Table of Contents

Preface ix

PART 1 The Future of Business Is Social 1

1 Social Media Creates Real Value 3

Connecting customers, employees, and loyal partners is what creates real value. Ultimately, we just all want to belong. The Seven Principles of Social Success. Work and life become one. Business is now personal, and engagement is what matters.

2 Why Social Skills Matter 25

A new way of thinking about your strengths. Developing social and emotional skills. Progress away from Industrial Age and Information Age capabilities. Ford masters physical skills. Other companies rely on social and emotional capabilities, like TopCoder. Becoming extraordinary requires a new way of thinking about what it takes to do so.

3 Test Your Social Skills 43

How social are you? Discover your ability to make friends, fans, and followers in business. Take a scientifically designed online assessment. Learn which three of the most common eight social traits you possess. Make them work for you and your organization to create personal and business value.

PART 2 Seven Principles for Building Your Social Nation 63

4 Principle 1: Develop Your Social Skills 65

How Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk engages his audience. How Avon’s Andrea Jung relies on people talking to people. Social leaders know how to follow. Acknowledge the skills you lack. Cultivate new social professionals in your organization.

5 Principle 2: Let Culture Lead the Way 85

Zappos does culture like nobody does culture. Solidify your core values by modeling them after your personal values. Let your employees define culture. Find out what everyone else wants. Google gets it, so people flock to Google. Define your space in a social way.

6 Principle 3: Mind Your Online and Offline Manners 107

It started with Emily Post. Now, Peter Post takes his great-grandmother’s timeless social etiquette online. Manners matter in the online world. It’s not about you. Don’t hide bad behavior behind social media. It’s the message that matters, not the medium.

7 Principle 4: Monitor and Measure Your Communities’ Contributions 125

Ganz Toys goes social with Webkinz. Furry critters link the online and offline worlds while producing valuable information. Business can collect data and know more than ever about what really matters to us, which means better-than-ever products and services. Understand your communities’ sentiment and act on them.

8 Principle 5: Involve Your Fans in Everything You Do 141

Ducati makes motorcycles personal. Social strategies complement traditional marketing. Online communities let bikers connect, share, and organize. Your customers can propel you forward. Community-centered initiatives produce value. Know your audience and meet their needs.

9 Principle 6: Rely on Your Community for Growth and Innovation 159

Soda becomes social. PepsiCo turns Mountain Dew over to loyal drinkers for innovative ideas. The crowd drives the product’s evolution. Open innovation enhances creativity, progress, and speed to market. You can have the best R&D team but you still need input from others.

10 Principle 7: Reward Others and You Will Be Rewarded, Too 171

Anyone can develop applications for Apple. You get what you want and you get paid to do it. Financial rewards are only part of the equation. Emotional rewards are more in demand now than ever before. Business has to appeal to both our wallets and hearts.

PART 3 Start Today to Create Your Own Social Nation 183

11 How to Get Started and 10 Pitfalls to Avoid 185

Know the difference between friends and followers and fans and fanatics. Five places to get started. You don’t need to perfect your social skills or strategies to get started. Start small. See obstacles as opportunities. Taking the plunge takes courage but pays off. Avoid the top 10 errors of going social.

EPILOGUE: Business and Social Become One 211

Creating a great family is like building a successful business. Set simple, clear principles. Offer guidelines; don’t make demands. Let others interpret the guidelines to create greatness. Don’t waste any more time. Join the Social Nation and benefit.

Acknowledgments 221

Mzinga Writing Team 225

Company Index 229

Subject Index 231

About the Author

BARRY LIBERT is the founder and CEO of Mzinga, a company that provides social software that manages two billion conversations a month for 15,000 communities on behalf of 300 well-known companies. He has coauthored four popular business books on information and social networks.