Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies »

Charlene Li is a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. She is the driving force behind Forrester's Social Computing and Web 2.0 research.


Josh Bernoff, is a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, and one of America's most frequently quoted research analysts.

Corporate executives struggle to harness the power of social technologies. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube are where customers discuss products and companies, write their own news, and find their own deals but how do you integrate these activities into your broader marketing efforts? It's an unstoppable groundswell that affects every industry — yet it's still utterly foreign to most companies running things now.

When consumers you've never met are rating your company's products in public forums with which you have no experience or influence, your company is vulnerable. In Groundswell, Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li explain how to turn this threat into an opportunity.

In this updated and expanded edition of Groundswell, featuring an all new introduction and chapters on Twitter and social media integration, you'll learn to:

· Evaluate new social technologies as they emerge

· Determine how different groups of consumers are participating in social technology arenas

· Apply a four-step process for formulating your future strategy

· Build social technologies into your business

Groundswell is required reading for executives seeking to protect and strengthen their company's public image.

The Financial Times

... for Groundswell's intended audience - managers struggling to answer questions such as "should my soap company have a presence on Facebook?" or "why isn't anyone reading our company blog?" - the emphasis on data and analytics is not a bug - it's a feature.

Introduction

Part 1 Understanding the groundswell

1 Why the groundswell-and why now? 3

2 Jujitsu and the technologies of the groundswell 17

3 The social technographics profile 39

Part 2 Tapping the groundswell

4 Strategies for tapping the groundswell 65

5 Listening to the groundswell 77

6 Talking with the groundswell 99

7 Energizing the groundswell 129

8 Helping the groundswell support itself 153

9 Embracing the groundswell 179

Part 3 The groundswell transforms

10 How connecting with the groundswell transforms your company 197

11 The groundswell inside your company 215

12 The future of the groundswell 233

Acknowledgments 243

Notes 247

Case Index 265

Subject Index 269

About the Authors 283