Every now and then an enormous opportunity appears in front of you. An opportunity to do something very special with a great group of like-minded people. Such an opportunity appeared to me earlier this year.
There are many great blogs about the hot topic of social marketing. One of the best is David Armano’s Logic+Emotion. Earlier this year, David posted about a group of social marketers who were getting together to write a collaborative book about, well, social marketing. The book, tentatively entitled ‘Age of Conversation’ would give each author a single page (about 400 words) to write about what social marketing meant to them. Their own perspective. There would be no editing, no chapter guidelines and practically no control. And to add one good thing to another, all proceeds would go to Variety, the children’s charity.
I jumped at the chance to take part. But then I realised that writing a book chapter, even a really short single page chapter, isn’t the same as writing a blog post. It has to be readable. It has to make sense. And with only 400 words, it has to stay on topic. After a bit of research to get my facts right, an initial draft and a couple of difficult redrafts, the chapter was duly finished and sent off. My chapter is about ‘Valueing Conversations’. It describes how individuals and groups active in social networks can be valued, both as drivers of social marketing and financially. This is the next frontier of customer value management.
After a huge effort by the idea’s originators, Drew McLellan of McLellan Marketing Group and Gavin Heaton of Creata, over 100 chapters were received. Some authors dropped out. Some new ones took their place. But most of those who signed up did their part. The Age of Conversation book was finally published yesterday. This being social marketing, there is also a blog, Facebook group and a lot of discussion on both the blogosphere and in mainstream media like Business Week, Fast Company and Advertising Age.
This really is the age of conversation. If you want to learn about what social marketing is, how it works and what it could do for you, then read the book. And as this is the age of conversation, when you have read it, add a comment on this blog and really get the conversation going.
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager
PS. Here is the full list of all 100 authors and their blogs:
Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G.Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg
