Archive for the ‘books’ Category

Book Review: Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion

10.03.02

When I pulled together my reading list for 2010 (side note: two months down, four books read. Rawk!), there were a few different types of books on the list:

  • New books I wanted to check out
  • Fictional books to lighten the load
  • Older books highly recommended by others

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini certainly fits into the last of those categories. Person after person recommended this book, so it was a shoe-in on the list.

Having now read it, I’ll add my voice to that chorus. This is a book that, if you work in any form of communications, is a must-read.

As the title suggests, Influence… is based around the psychology behind the tools used by what Cialdini describes as “compliance professionals” (from salesmen to fundraisers to advertising folks). Despite the potentially dense subject matter, Cialdini approaches it in easy-to-understand terms which you don’t need a Ph.D. to absorb.

The book covers six “weapons of influence” in turn, doing a deep dive on the variations and nuances within each before examining how to avoid their effects:

  1. Reciprocation – giving a little in order to take more
  2. Commitment and consistency – playing off our internal need to be consistent with ourselves
  3. Social proof – the power of what other people are doing
  4. Liking – positive associations
  5. Authority – amazing what we’ll do for someone who appears to be in authority
  6. Scarcity – we want things more when they are few

One of my biggest complaints about many books I read nowadays is their tendency to make broad, sweeping claims about complex principles with no supporting materials. Thankfully, this is one area in which Influence… is a clear winner. From start to finish, the book is jam packed with case study after case study to both make Cialdini’s case for each “weapon” and support it many times over. To data-focused people (like me), this was a god-send and added great credibility to the book’s contents.

One of the great points about this book is that, even after just the first few pages, you become very aware of people using these psychological tools around you. From store salespeople to advertisements in the media, I’ve found myself constantly thinking “ah yes, they’re using the rejection-then-retreat principle” or the like. By demonstrating how people use the tools, Cialdini better prepares you to deal with them.

Of course, the flip side to this is that, for communications professionals, learning about these principles helps us to use them more effectively. Many are common nowadays (social media often leans heavily on social proof, for example… think “Facebook Connect fan boxes“).

If there’s a down-side to this book it’s that Cialdini can be a little long-winded on occasion. Every so often some of the repetition feels a little redundant. Bizarrely, on the flip side there seems to be a bit of a tendency to over-generalize on some of the concepts, leading to “huh? really?” moments. However, these moments are certainly in the minority.

So, should you buy this book? If you work in any facet of communications, then yes! Even if you don’t, this book is a worthwhile read. Two thumbs up.

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31 Books To Live Your 2010 By

10.01.26

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my 2010 reading challenge – reading 26 books over the next 52 weeks – and asked for your help in fleshing-out my reading list for the remainder of the year. I’ve now pulled together the suggestions of people who commented, to form my 2010 reading list.

On Monday I posted my review of Feeding Frenzy by John Harmon (in summary: read it!) – the first of those 26 books (I’ve almost finished the next book – The Whuffie Factor – too).

Here is my planned reading list for the rest of 2010. You’ll note that, with the two I already mentioned, there are way more than 26 here so I’ll either have to speed up or prioritise – there are just too many books I want to read!


Dave Fleet's to-read book recommendations, reviews, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists
  1. The Fall Of Advertising And The Rise Of PR – Al Ries and Laura Ries
  2. Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion – Robert Cialdini
  3. In Search of Excellence – Tom Peters and Robert Waterman Jr
  4. Twitterville – Shel Israel
  5. Outliers: The Story of Success – Malcolm Gladwell
  6. Beyond Bullet Points – Cliff Atkinson
  7. What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures – Malcolm Gladwell
  8. Predictably Irrational – Dan Ariely
  9. Drive – Daniel H. Pink
  10. The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage – Roger Martin
  11. Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation – Grant McCracken
  12. Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives – Nicholas Cristakis
  13. Baked In: The Power Of Aligning Marketing and Product Innovation – Alex Bogusky
  14. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide – Henry Jenkins
  15. The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It – Joshua Ramo
  16. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable about Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny – Robin Sharma
  17. The Butterfly Hunter: Adventures of People Who Found Their True Calling Way Off the Beaten Path – Chris Ballard
  18. What Would Google Do? – Jeff Jarvis
  19. Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends – Tim Sanders
  20. The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary – Joseph Michelli
  21. The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization – Tom Kelley
  22. Less Is More – Jason Jennings
  23. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die – Chip Heath and Dan Heath
  24. The High Road – Terry Fallis (not yet available)
  25. Groundswell – Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li
  26. Putting the Public Back in Public Relations – Brian Solis and Deirdie Breakenridge
  27. Superfreakonomics – Stephen D. Levitt and Steven J. Dubner
  28. Here Comes Everybody – Clay Shirky
  29. 1984 – George Orwell

