What do you think?
Rate this book
The Social Commerce Handbook: 20 Secrets for Turning Social Media into Social Sales
" The Social Commerce Handbook provides a practical road map for not only mastering but also monetizing your social media investment." -- MARK ELLIS, Managing Director, SYZYGY, a WPP Group digital agency Learn the secrets to unlocking sales with the "Big Five"--YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn--and seize new sales opportunities from emerging social technology. Coauthored by two of today's leading authorities on this hot new field, The Social Commerce Handbook distills the real-world experience of successful social commerce businesses--from Apple to Zappos--into 20 secrets for turning "Likes" into "Buys".
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2012
4 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 17, 2012
What does a social and digital addict do when the power goes out for seven days (courtesy of Superstorm Sandy)? He goes old school and reads books about social and digital topics. The first of two books that I read during the powerless days following the hurricane was "The Social Commerce Handbook" by Paul Marsden and Paul Chaney. I found it interesting and worthwhile, but lacking in a couple vital ways. (Disclosure: I was provided a free evaluation copy of this book.)
First of all, let me say that I was prepared to thoroughly hate "The Social Commerce Handbook." It's not that I do not think social media can be and is a platform for commerce; in fact, I've often written (such as here and here) about how social will continue to grow, mature and profoundly change products, services and business models.
My concern about the book was that it would follow the same old click/track/convert/transact approach that builds sales today but can damage brands tomorrow. (Does the brand really win when "fans" are turned into discount hunters thanks to a never-ending flow of tweeted and posted discount offers?) I also feared the book would offer the tired "store in a tab" approach that has already failed for several brands on Facebook.
In short, I expected "The Social Commerce Handbook" to focus on short-term thinking that exploits fans for sales rather than on strategies to build value-driving awareness, affinity and advocacy. My worst fears were realized from the very first sentence, a quote from Gordon Gekko, the reviled, greedy and destructive character from the film, "Wall Street": "It's all about the money, the rest is just conversation." That is not a promising start in a book about commerce in an era of transparency, trust and reciprocity.
Happily, "The Social Commerce Handbook" overcame my bias and a rough start, and I was soon eagerly turning pages. It won me over in several ways, not the least of which is the recurrent mining of research and thought leadership from the past. As technology changes, it can be too easy to get caught up in the new and forget that human nature changes little and slowly. Marsden and Chaney recognize this and reference a wide range of research and events, including Molière's theories on social transactions, the 1924 Hawthorne Studies, Harvard Business Review research on WOM, Robert Cialdini's 1966 "Big Billboard" experiment and how the Deadhead movement began with a subscription insert in the Grateful Dead's 1971 LP, "Skull and Roses."
The authors also make clear from the start that social commerce is not just about marketing to get fans to buy stuff. Marsden and Chaney hit the nail on the head in the introduction when they state, "The big secret to selling with social media is to offer social utility by deploying social technology that helps people solve problems socially and solve social problems." The book continues with this two-prong approach throughout every chapter, which include separate sections on "Commerce Mindset" and "Social Mindset."
Perhaps the best reason to read this book is to spark ideas. Marsden and Chaney share many fine approaches to social media commerce, and while one may not suit you, the next may plant a seed for your brand. Whether it is Derrick Rose's tweets for Power Balance, Walmart's gift recommendation app, Hallmark's "Tell Them" app, event-based shopping clubs like Gilt Group and Rue La La, Widespread Panic's virtual concert, American Express loyalty rewards or the pop-up store for Pamper's diapers, there are plenty of concepts to draw upon in "The Social Commerce Handbook."
The book is not perfect. Ironically, one of my concerns by the end of the book was the exact opposite of the one I had upon beginning it; not only doesn't the book obsess over ROI, it offers very little by way of business metrics. It is exciting to hear that Nestle piloted a digital "Marketplatz" to sell 72 brands in Germany, but rather than conclude with how this experiment raised awareness and sales, the authors note, "The Nestle Marketplatz--if managed well--will drive footfall and e-commerce traffic." Optimistic and incomplete case studies such as this are repeated time and again; Marsden and Chaney write about many brand programs that sound good, but lacking long-term brand metrics or short-term sales results, it is impossible to tell if these ideas are good.
Another concern I had with "The Social Commerce Handbook" is that my enthusiasm peaked halfway through and started diminishing with each subsequent chapter. The reason is that there is an awful lot of redundancy in the book's 168 pages. In one chapter, the authors call the idea of allowing friends to share news of their purchases "social validation," and three chapters later the same concept is represented as "discovery." In one chapter, using Kim Kardashian to tweet about shoes is "arming yourself with authority," while in the next chapter a Chicago Bull posting for a brand is "Like and be loved." And group selling gets mention in virtually every other chapter--it is an example of "Interest pays," "Incentive Intelligently," "Shopping first, social second" and "Selling to niche markets." By the time I was two-thirds of the way through "The Social Commerce Handbook," I had the impression the book had already conveyed all the ideas it was going to offer (and having completed the book, I can tell you that I was largely correct in that impression.)
The last concern is that authors do not explore risks and risk mitigation in any depth. While Marsden and Chaney have much to say about motivating and compensating people to tell friends about brands and purchases, I saw no mention of FTC guidelines around disclosure of material relationships. And while the use of experts and celebrities are mentioned frequently, the authors omit any discussion of the potential risks. After numerous missteps including Lance Armstrong's doping scandal and Gilbert Gottfried's sickening tweets, any exploration of tapping the personal brands of the famous deserves some consideration of the dangers.
