The Conversation Has Already Started
This article is my personal review of Simon U Ford’s new book Social Traffic – Event Marketing In A New Media Scape which is launched later this week.
I was one of the first people to get to read the whole book so I will attempt to be as honest as I can. My opinions are somewhat biased since I freely admit I have been converted to a raving fan.
A Good Introduction
I first heard about Social Traffic while I was finishing my own book , The Facebook Strategies Guide, Simon sent me a personal invitation to join his new group in a way that made me take notice. I wrote about this in a previous blog post about how to stand out from the crowd. We quickly became friends when we realized that both of us understood the essence of conversational marketing and wanted to share this with a much wider audience. Simon also had much bigger plans which soon became apparent as he revealed his visions for the future.
Well Written And Easy To Read
I want to begin this review by stating that his book is very well written, any of you who have been exposed to his writing style will know he is a master wordsmith. Its 139 pages long so you can read it all in an afternoon. If you are anything like me you will be busy clicking all the links and discovering a whole new arena of useful resources and possibilities.
Social Media Strategy
After Simon sets the stage with an overview of the rapid changes in our media landscape and where he believes it is heading, he introduces event marketing and places it in a modern online context. He emphasizes the importance of Facebook, Twitter and Online Video. and gives a thorough introduction to the basic elements of each platform and their respective potentials. Simon’s book overlaps very nicely with my own book the Facebook Strategies Guide for space reasons he omited much of the practical strategies and technical details but still shows an expert understanding of how these platforms need to be used in combination all linking into each other and creating an integrated syndicated network.
Article Marketing
Simon then shares his own article marketing techniques, explaining the linking structures he uses to build his web presence to dominate a broad range of keywords that then circulate link juice and traffic to his blogs and website.
Email Marketing
For me the best part of the book is the way Simon focuses on the importance of building relationships with your customers. He explains in a simple and conscise way how you can automate this process and segment your email lists and structure your marketing campaigns. Simon is one of those people who loves to test and track so you can be guaranteed that his results are based on hard facts not conjecture. He reveals his expertise at email marketing and managing multiple auto responder lists and gives you models you can replicate. Holding the right conversation with the right people at the right time is the key to his success and the beauty of it all is once everything is set up it can run on autopilot sending targeted people into yoru sales funnel.
Launching An Event
In the final part of he book examines the steps you need to take to launch an event, while Simon focuses on physical events like parties and social gatherings, the same principles can be applied to launching any product or service. He explains how to get your customers to become the evangelist for your product so all the selling gets done by your fans and loyal supporters. He gives a step by step sequence that you can use to build revolving door marketing campaigns so you can maximise your returns.
Do You Get Value For Money?
Most marketing gurus who launch a low priced info product or ebook only give incomplete and partial information, their products are little more than thinly disguised sales pitches for a higher priced product.
A Generous Helping
This book is different, Simon shares all his resources and information generously, explaining the services he uses to build and maintain his organization and how you can replicate the same systems in your own business. You will probably not get past the first 10 pages before you are off clicking the links and visiting some of these little know websites he recommends. Like 5 different types of mind mapping software you can get on the internet or the services you need to subscribe to enabling you to link and syndicate all your social networking profiles together so with one email you can send information to a whole range of platforms. At $47 this book is a steal. I already know Simon has deliberately undervalued it and will almost certainly be raising the price in the future.
Gems and Golden Nuggets
The later sections are as packed with valuable gems and gold nuggets as the beginning. Put aside several hours to do it full justice, I guarantee it will be time well spent. Don’t make the mistake of getting it and then letting it gather dust on your hard disc
Community Benefits
What is also important is the community that is gathering around the Social Traffic group on Facebook . Having all our members read the whole book allow us to take the conversation to the next level. It creates a solid foundation for us all to build on and ensures that everyone is working from the same common understanding.
Birth Of A New Revolution
When you are there at the start of a new revolution do you actually know it is taking place or is it only years later that you can look back and see that definite point in time where a cultural shift happened and that you were an active participant in shaping history
A Global Party
I have a friend who told me what it was like to be at Woodstock. He was there back in 1969, he knew all the organisers and was an active part of the social movement that grew from that muddy field. I always love to hear him give his first hand account of what happened and the people involved, its the personal stories that are much more fascinating than all the media hype that has grown around this mythical event . I feel like we are being invited to another Woodstock but this time the party is Global and anyone who buys a ticket can attend.
To get your copy of the book go to
http://tinyurl.com/socialtrafficnow
Act Soon Or You Will Miss Out
The doors open at 8.00 am on Tuesday EST. The book has been limited to 1000 copies. This is not to create a false sense of scarcity but to allow a real community to grow around it. A larger number or readers would become unmanageable as they would not be able to get the same support and personal participation that is being offered in our Social Traffic group. Make sure you are on the train and not left behind at the station. I know there are some people who will ignore my advice and will end up missing out but then that’s part of life isn’t it, as the old saying goes, “The early bird catches the worm”
So here is the link again just so you don’t forget,
http://tinyurl.com/socialtrafficnow
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