I’m sure this list will change, especially given the increasing number of books I’m being pitched to review, so I’m using Goodreads to organize my reading for the year. Feel free to connect with me over there (thanks to Amy Mengel, Tamara Gruber and Amanda Laird for the tip on Goodreads).

What do you think of the list?

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Book Review: Feeding Frenzy

10.01.25

Feeding FrenzyA couple of months ago I read a compelling post from Gerald Baron – aka the guy behind Crisisblogger, one of my must-read sites. The post described a book named Feeding Frenzy by Jon Harmon as “one of the best crisis management books out there.” That’s high praise from a man with his own book on the subject, and I ordered a copy of the book on the spot.

The Ford-Firestone crisis

As the book cover puts it, “the Ford-Firestone tire crisis was the biggest business story of 2000-2001. Deadly and mysterious rollover accidents of Ford Explorers with failing Firestone tires took a toll of more than 270 lives in the U.S. and at least 100 more in Venezuela and other hot-climate countries.” As the head of public relations for Ford Truck team during this crisis, Harmon gives an insider’s perspective on the team’s efforts to understand what was happening and to manage the fallout from media, trial lawyers, safety advocates and the U.S. Congress.

Having now read Harmon’s book, I have to agree with Baron that it’s a fantastic read. I recommend it for anyone remotely interested in crisis communications, or communications in general for that matter.

Easy to read

Feeding Frenzy is a page-turner. From start to finish, you’ll find yourself hooked on the tale Harmon weaves as the crisis escalates and the tension between Ford and Firestone increases. While this is a book about crisis communications, it’s written as a narrative and a compelling one at that.

A side benefit of Harmon’s narrative style is that the book is very easy to read. You’ll find yourself flipping back and forth to remind yourself of the roles of key players who re-emerge throughout the book, but with that set aside, the book is written in remarkably plain language given the technical subject.

You WILL learn from this book

Throughout the book, Harmon pauses and offers useful tips for communicators operating in crisis situations based on key moments in the Ford/Firestone crisis – a useful addition which adds great value and makes Feeding Frenzy a useful read as well as interesting read. It would have been good to have those pulled-out in a separate section at the end in addition to their placement throughout, as while the big themes stick out, some of the more nuanced tips can be hard to recall or to find again down the road. I was pleased to see, for example, pointers along these lines:\

  • While analytical thoroughness is essential in a complex story, you still need something compelling to break through to viewers and readers
  • Understand the subtleties of your story, and don’t let others get away with compromising the truth in the name of simplicity
  • Do not delay in doing the right thing; act quickly and decisively. Customer safety is the priority.
  • If a story attacking your company is flat-out wrong, push back immediately, and not just with the offending news outlet – take the story more broadly
  • Reputation management is PR’s job. We need to earn a seat at the decision-making table by providing useful analysis and advice in order to avoid unnecessary crises.
  • (This one is my favourite) “How many times have you heard a PR person say ‘Hey, I never was good at numbers. That’s why I went into PR.’ That cop-out is an insult to those of us in the PR profession who expect to be taken seriously…”

Knowing the background of the author, it’s hardly surprising that the book is highly biased towards favouring Ford throughout. Harmon doesn’t always shy away from pointing out Ford’s mistakes, but he invariably comes back to Ford’s side of things in pretty much every case. That doesn’t necessarily hurt the book, but it’s important to remember that there’s another side to this story – one which would be useful to hear in order to get a clear picture of what really happened.

