“People in all demographics and regions of the world are more connected than ever before to the products, issues, places, and individuals in their lives. This book recognizes that we’ve come to a place where people can represent their real identity--both personal and professional--and use the social filters on the Web to connect with the world around them.” --Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook   “...A must-read for CEOs and other executives who want to understand Facebook and more importantly take the right actions to stay relevant and stay competitive.” --David Mather, President, Hoovers, Inc.   The ‘90s were about the World Wide Web of information and the power of linking web pages. Today it’s about the World Wide Web of people and the power of the social graph. Online social networks are fundamentally changing the way we live, work, and interact. They offer businesses immense opportunities to transform customer relationships for profit: opportunities that touch virtually every business function, from sales and marketing to recruiting, collaboration to executive decision-making, product development to innovation. In The Facebook Era, Clara Shih systematically outlines the business promise of social networking and shows how to transform that promise into reality.   Shih is singularly qualified to write this book: One of the world’s top business social networking thought leaders and practitioners, she created the first business application on Facebook and leads salesforce.com’s partnership with Facebook. Through case studies, examples, and a practical how-to guide, Shih helps individuals, companies, and organizations understand and take advantage of social networks to transform customer relationships for sales and marketing. Shih systematically identifies your best opportunities to use social networks to source new business opportunities, target marketing messages, find the best employees, and engage customers as true partners throughout the innovation cycle. Finally, she presents a detailed action plan for positioning your company to win in today’s radically new era: The Facebook Era.   Join the conversation--www.thefacebookera.com.   Fan the book--www.facebook.com/thefacebookera.   Right this minute, more than 1.5 million people are on Facebook. They’re interacting with friends--and talking about your brands. They’re learning about your business--and providing valuable information you can use to market and sell. In the Facebook Era, you’re closer to your customers than ever before. Read this book, and then go get them!   Clara Shih offers best practices for overcoming obstacles to success, ranging from privacy and security issues to brand misrepresentation, and previews social networking trends that are just beginning to emerge--helping you get ahead of the curve and ahead of the competition, too.  Includes a practical 60-day action plan for positioning your company to win in the Facebook Era For companies of all sizes, in all industries--and business functions ranging from marketing to operations By Clara Shih, creator of Faceconnector, the first business application on Facebook Learn how to… Understand how social networking transforms our personal and professional relationships Why social networking will have business impact comparable to the Internet Use online social networks to hypertarget your customers Hone in on precise audience segments and then tailor custom campaigns with powerful personal and social relevance Define and implement your optimal social networking brand strategy Ask the right questions, set the right goals and priorities, and execute on it Implement effective governance and compliance Understand and mitigate the risks of social networking/Web 2.0 initiatives  

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce.com     ix Acknowledgments     xii About the Author     xiv Introduction     1 Why You’re Reading This Book     2 Welcome to the Facebook Era      3 How to Use This Book     5   Part I: A Brief History of Social Media 1 The Fourth Revolution     11 Mainframe Computing     12 The PC     14 The World Wide Web     15 The Online Social Graph     17 Empowering the End User     22 2 The Evolution of Digital Media     25 Storage and Creation     26 Media Distribution     26 The Future: Social Filtering     29 Why Facebook Is Different     34 Social Network Ecosystems     36 What the Social Graph Means for Digital Media     42 3 Social Capital from Networking Online     43 Establishing a New Category of Relationships     44 Online Interactions Supplement Offline Networking      50 Flattening Effect     52 Creating New Value from Network Effects     52 Blurring the Lines     57   Part II: Transforming the Way We Do Business 4 Social Sales     61 Transforming the Sales Cycle     62 The Need for Multiple Network Structures     79 CRM--The First Social Network?      80 5 Social Network Marketing     81 Hypertargeting     82 Loyalty and Engagement     89 Social Distribution     96 Challenges and Limitations     103 6 Social Innovation     107 Concept Generation     108 Prototyping     115 Commercial Implementation     117 Continual Iteration     120 7 Social Recruiting     123 The Best Social Networks for Recruiting     124 Sourcing Candidates     126 Candidate References     134 Employer and Recruiter Reputation     135 Keeping in Touch     137 Advice for Candidates     141 Employee Poaching     141   Part III: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Using Facebook for Business 8 Engage Your Customers     145 Start with Strategy and Objectives     146 Find Your Unsanctioned Communities     148 Define and Establish Your Presence     155 9 Get Your Message Across     163 Hypersegment Your Audience     164 Choose Your Media Strategy     167 10 Build and Manage Your Relationships     181 Setting Up Your Facebook Account     181 Interacting on Facebook     187 Asking for and Providing Introductions     193 11 Corporate Governance and Strategy     195 Choosing the Right Network Model     196 Identify Key Risk Areas     198 Partner with Legal, IT, and PR     200 12 The Future of Social Business     203 The Innovator’s Dilemma     204 The ROI of Social     205 Social Trends     205 What the Future Means for Doing Business     206 Final Remarks     211 A Snapshot of Top Social Networking Sites, March 2009     213 Index     223