Reading Reflection No. 2

The Art of Social Media - Power Tips for Power Users

-Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick

The general theme or argument of this book is about Social Media, and its power in business for promotion and networking. This book offers guidance and information for beginners who do not know a lot about Social Media, or who would like to get an idea of how to use the tool more effectively to promote their business, product or self.

This book connects with and enhances what we have learned in ENT 3003. Some of these Social Media platforms could be used to gain feedback from the marketplace as we have done in our assignments/ interviews. Each medium offers unique opportunities for environmental scanning, and collection of data regarding a target market and customers’ unmet needs.

If I were to design an exercise for this class, based on the book I read it would be for each person to “Google” themselves, and evaluate their own Social Media persona from the perspective of a potential employer with whom they have applied for a job, or perhaps more relevant to this class, from the perspective of potential investors, customers or strategic partners. The student would evaluate what conclusions they could draw from what they observe - positive and negative - and how that might affect their professional relationships.

This book was designed more with short tips, much in the fashion of social media, rather than text that reads like a novel, with several paragraphs and chapters leading to revelations. As the title suggests, it is a book of “tips” versus a discussion of any particular philosophy, so it did not lend to any particular revelation or “aha” moment. However there were certainly interesting tips that taught me some things I didn’t know. One general concept that differed from my previous understanding was regarding length and frequency of posts. The advice is generally to create frequent posts, in various forms and about various topics. These posts should not be too long, and if there is a lot to say, it should be said in bullet points rather than paragraphs.