Paul Gillin's new (signed) (blush!!) book "The New Influencers" arrived yesterday for me to review. When I found out last year that it was being written, I blogged about it and of course Paul's people in the US saw my blog and asked if I'd review a copy when it came out. Ahhh, so that's how this all works :-)
The book is billed as the marketer's guide to social media and I couldn't have put it better myself. It's exactly that. The kind of book you'd keep next to your computer to refer to for case studies, nuts and bolts theory and best practice. Seth Godin puts it nicely in his review when he says: "This is the book for those that missed the blogging train when it left the station."
This book has answers to the kinds of questions someone like me gets asked on a daily basis. Stuff like who should blog, how and why to go viral, backgrounders on tagging, RSS, and which search engines to use, and essays on creating disruption and becoming an influencer.
It reviews social media campaigns and the theory behind them, then profiles the people behind them. Chaps like Hugh Mcleod, Steve Rubel, Constantin Basturea and Robert Scoble all get the once-over. For an agency or in-house, marketing or PR person, I would say this book is a must-have for every firm as a concise reference guide to best practice in the no-control world of the new influencers.
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Posted by: jesica | July 12, 2007 at 07:37 AM
Hi, Drew: Thanks for your nice words and for continuing to show interest in the book. A link to this review is now on the book website.
Posted by: pgillin | July 12, 2007 at 12:42 PM
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Posted by: Alex Smith | July 16, 2007 at 12:57 PM
I agree that this book is a must read for PR professionals. As the CEO of a high tech PR firm in the Silicon Valley, this was required reading for all of my staff. Social media is the next evolution in communications and we have to understand and be able to work with it in order to provide our clients with a complete communications program.
Posted by: Jon Bloom | July 25, 2007 at 06:25 AM
Thanks Drew, I bought this book on your recommendation and am finding it a very decent read so far. Lots of sound, no-nonsense advice that marketers should definitely pay attention to.
It also reinforces the fact that the blogosphere is a valid and important medium, despite all the people who are trying to say that blogging is 'over'. Blogging isn't in the least bit over - it's just grown up a bit and settled into its role as a part of the general media fabric, which, if anything, means that marketers should take it more seriously now than before.
Posted by: Fiona Blamey | July 25, 2007 at 05:02 PM