Book Review: “The Whuffie Factor, Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business” by Tara Hunt
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