Feeding Frenzy really is a must-read for anyone with crisis communications in their job description. It’s a fantastic read, with a side helping of educational pointers, and was the first book I’ve read in a while which was genuinely hard to put down. Working at the centre of an issue such as this is (hopefully) a once-in-a-lifetime experience and viewing it from the perspective of someone who’s ‘been there’ is invaluable for those of us who have yet to go through the wringer in this fashion.

Read it.

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My 2010 Reading Challenge: 26 Books

10.01.12

ReadingAs my life has gotten busier and busier over the last few years, my reading has suffered as I increasingly found myself prioritizing other things over it.

On New Year’s Eve, I read an inspiring post by Julien Smith where he describes how he manages to read a book every week. Essentially, in the same manner in which all big tasks are accomplished, he broke it down to 40 pages per day.

Given that I already struggle to find enough time in the day, I think 40 pages per day may be unfeasible. However, I’m inspired enough by Julien’s post to set a challenge for myself publicly for 2010:

I will read one book every two weeks throughout the whole year.

That means 26 books throughout the year.

Right now I’m working my way through John Harmon’s Feeding Frenzy – a first-hand account of the crisis communications surrounding the Ford/Firestone crisis in 2000 (which, so far, is excellent).

Up next on my list (Amazon affiliate links):

That leaves 21 other books to read this year.

What would you suggest I add to the list?

(Image:kwerfeldein on Flickr)

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Book Review: Social Media Marketing For Dummies

09.12.31

A few weeks ago, I received a request to review Social Media Marketing For Dummies (affiliate link) from a publicist at publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc. To be honest I was dubious about the book, but name of the author – Shiv Singh, Vice President and Global Social Media Lead at Razorfish – caught my eye, so I agreed to take a look.

Social Media Marketing For DummiesBottom line up front: I was pleasantly surprised. How surprised? Well, my copy is now dog-eared and I made plenty of notes as I went through – something I didn’t expect to do.

The Good

  • Excellent overview: Singh presents an excellent overview of influencer theory, key social media trends and integrating social media marketing (or social influencer marketing, as Singh repeatedly calls it) into the marketing funnel.
  • Strong on integration: One of my sticking points in general is the integration of traditional and new media tactics. Throughout, Singh goes to pains to hammer on the importance of integrating the various marketing disciplines to ensure success. His points around integrating social media into the corporate website ring especially true to me.
  • Good principles: Social Media Marketing For Dummies outlines four “rules for the game”:
    • Be authentic
    • Operate on a quid pro quo basis – give back to customers
    • Give participants equal status
    • Let go of the campaign – participants will control much of your program
  • Simple, practical tips: One of the hallmarks of the “For Dummies” series, Singh’s text is chock full of useful pointers.
  • Pragmatic on measurement: While the section on measurement itself is brief and somewhat vague (but hey, there are entire books on measurement so what do you expect), I enjoyed Singh’s perspective – that while measuring social media itself is pretty easy, tying it to business objectives can be the real challenge. Still, there are plenty of general tips and pointers to useful tools.
  • Well targeted: While I’ve mentioned the entry-level targeting of some books as a negative in previous reviews, it’s largely because I had expected them to be slightly more advanced. When it comes to a “For Dummies” book you should know what you’re getting, and in this case you do. One note, however: while the book does cover social media marketing from several perspectives, it is primarily written from an advertising perspective.
  • Easy to read: From start to finish, Social Media Marketing For Dummies is an easy read. Written in plain language and well structured, it’s a book you can speed through from start to finish, or consume in easy-to-digest sections depending on your need.

