Today, I sat down with Dan Zarrella over a virtual cup of coffee to get the inside scoop on his upcoming release, The Social Media Marketing Book.
With Christmas just around the corner and 2010 election season coming down the pike, you'll want to fetch a copy for your loved one's stockings or for your campaign headquarter bookshelves.
Dan calls himself a social media and viral marketing "scientist," and frankly he's got a reputation on the interwebs as being the go-to person on Twitter analytics and social media research.
Here's what Dan had to say about his new book, about the future of the Internet, and what's on his Thanksgiving table this week -
In 140 Characters or Less - why should our readers read your book?
Its a practical, tactical hands-on introduction to social media marketing.
Who is this book written for? Is it a back-to-the-basics beginner's guide?
People new to marketing, or to social media who want to learn how to leverage the new social web for their business or brand.
Also, if your son or daughter is spending way too much time on Facebook or Twitter, buy them this book and maybe they'll turn their obsession into a career in a fast-growing field.
What do you want people to take away from this book?
Which technologies are right for their needs and which aren't.
There are a set of spoken and unspoken rules in every community, platform and technology online and as marketers it is key that we strive to understand the culture of the group we're trying to reach.
What technologies + social media platforms do you cover?
I explored everything I could really think of as potentially useful: blogs, Twitter, social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace), social media sharing sites (Flickr, YouTube, SlideShare), social news and bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious), forums, review sites (Yelp) and even virtual worlds like Second Life.
And I talk about strategy, measurement and monitoring a bit as well.
Tell us about the future of politics + the Internet. What will be the concept to master for 2010/2012?
I think in politics as well as web marketing in general my big "prediction" for the next year or so is augmented reality, but not just in the virtual reality sci-fi way.
The real power of social media starts to blossom when the space between the web and the real world closes.
Starting with Tweetups and Foursquare type apps and driven by the ubiquity of powerful smart phones, the real world is going to be important again.
Turducken or Tofurky?
Well, my fiancé is a vegetarian, so at home, probably tofurky, but I was actually having this conversation today and what I want to see is a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken stuffed with a lobster (I'm a New England boy). I guess it would be a Turduckenster.
Here is the video trailer for Dan's new book. Its tagline? Don't get outsmarted by your competition:
