How to implement winning social media programs in business to improve products, services, and profits

A July 2009 Anderson Analytics study found 60% of the Internet population uses social networks and social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Written by Dave Evans, author of "Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day" (Wiley) with Jake McKee, Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement takes marketers, product managers, small business owners, senior executives and organizational leaders on to the next step in social technology and its application in business. In particular, this book explains how to successfully implement a variety tools, how to ensure higher levels of customer engagement, and how to build on the lessons learned and information gleaned from first-generation social media marketing efforts.

This book:

Details how to develop, implement, monitor and measure successful social media activities, and how to successfully act on feedback from the social web

Discusses conversation-monitoring tools and platforms to accelerate the innovation cycle along with the metrics required to prove the success of social technology adoption

Connects the social dots more deeply across the entire organization, moving beyond marketing and into brand monitoring, product development and customer-driven innovation.

Social media has become a central component of marketing, and is now moving out into the rest of the business functions. Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement is the perfect book for marketers, managers, business owners or anyone else looking to better understand how to use social web technologies and platforms to build loyalty in customers and drive long term growth and profits.

From the Back Cover

Drive change with social CRM and collaborative social applications

If your organization is using Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, you're already building a formidable marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) system in the social mediasphere. Now it's time for the crucial next step—opening your business up to the collective ideas of those customers and stakeholders and putting their ideas into action. In short, building a business powered by social technology. This detailed guide shows you how.

Building on the principles in his bestselling book, Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, social media thought leader Dave Evans shows you how to participate in social media at a business level, taking customer engagement and collaboration to new levels to improve your company's products, services, and bottom line.

Understand the new social business ecosystem and how it affects your current and future business

Craft a scalable, connected social media marketing strategy that enables you to incorporate what you learn to improve your products and services

Gear up for customer-led collaboration! Explore a host of best practices for involving your social contacts in product design

Discover software and analytical tools from firms like Radian6, Sysomos, BuzzStream, Rapleaf, Lithium Technologies, Socialtext, Microsoft, IBM, and others to help you monitor and?quantify your social business

Think analytics, analytics, analytics—see how to select and use social metrics, analyze results, and produce solid insights as you implement a social media–based business plan

Find out how other companies implement, manage, and monitor their social business strategies, including consumer-facing firms like Philips and New Belgium Beer, nonprofit organizations like Found Animals of Los Angeles, and the business-to-business units of American Express and Element 14

Work through practical, hands-on exercises, develop a library of top-notch thinkers and resources, and positively build your own professional skills in this exciting new area

"Dave provides a practical approach for leaders who want to harness the power of social media to cost-effectively transform their businesses and catapult themselves ahead of the competition. At the same time, Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement is extraordinary because it is a fun, genuine, and inspiring resource that sets a new standard for social media insights."—Ian Giles, Vice President, Strategic Services, Thindata 1:1, Toronto

"Dave takes social media from concepts and theory to concrete, simple steps that make it easy to implement social technology in your business."—Marco Roncaglio, Director of Online Marketing, Personal Care, Philips Consumer Lifestyle, Amsterdam

"Rigorous, measurable quality improvement is critical for getting social media and word-of-mouth working for your business. Dave's book highlights quality programs that work and shows you how to implement them in your business."—Jeff Turk, CEO, Formaspace, Austin, TX