“WTF” WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS? CHANGING THE WAY BUSINESSES CREATE EXPERIENCES

A M A N D A F RAT U S

Published: 2013Price: $17.97 on Amazon (varied)

Brian Solis (author of The End of Business as Usual)

• Solis is recognized as one of the most important leaders and authors in new media.

• He is the author of a few other books such as: The End of Business as Usual and Engage

• Solis has studied emerging technology on business, marketing, and culture

• In 2012, Mashable named Solis’ Twitter account as one that will make you smarter and has over 200,000 followers

• He is currently a principal at Altimeter group, a research based advisory firms

• Solis specializes in the following sectors of expertise, social media, change management, social media optimization, analysis, strategy, future studies and predictions, and digital sociology.

Overview

• Staying relevant in the face of new technologies and new consumers

• New generation of consumer’s value experiences – what they see, feel, and touch during every interaction with your product – and they expect experiences to be constantly improving

• Many businesses spend their time and resources responding to negative experience that customers share. “Proactive not reactive.” Create positive experiences in the first place

• Think more broadly about Generation C: care about and share experiences, live on social networks, make decisions based on consumer reviews

Customers

• Zero moment of truth- start to research the product

• First moment of truth- buying decision is made

• Second moment of truth- goes well or not

• Ultimate moment of truth-people express an opinion of your product

• People check between 5-15 sources before making a purchase decision

Provides strategies

• Listen to how consumers communicate about you

• Adapt to your processes, resources, technology

• Monitor discussions

• Creative videos, blogs

• Social psychology perspective (what people like, past decisions, reciprocity)

Experience

User experience can shape the way customers feel about the product and engage with it. The idea is to use user experience to evoke emotions, causing the customer good about your vision or brand.

Heuristic numbers:

• Follow the crowd

• Authority- the guiding light

• Scarcity-less is more

• Liking-builds bonds and trust

• Consistency

• Reciprocity- pay it forward

Disruption

• Businesses need to be constantly transforming

• Listen to experiences of customers in order to make change in strategies

• “Over 40% of the companies in the Fortune 500 in 2000 were no longer there in 2010”

Strengths: Easy to read, good tips on how to improve social media interactions with customers, pictures/charts were helpful to understand concepts and emerging social media techniques

Weaknesses: Repetitive- filler sentences / paragraphs that do not contribute to the overall meaning of the book. Could have been shorter / gotten to the point quicker

Valuable for companies who wish to increase their social media skills. Probably useful for new and emerging companies who have not created set in stone social media tactics

How well written, style, graphics

• An easy read with simple language

• Explains all concepts, diagrams and social media terms so that most business people could understand it with ease

• Good balance of pictures and text, pleasing to the eye

Assessment of value/ranking

• 4.5 stars on Amazon- drawings and diagrams aid in a positive reader experience

• Doesn’t get to the point quick enough / repetitive