and reacted with customers. As the customer goes through the buying process and the using process, they are listening and interacting and reacting, noting the quality of their buying experience and the service or product they've bought and sharing that with the company and/or others. They ideally become a positive "salesman" for the company but could also become a negative one. If the process is working at it's best, the company will be aware of all this in real time and adjust iteratively.
"Inbound Marketing" according to Hubspot requires constant publishing in a variety of formats and places so that you have maximized your chances of being found by your customers or prospects. For that reason, their website is ever expanding and it is hard to find an orderly and efficient progression of inbound knowledge. This book will likely provide this and be a great starter for inbound marketing newbies and a good refresher for the experienced.
P.S. Don't forget to put Groundswell on your social media reading list too, mentioned in an earlier post. Click on the book to go to that post.
