Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs [Paperback]

I was more than a little shocked when I opened my copy of Now Is Gone and saw that Geoff used my Seven Categories of Social Media post as one of the forward chapters.

Before receiving the book, I had planned on doing a book review, but given that Geoff incorporated much of my thinking in parts of the book, I thought it would be better to tell you what I learned from the book instead.

Begin with Strategy

I appreciate Geoff's strategic way of thinking. The most important thing that I took away from the book is that before engaging in social media a company must make a series of decisions about resources, culture and transparency, rather than a rush to tactical concerns. He even suggests that some companies may not be social media ready.

Build Value to Become Relevant

The enduring principle of Now is Gone is to build value for your community. Chapter three, Building a New Media Effort, might as well have been called Building Value, because he outlines how to affect the online community by adding value. Geoff also suggests having an editorial mission and creating outstanding content, an idea first forwarded in the excellent book, The New Rules of PR and Marketing by David Meerman Scott.

Chapter four was my favorite because it puts the community front-and-center. Part of the reason PR manages to screw up so royally is because we fail to put the interests of the people who buy our products or services before our own need to get some press clippings or online impressions. Rare is the effort that seeks to build something (usually content) of value for our customers that are looking to interact online. As the contributing author to the book, Brian Solis adds his thesis that Participation is Marketing.

The later chapters in the book add an excellent section on technology and its impact on marketing, advertising and public relations. Sprinkled throughout the book are a series of case studies that run the gamut from small to Fortune 500 companies. Geoff caps off the book with his Seven Principles of Social Media.

The book also contains interviews with well-known marketing and PR bloggers Shel Holtz, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Defren, Laura Ries and Scott Baradell.

A Few Gems from Now Is Gone

* "Where social media shines is creating relationships, which is the first step to customer acquisition and the reinforcement of customer retention," an interview with Toby Bloomberg of the Diva Marketing Blog
* Companies must use new and traditional media to become part of their [online] communities...in an honest, relationship-driven way
* The single notion that one message inspires everyone is absolutely ludicrous
* Companies have to be honest, communicate, give as well as take, and be ready for feedback
* [Social Media] forces high-ranking officials to jump back into customer relations

A Few Caveats

Now is Gone was written and rushed to market in much less than a year. As such, it is highly relevant but suffers from the lack of a good editor. The nature of social media has made it much harder (and infinitely more stressful) for authors to get a timely book out that is also a masterpiece.

Additionally, I am not a big fan of the term "PR 2.0." I believe that the technology has enabled the communication process but shouldn't supplant it and terms that conjure up releases of software don't belong in most business environments. Of course, I generally don't practice in tech, so that might be my hang-up.

If you love perfect syntax and grammar, then Now is Gone, or for that matter this and most blogs, may not be for you. If that last sentence bothered you than this recommendation is for you. I wouldn't let a few typos stand between you and Geoff's excellent book on how businesses should strategically engage in social media.

Unfortunately Now is gone is not worth buying. It's a book that should have been a pamphlet. The essence of the book is barely a chapter's worth of meaningful material. The book belabors the same point over and over and yet provides little insight into the greater media landscape. I found the book to be a painful read and yet I slogged my way through more out of my own dedication to the topic than the hopes of finding something meaningful. The most interesting part of the book is the last chapter which is a series of interviews with other people. Again, it is from these interview that the author draws much of the material for the book.

If you are truly interested in the topic of social network's impact on media and society check out "Groundswell" published by Harvard Business Press.

Geoff Livingston's Now Is Gone is a must read for those business people who want to stay out in front in marketing and communications with their customers. This is a primer that explains the importance and the value of social media. As a business person whose use of social media is responsible for 40% of my business growth in the past year, I urge you to read this book and to begin to imagine how Social Media can be part of your strategic plan.

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