The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited: Real-life Lessons in Word-of-Mouth Marketing

by Emanuel Rosen

A new edition of the definitive handbook on word-of-mouth marketing, completely revised and updated for today’s online world

With two-thirds new material and scores of current examples from today’s most successful companies, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited takes readers inside the world of word-of-mouth marketing and explains how and why it works.

Based on over one hundred new interviews with thought leaders, marketing executives, researchers, and consumers, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited shows how to:

* Generate genuine buzz both online and off.

* Encourage people to talk about your products and services—and help spread the word among their friends, colleagues, and communities.

* Adapt traditional word-of-mouth strategies in today’s era of Facebook, YouTube, and consumer-generated media.

Smart, surprising, and filled with cutting-edge strategies and insights, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited is essential for anyone who wants to get attention for a product, message, or idea in today’s message-cluttered world.

Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2002

About the author

Emanuel (Manu) Rosen is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into thirteen languages. His latest book is "The Life Machines: How Taking Care of Your Mitochondria Can Transform Your Health", which he coauthored with his wife, Daria Mochly-Rosen. His first book, "The Anatomy of Buzz," managed to generate quite a bit of buzz itself, as BusinessWeek noted. His third book, "Absolute Value" (with Stanford professor Itamar Simonson), won the 2016 American Marketing Association Best Book Award. Emanuel was previously vice president of marketing at Niles Software, where he launched the company’s flagship product, EndNote. He’s presented his work in numerous forums around the world, including at companies such as Google, Intel, and Nike. His work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Time, Advertising Age, and many other media. He is married to Daria Mochly-Rosen. They live in Menlo Park, California, and have four adult children and three grandchildren.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new edition of the definitive handbook on word-of-mouth marketing, completely revised and updated for today’s online world. With scores of current examples from today’s most successful companies, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited takes readers inside the world of word-of-mouth marketing and explains how and why it works. Based on over one hundred new interviews with thought leaders, marketing executives, researchers, and consumers, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited shows how to: generate genuine buzz both online and off; encourage people to talk about your products and services—and help spread the word among their friends, colleagues, and communities; and adapt traditional word-of-mouth strategies in today’s era of Facebook, YouTube, and consumer-generated media. Smart, surprising, and filled with cutting-edge strategies and insights, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited is essential for anyone who wants to get attention for a product, message, or idea in today’s message-cluttered world.

I work for a not-for-profit organization with limited resources that we can dedicate to things like big marketing campaigns. Finding effective ways to utilize buzz can certainly help us get the most bang for our buck. This was full of unique, creative, diverse and at times surprising examples of how to effectively utilize buzz. I look forward to putting some of these into practice and seeing what sort of a return we get!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good principles. Lots of story repetition. Some dated references and success metrics, but there’s good stuff in here.

[Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some discussions, on old school marketing techniques. Recommended.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for three reasons: One, because I knew I needed to write a thorough review for Goodreads, after having received this book from the publisher through the Goodreads promotion. Two, because I thought it would be helpful in my current job at a non-profit where we rely on a lot of word-of-mouth publicity. Three, because it sounded really fascinating, and I personally wanted to know more about it. It was difficult to hold all this in my head, which is why it took me so long to finish it - not because the book was uninteresting (it was fascinating) or because it was difficult to read (it was easy to follow).

I put off reading it for a while because I was going through a fiction phase, and when I finally opened it I got the shivers because I realized I went to school with the woman who is profiled in the first chapter, and also completed a NOLS course, which is one of the companies Rosen explores. It was a great start, and totally hooked me.

I was hoping that I could find some new and inexpensive ways to promote our organization in the book. Unfortunately, Rosen points out some hard truths - that while buzz works with very little money sometimes, most of the time it is most effective in combination with a more traditional publicity campaign (freebies, TV/newspaper advertising, website, etc.) - all things that costs money.

Regardless, the groundwork that he suggests doing through the very useful last chapter is a great start. The last chapter is both a summary and a set of thought provoking prompts to get the reader to think about their business or product and their customers, and how to put it all together. This part I think would be most useful for an executive of a larger company, and not the idle reader, but I appreciated it anyway.

As the casual consumer, I was stunned after reading this how much I participate in buzz. Every time I opened my mouth it seemed I was recommending a product or a website or something consumable. In three days I made four recommendations for some sponges I got from Trader Joe's. That's just one example, but there were so many more. If for no other reason, this would have made reading this book worthwhile.

I think we will see a lot more fascinating things come out of advertising as the internet gets more ubiquitous (is that possible?) in the coming years. I also hope that there are other nonprofits out there who are able to capitalize on Rosen's work so that it's not just businesses with consumer goods, but also charities and small groups that can make a big difference. (Rosen profiles some of these in the book, and I really appreciated that too.)

Overall, there are a lot of great stories and examples of buzz out there, and Rosen does a great job of bringing them all together for the reader in a way that is both engaging and accessible. Definitely worth picking up if you're looking for something different. Also a good companion with Here Comes Everybody, and Malcom Gladwell's books. I'm also kind of surprised that more people haven't reviewed it on here, but well, I guess someone has to go first!

[Aziff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anatomy of a Buzz puts together the bits and pieces of what other marketing materials has said or missed out and put it together in an easy-to-read book. In the field of marketing, the content is similar throughout and one can find the mantra "engagement" to be the key word repeated across different books. But what makes them different is in the case studies selected, simply because we learn by example. And Emanuel Rosen chooses his case studies well.

I found Anatomy of a Buzz an easy-read and thankfully E. Rosen stays away from the technical and instead offers a warm voice that's friendly and guides the reader through his own journey in uncovering the tips and tricks behind marketing. I also liked how the end chapter is dedicated to a sort-of litmus test to mirror your marketing campaign ideas against.

There is nothing particularly outstanding about the Anatomy of a Buzz especially if you're well-versed in the principles of marketing and have read plenty of books about the subject, such as M. Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference which will make a lovely complimentary book to better understand how influence and engagement can go a long way in selling a product.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

won this in a goodreads giveaway... liking it so far! been having discussions with friends lately about recommending mechanics and other services, so this is an appropriate subject.

update: so after two moves and starting graduate school, i finally finished this book! really enjoyed it, found it to be comparable to freakonomics in the way it looks at life, though the subject matter is a bit different. didn't read the first version (anatomy of buzz) so i can't say how different this one is... i do recommend it though! finished it while visiting family over christmas and my dad is now reading and enjoying. :)

[J.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw this on the Goodreads Giveaways and thought it looked neat.

[Todd Sattersten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This shouldn't be called a revision because most of the book has been rewritten of the classic manual on word of mouth marketing.

[Mariano · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book states the obvious ... some examples are indpirative though

[Mark Kinsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, but I'm stopping midway through. It's a bit more data than I can make use of at this early stage of my company. I might re-visit this again in the future.

[Nathaniel Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite heavy. Really only skim read this a few years ago, but good take-aways.

[Syed Bukhari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish there were some newer examples most of them are atleast 10 yrs old.
A good checklist in the final chapter though!

[Martin Bihl · Rating 3 out of 5]

for my review, please visit: https://the-agency-review.com/buzz-re...