Marketing is like fishing with a net.  You cast the net as wide as you can or you might miss fish. If at first you cast and you catch nothing, that does not mean there are no fish – only that you need to cast in a different direction. Once you find out where the school of fish is, you aim the next cast in that same direction. If the fish are all around you, then use a bigger net! Let the net sort out the keepers. You’ll never know what you will catch until you cast your net! so get started right away! Don’t get too picky about the size of the fish you land until you have a few great big ones. No matter how well you do, you can only carry home so many by yourself, so if you are very ambitious, bring a few friends with you! Otherwise, only take what you can carry home and/or give away to those who need them more than you.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this analogy

LJ

How can you build a reputation of trustworthiness in the community and set word-of-mouth referral business on fire?

We all know the best new business is a referral. Referral business typically goes more smoothly, customers trust your advice, are understanding, and will gleefully pay you a profit for helping them solve their problems. So how can you share in the tremendous success many are already having with social networking? Why must you “turn the bullhorn” around to become a true social capitalist?

Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, someone writes a book that makes you think twice and you realize you have plenty of room to improve. The Whuffie Factor will have you not only rethink your marketing strategy, but rethink strategy itself!

“Whuffie” is the imaginary currency of social capital – the level of trustworthiness and approval you or your business receive from your community. While the term ‘whuffie’ may have its origins in fiction, the concepts and meanings applied to it in The Whuffie Factor have real life application and consequences.

The book beams insight from the author’s unique insider perspective in the realm of online social networking (“social media”) and chronicles the lessons learned from the recent successes of many names you may know, such as:

• Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign
• 37Signals
• Eventful
• General Motors
• Interplast
• Jet Blue airlines
• The Library of Congress
• Ma.gnolia
• Netsquared
• Riya.com
• Threadless
• Virgin Airlines
• The Washington Post
• … and many more

Tara stores several gems in her “whuffie” vault, and here are just a few that she shares with us in The Whuffie Factor:

• The Five Principles of Community Marketing, page 53
• Great tips on how to best handle negative feedback and how to tell a critic from a truly concerned customer, page 111
• Suggested content to produce for your video blog or podcast, p. 133
• How to leverage Twitter to ‘accelerate serendipity’, pages 135-142
• How to deposit and withdraw from your “whuffie” account, table on pages 158 and 159
• 11 ways to be noteworthy, pages 166-167
• pages 198-200 – how to connect people through your product or service

Timely, fresh and insightful, The Whuffie Factor is recommended reading for anyone who wants to do business … with me!

- Laban Johnson