The Not So Good

  • Already out-of-date in parts: One of the problems with providing such specific tips is that some will become out-of-date quickly. The YouTube tips, for example, state that videos on the site are limited to five minutes in length and 100Mb in size, whereas the limit was raised from 1Gb to 2Gb this July.
  • Occasionally weak case studies: People familiar with the social media scene may be puzzled by some of the choices for case studies. The much maligned Skittles website, for example, is cited as a good example of a brand engaging in social media, while other examples are declared successes with little supporting rationale.
  • Weak on public relations: While Singh does tip his hat to the public relations profession (with some complimentary words), the section on PR is brief, with no discussion of the potential for PR to play a leading role when it comes to social media.

The Takeaways

Singh leads the reader through a simple, logical flow:

  1. Getting social with your marketing – big-picture basics including fundamentals in influence marketing, the marketing funnel and social media principles.
  2. Practicing SIM in the social web – preparatory steps such as developing your firm’s social media voice, identifying influencers and reaching people through the major social networks.
  3. Old marketing is new again with SIM – how to work traditional marketing tactics, including your web presence, advertising, mobile and employee communications, into your social media efforts

The book is well summarized by one of the last chapters, which outlines ten best practices to follow in social media:

  1. Open up your brand to your consumers, and let them evolve it
  2. Develop a [social media] voice without silencing other voices that support your brand
  3. Respond to everything, even if it means you’re up all night
  4. Think beyond the obvious and use [social media] to evolve your business
  5. Focus not just on social media but on social influencers
  6. Structure your marketing department for this social world
  7. Take your organization with you, from the CEO to the field representative
  8. Conduct many small tests frequently and build on each one
  9. Capture every single piece of data that you can
  10. Make mistakes, but make every effort to correct them as well

Conclusion

As I mentioned earlier, I was very surprised by Social Media Marketing For Dummies. While this book has its flaws – an overly strong focus on advertising and weak case studies among them – and it’s clearly focused on an entry level, I still found it to be a rewarding read. I took way more away from reading the book than I expected – especially when it came to marketing-focused online tools. I would recommend Social Media Marketing For Dummies to any marketers who are new to the space and looking for practical tips rather than the theoretical overview provided by most other books.

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Book Review – Trust Agents

09.12.09

For the past little while I’ve been slowly working my way through Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, written by Julien Smith and Chris Brogan. I’ve now finished it so, without further ado, here’s my take on this New York Times bestseller.

Trust Agents

The Good

  • It’s needed – As Chris and Julien state in the book, there really is a “trust deficit” when it comes to businesses nowadays. People don’t trust advertising. Businesses have abused peoples’ trust to the point where many people are cynical about any business’ actions. Meanwhile, research continues to show that when people trust an organization, they are more likely to both speak highly of that organization and to act on that positive opinion. That’s where this book comes in.
  • Accessible - Brogan and Smith have an accessible, easy-to-read style which makes the book easy to consume. The book manages to speak to a low common denominator without being condescending, and there’s a wry sense of humour behind the writing which comes through occasionally.
  • Tool-agnostic – Trust Agents deliberately shies away from pointing at any tool or group of tools (beyond “the Internet”) as a “must-have” tool. Indeed, many of the tips they offer refer to real-world, offline actions, which is a refreshing change for a book largely drawing on the potential of social media. As such, this book is more of a business book than a technology or social media book.
  • Good examples – Whether it’s in the real-world examples cited in the book or in the background research (I know Julien is a voracious reader so it doesn’t surprise me), there are plenty of examples of work done by other people which either relates to the concepts in the book or demonstrates them.
  • Well-structured – Trust Agents is broken into eight relatively lengthy chapters, but is sufficiently well structured that the six primary concepts of the book are easy to remember and provide a decent framework for self-analysis and improvement.

The Not So Good

  • Familiar examples – Many of the examples in the book are familiar to me… but then again, I probably know them because they’re the best examples. So, expect to hear about Comcast, Dell, and Gary Vaynerchuk… lots of Gary Vaynerchuk.
  • Basic – You may read much of Trust Agents and wonder what the big deal is about the advice – much of it is common sense. The flip side, of course, is that for years now businesses have been ignoring the kind of advice that makes you think “well duh,” hence the demand for books like this.
  • Challenging for large businesses – I can see a lot of these techniques being very difficult for large businesses. Much of the book is more likely to be adopted by small businesses. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though – more of a reflection on how far many large organizations have fallen over time, to the point where the idea of individuals becoming Trust Agents is anathema to how they work.
  • It’s not for you - I would agree with Christopher S. Penn – the people who most need this book likely aren’t the ones who would ever buy it. So, if you know someone like that, pick up a copy for them. If they have any sense, they’ll thank you for it.

