Gillin, Paul. The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media. Quill Driver Books, 2009. ISBN: 9781884956942.
Meet the Author
Paul Gillin has been reporting on the impact of technology and media for the past twenty-five years. He is the author of Secrets of Social Media Marketing (2008). Currently, Gillin advises marketing executives and CEOs on how to turn the new social media to their advantage. For more information visit his blog or business.
Book Basics
Gillin’s work is accessible to even those with a very limited background in social media thanks to a glossary and considerable attention to clearly explaining new terms as he uses them in the book. The focus of this book is on influence, not on the channels of influence since those change over time. The nature of marketing is changing from mass markets to small markets and from print to web. The book suggests ways to leverage some of these new resources. At times the book is more theoretical than practical and tends to overemphasize blogging. In short, this is not a book I would recommend.
Gillin makes three predictions about the new social media:
- The trend is unstoppable
- Media institutions will matter less and less
- Very few traditional medial will make the shift
So What
The book falls short when it comes to the “so what” application apart from obvious conclusions, such as small is the new big. Instead of thinking about how large your market is, consider how focused it is. “Social media takes markets to new levels . . . it has also changed the laws of influence” (p. 66).
Social media is changing the way people think about new possibilities from purchasing products to selecting universities to shopping for churches. Don’t sit on the sidelines. Choose a few ways to get involved and begin interacting.