While "The Social Commerce Handbook" has some shortcomings, the book does offer a valuable perspective on the research, psychology and utility of social business to today's brands. It may not guide you the entire way from concept to execution to measurement, but I suspect readers may find themselves jotting ideas and sparking dialog with peers while reading this book.
First of all, let me say that I was prepared to thoroughly hate "The Social Commerce Handbook." It's not that I do not think social media can be and is a platform for commerce; in fact, I've often written (such as here and here) about how social will continue to grow, mature and profoundly change products, services and business models.
My concern about the book was that it would follow the same old click/track/convert/transact approach that builds sales today but can damage brands tomorrow. (Does the brand really win when "fans" are turned into discount hunters thanks to a never-ending flow of tweeted and posted discount offers?) I also feared the book would offer the tired "store in a tab" approach that has already failed for several brands on Facebook.
In short, I expected "The Social Commerce Handbook" to focus on short-term thinking that exploits fans for sales rather than on strategies to build value-driving awareness, affinity and advocacy. My worst fears were realized from the very first sentence, a quote from Gordon Gekko, the reviled, greedy and destructive character from the film, "Wall Street": "It's all about the money, the rest is just conversation." That is not a promising start in a book about commerce in an era of transparency, trust and reciprocity.
Happily, "The Social Commerce Handbook" overcame my bias and a rough start, and I was soon eagerly turning pages. It won me over in several ways, not the least of which is the recurrent mining of research and thought leadership from the past. As technology changes, it can be too easy to get caught up in the new and forget that human nature changes little and slowly. Marsden and Chaney recognize this and reference a wide range of research and events, including Molière's theories on social transactions, the 1924 Hawthorne Studies, Harvard Business Review research on WOM, Robert Cialdini's 1966 "Big Billboard" experiment and how the Deadhead movement began with a subscription insert in the Grateful Dead's 1971 LP, "Skull and Roses."
The authors also make clear from the start that social commerce is not just about marketing to get fans to buy stuff. Marsden and Chaney hit the nail on the head in the introduction when they state, "The big secret to selling with social media is to offer social utility by deploying social technology that helps people solve problems socially and solve social problems." The book continues with this two-prong approach throughout every chapter, which include separate sections on "Commerce Mindset" and "Social Mindset."
Perhaps the best reason to read this book is to spark ideas. Marsden and Chaney share many fine approaches to social media commerce, and while one may not suit you, the next may plant a seed for your brand. Whether it is Derrick Rose's tweets for Power Balance, Walmart's gift recommendation app, Hallmark's "Tell Them" app, event-based shopping clubs like Gilt Group and Rue La La, Widespread Panic's virtual concert, American Express loyalty rewards or the pop-up store for Pamper's diapers, there are plenty of concepts to draw upon in "The Social Commerce Handbook."
The book is not perfect. Ironically, one of my concerns by the end of the book was the exact opposite of the one I had upon beginning it; not only doesn't the book obsess over ROI, it offers very little by way of business metrics. It is exciting to hear that Nestle piloted a digital "Marketplatz" to sell 72 brands in Germany, but rather than conclude with how this experiment raised awareness and sales, the authors note, "The Nestle Marketplatz--if managed well--will drive footfall and e-commerce traffic." Optimistic and incomplete case studies such as this are repeated time and again; Marsden and Chaney write about many brand programs that sound good, but lacking long-term brand metrics or short-term sales results, it is impossible to tell if these ideas are good.
Another concern I had with "The Social Commerce Handbook" is that my enthusiasm peaked halfway through and started diminishing with each subsequent chapter. The reason is that there is an awful lot of redundancy in the book's 168 pages. In one chapter, the authors call the idea of allowing friends to share news of their purchases "social validation," and three chapters later the same concept is represented as "discovery." In one chapter, using Kim Kardashian to tweet about shoes is "arming yourself with authority," while in the next chapter a Chicago Bull posting for a brand is "Like and be loved." And group selling gets mention in virtually every other chapter--it is an example of "Interest pays," "Incentive Intelligently," "Shopping first, social second" and "Selling to niche markets." By the time I was two-thirds of the way through "The Social Commerce Handbook," I had the impression the book had already conveyed all the ideas it was going to offer (and having completed the book, I can tell you that I was largely correct in that impression.)
The last concern is that authors do not explore risks and risk mitigation in any depth. While Marsden and Chaney have much to say about motivating and compensating people to tell friends about brands and purchases, I saw no mention of FTC guidelines around disclosure of material relationships. And while the use of experts and celebrities are mentioned frequently, the authors omit any discussion of the potential risks. After numerous missteps including Lance Armstrong's doping scandal and Gilbert Gottfried's sickening tweets, any exploration of tapping the personal brands of the famous deserves some consideration of the dangers.
While "The Social Commerce Handbook" has some shortcomings, the book does offer a valuable perspective on the research, psychology and utility of social business to today's brands. It may not guide you the entire way from concept to execution to measurement, but I suspect readers may find themselves jotting ideas and sparking dialog with peers while reading this book.
May 31, 2017
Buku kitab buat para digital marketers deh, tapi yang udah advance ya. Karena kalo baru mulai belajar digital marketing takutnya malah bingung. Highly recommended.
December 23, 2014
Quite insightful, although repetitive at times. Still, well worth your time whether you're a seasoned marketer, or a non-professional looking to understand the monetizing of social media.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews