Book Review – World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott
I’m the newest recruit at Bluewire Media, and on my first day a couple of weeks ago one of the first things I noticed was the extensive office library. Keen to read nearly every book, the problem was which to read first. A few of the authors and titles were familiar, and I thought I’d start with “World Wide Rave” by David Meerman Scott, as I’d read his e-book “The New Rules of Viral Marketing” a year or so earlier and had found it pretty interesting and helpful.
A Bit About The Author
David Meerman Scott is one of the thought leaders in the emerging internet marketing and strategy field. He writes a lot about what he calls “The New Rules” – the changes in marketing and public relations principles that the rise of the internet and web 2.0 (social media etc) has made necessary.
An Overview
The book aims to give an insight into how to trigger a “World Wide Rave” – which is basically another term for viral marketing or generating “buzz” about something on the internet. The author makes it pretty clear that you can’t ever be sure about whether your world wide rave will take off or not, but provides some guidelines in the book that can influence the success of your attempt. There are also lots of case studies to consider and get ideas from.
What I Got Out Of It
I’d been researching and brainstorming for a long time about how to create “buzz” around the internet, and this book clarified some of the thoughts I’d been having, but also introduced some new ones. The most important point that I’ll be taking home and that anyone interested in generating internet buzz should note is this: Nobody cares about your products (except you), so if you want to create a “buzz”, don’t talk about them! Find something interesting to talk about that is related to your product or service, write something about it (or make a video) and then GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE. If it’s good, useful information, people will read it and share it, spreading your name around in the process.
There are obviously other things that you need to keep in mind and to learn (how to get it started, pointing people back to you etc), but I can’t go into all of them here.
I Recommend It
There was a lot in there that I (being a web strategy enthusiast) already knew, but if you’re fairly new to it all and have been considering using social media and the internet to generate leads and sales, this book is a must-read. It’s a quick, easy read and is aimed at business owners and marketing managers (so there’s nothing too technical to understand). It will also give you ideas and guidelines on creating your own “World Wide Rave”.
