A World Gone Social
Book

A World Gone Social

How Companies Must Adapt to Survive

Ted Coiné and Mark Babbitt
AMACOM, 2014
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Editorial Rating

7

getAbstract Rating

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Recommendation

Companies and executives must adapt to social media to move ahead in today’s world. Internet entrepreneurs and social media experts Mark Babbitt and Ted CoinĂ© provide both basic and sophisticated information about social media to meet the needs of traditional firms. The authors are refreshingly good-humored and passionate; they extol the people they like and castigate those they don’t. While they maintain that executives who fail to board the social media express are already playing catch-up, Babbitt and CoinĂ© also help them level the field. getAbstract recommends their insights to executives, investors and entrepreneurs in every field.

Summary

The Power of Social Media

Brandon Cook’s grandmother was dying of cancer. During a hospital visit, she told him she craved soup – but not the awful hospital variety. She wanted something special: clam chowder from Panera. The problem was that his local Panera made clam chowder only on Fridays. Cook knew this, but called the restaurant anyway. He explained the situation to the store manager, who agreed to make Cook’s grandmother clam chowder. When Cook went to pick up the soup, the store manager also gave him a free box of cookies as a gift for his grandmother.

In appreciation, Cook and his mother posted the story on Facebook. As a result, within a couple of days, Panera’s Facebook page received more than half a million “likes.” Over time, the likes surpassed 800,000. The family’s Panera post received nearly 35,000 comments. The following quarter, sales at the local Panera store climbed 28%. The next quarter, its sales increased 34%.

This anecdote – courtesy of What’s Your Purple Goldfish? How to Win Customers and Influence Word of Mouth, by Stan Phelps – demonstrates the remarkable promotional and PR power of today’s social media.

RIP, Industrial...

About the Authors

Mark Babbitt is CEO of YouTern, which helps those in career transition make employment connections. Ted CoinĂ© is chairman and founder of SwitchandShift.com.

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