The Take-Aways

The six principles of the book are simple enough concepts to absorb:

  • Make your own game – business model innovation. Learn from trial and error; experiment
  • Be “one of us” – be genuine, not a gate-crashing outsider
  • Archimedes effect – generate leverage from your successes
  • Agent zero – become the person at the centre of your network
  • Human artist – improve your interpersonal skills; empower other people to succeed
  • Build an army – work with your network to accomplish tasks

Simple… and effective.

Conclusion

Trust Agents is a refreshing change from many of the books I’ve read recently. Like Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation, it’s not targeted at those of us already in the social media space – Brogan and Smith clearly note that they hope to reach a completely new group of people with this book. However, just like the former, it’s an enjoyable read for those of us who may already know (at least implicitly) much of the content within.

For people new to social media and its effects on communication and business strategy, this is an extremely valuable read.

Highly recommended.

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Book Review: Six Pixels Of Separation

09.11.05

Six Pixels of Separation bookAs I mentioned recently, I’ve been working my way through the book/audiobook of Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation for a while now. Well, I’ve finally finished it… here’s my take…

The Good

  • Well-written – Six Pixels of Separation is written in Mitch’s usual friendly, candid style. Though the 270+ pages of content took me a while to get through, it certainly wasn’t because it was a hard read.
  • Well-targeted – social media is reaching a point where small businesses can effectively use it to build a presence online. There are a lot of people out there who don’t know how to go about it. This book aims at them, and keeps its beady eye on that audience throughout.
  • Good background – throughout the book, Mitch makes reference to the ways that traditional marketing works, and the ways social media marketing differs from that. It’s a useful perspective for people new to the field.
  • Good primer – Mitch takes his readers on a well-constructed tour through most of the basic elements of social media marketing. If you’re new to this stuff, it’s a great primer. If you’re a recent convert, it’s a good reminder.

The Not So Good

  • Nothing new – Take this one with a pinch of salt as I’m not the target. Whether it’s Join the Conversation or even back to ClueTrain, this book adds little that hasn’t been said before.
  • Same people – listen to Media Hacks or to Mitch’s podcast? You’ll have heard either directly from or about most of the people mentioned in this book.
  • Not so practical – this book is all about “why,” not “how.” If you’re looking for the “how” of social media, look elsewhere.

The Take-Aways

  • Nowadays, everyone researches things online. When they do that, you want them to find as much good content about you as possible.
  • Control is a myth. If you matter to people then they are talking about you, whether you know about it or not and whether you like it or not. The only choice is whether you participate.
  • Content is king.
  • Social media lets you choose and define your own niche, and own it.
  • Mobile marketing is emerging as a powerful channel.

Who should buy this book

Not you.

This book is targeted at small business owners who are still searching for the “why” of social media. If you’re reading this site, you’re probably beyond the “why” and into the “how.” You won’t learn much new from this book.

You.

(See what I did there?)

If you’re into social media or the evolution of marketing, you’ll probably enjoy this book. Unlike some other books out there, it’s not a string of blog posts strung together but a well written, cohesive book that flows well. So, if you’re looking for something to reinforce your general thoughts on social media, this is a good start.

The Conclusion

Most of the criticisms above are based on my prior knowledge – I live and work in this space and I either know or know of almost everyone mentioned in the book, so I’m clearly not the in the sweet spot. This book just isn’t targeted at me.

Despite those minor criticisms, though, I really enjoyed this book – enough that I was willing to pay for the audiobook as well as the hard-back copy. It’s easy to absorb, easy to understand and hard to put down. I’d happily recommend it to a small or medium-sized business owner looking to learn more about this space.

There’s my brief take. Have you read Mitch’s book? What did you think?

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