A groundswell is rising among your customers. Are you ready?
Download: Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
This bestseller has really struck a chord in the web industry. So, what is this groundswell?
“Customers are writing about your products on blogs and recutting your commercials on YouTube. They’re defining you on Wikipedia and ganging up on you in social networking sites like Facebook. These are all elements of a social phenomenon — the groundswell — that has created a permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works. Most companies see it as a threat. You can see it as an opportunity.” In Groundswell, two of Forrester Research’s top analysts, Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li, show you how to turn the force of customers connecting to your own advantage.
They show how companies are:
1. Gaining insights
2. Generating revenues
3. Saving money
4. Energizing their own customers.
Groundswell is based on consumer data and experience with companies, from Procter & Gamble to Ernst & Young to a tiny but wildly successful winery in South Africa.
Audio interviews
If your hoping to learn how to take advantage of communities, blogs, wikis, Facebook, or YouTube, then look at the case studies. The list is just huge.
Download: Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
Recommendations
They are all lining up to give it praise. Here is a sample.
This is recommended reading for people in any kind of web marketing role.”
How To Change The World, by Guy Kawasaki
“Li explains why companies might want to hire some good bloggers, why sending in the flaks and lawyers isn’t such a good tactic anymore (are you listening, Barbra Streisand?), and why at the end of the day companies should think people, not technology.”
Charlene Li on Flaming Laptops, Sleeping Technicians, and the Streisand Effect, Fast Company
Download: Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
“(The book) is a dissection of online culture as it is a how-to manual for executives and mid-level managers trying to navigate this fast-changing and often confusing environment.” Financial Times
“The biggest mistake,” (Charlene Li) says, “is thinking that (social computing) is a fad, that companies can ignore it, that they don’t need to engage, that it’s for ‘those people over there’ — those wacky companies for young people.”
“For anyone interested in social media’s impact on business, Groundswell is a great read.” ReadWriteWeb
“if social technology hasn’t rocked it already. It’s a tsunami of unstoppable force. Amazon, Procter & Gamble, Facebook, Google, and Dell are profiting from the crest of the wave. Are you? Li and Bernoff are the apostles of the tsunami. This book will be your bible.”
Scott Cook, Founder, Intuit
“Groundswell provides practical advice on how to stay nimble and flexible in an ever-morphing digital world. Enabling your company to respond to change quickly — especially when talking to and supporting your consumers — is essential for business success.”
Cathie Black, President, Hearst Magazines
“The first phase of the Internet was about getting everyone connected. In this next phase, which changes the way we work, live, play, and learn, we’re starting to realize the value of those connections as well as the new communications and experiences those interactions lead to — the ‘human network.’ Groundswell effectively documents this shift and underscores the opportunities available to all from this major market transition.”
John T. Chambers, CEO, Cisco
“Li and Bernoff have written an insightful book that takes a refreshing research-driven approach to helping businesses transform themselves and successfully navigate this new dynamic landscape.”
Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President, Edelman Digital, and columnist for Advertising Age
“Internet-style communication tools change organizational communication completely, providing a means for workers to run organizations more effectively. Groundswell describes how this can happen in any organization, focusing on the human issues, which is the hard part.”
Craig Newmark, Founder, craigslist.org
Ten Things You’ll Only Find In Groundswell
1. Rock-solid credibility. Groundswell is based on facts and experience from analysts who have advised more than 100 business clients on social technology strategy.
2. Breadth. Groundswell includes chapters for managers and executives in research, marketing, sales, support, and development.
3. Case studies and examples. Groundswell cites 65 corporate examples including 25 full case studies in a variety of industries and countries around the world.
4. Data. Groundswell features data from Forrester research consumer surveys in the US, six Asian countries, and seven European countries.
5. Web resources. Groundswell’s Web site includes links to sites in the book and notes.
6. Visionary advice. The book includes strategic and tactical advice in every chapter. The last three chapters boldly describe how the Groundswell will transform your company and your future.
7. Focus on ROI. Every case in the book focuses on the specific business return from social strategy, including three ROI calculation templates.
8. Great writing. Groundswell is written in a personal, engaging style that makes it very easy to read. It tastes good, and it’s good for you, too.
9. Prominent authors. Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff, and Forrester Research are the acknowledged social technology experts, quoted in national media more than any other source on this growing trend.
10. Groundswell’s discussion forum connects you to other social technology strategists throughout the world.
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
Table of Contents
PART I: UNDERSTANDING THE GROUNDSWELL
Chapter 1. Why the groundswell – and why now?
The groundswell as a social trend
CASE: Digg.com co-opted by its members
Threats from the groundswell
CASE: GM starts the FastLane blog
Chapter 2. Jujitsu and the technologies of the groundswell
Concentrating on the trend, not the technologies
Jujitsu: turn the groundswell to your advantage
Description of all social technologies with data on usage around the world
Chapter 3. The Social Technographics® Profile
Defines a data tool for analyzing social behavior of any group of customers
CASE: A community for alpha moms
Data and analysis for six examples: Gen Y, Japan/PC, politics, retail, seniors, health care
PART II. TAPPING THE GROUNDSWELL
Chapter 4: Strategies for tapping the groundswell
The POST method: people, objectives, strategy, technologies
The five objectives: listening, talking, energizing, supporting, embracing
Chapter 5: Listening to the groundswell
Market research vs. groundswell insights
CASE: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center listens to cancer patients in a private community
CASE: MINI USA uses brand monitoring, then markets to owners
Chapter 6: Talking with the groundswell
Marketing is shouting; talking is a conversation
CASE: Blendtec’s viral video
CASE: Ernst & Young recruits with Facebook
CASE: HP blogs tame marketing complexity
BOX: ROI of blogging
CASE: Procter & Gamble reaches out to young girls with beinggirl.com
Chapter 7: Energizing the groundswell
Helping your customers sell each other
CASE: eBags creates luggage evangelists with ratings and reviews
BOX: ROI of ratings and reviews
CASE: Constant Contact drives referrals
CASE: LEGO’s brand ambassador program
Chapter 8: Helping the groundswell support itself
People supporting each other to cut costs
CASE: Dell saves with a support forum
BOX: ROI of support forums
CASE: BearingPoint MIKE2.0 wiki
Chapter 9: Embracing the groundswell
Your customers can help you design products
CASE: Del Monte product insights from dog owner community
CASE: salesforce.com’s Idea Exchange
CASE: Crédit Mutuel asks its customers for ideas
CASE: Loblaw asks for feedback, continuously improves its grocery products
PART III: THE GROUNDSWELL TRANSFORMS
Chapter 10: How connecting with the groundswell transforms your company
Transformation builds, step-by-step over a period of years
CASE: Unilever’s Dove transforms its marketing
CASE: Dell puts customers in every process
Chapter 11: The groundswell within your company
Tapping into groundswell power with employees
CASE: Best Buy’s Blue Shirt Nation
CASE: AARF uses a wiki to boost efficiency
CASE: Bell Canada’s internal idea community
Chapter 12: The future of the groundswell
CASE: Stormhoek winery lives and markets in the groundswell
A working day in the future, transformed
Principles for groundswell thinkers
Case studies and examples
Some of the case studies in the book include:
GM, MINI USA, UPS, Network Solutions, Unica, Constant Contact, Salesforce.com, Ernst & Young, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Del Monte Foods, Sony, Motorola, TiVo, Charles Schwab, BearingPoint, Digg, New Line Cinema, PodTech.net, Yahoo!, NEC/Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Intel, eBay.
Download: Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
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