The Groundswell by Josh Bernoff and Charles Li is one of the most influential books regarding marketing in the world of web 2.0. Unlike most books that focus on technology and “how to” use it, The Groundswell offers tremendous insight into the “why to” with a focus on relationships instead of the technologies.

As always, Phil, Karin and Aaron start with an introduction of the authors and book and then go right into some key points into the book including the social media ladder, the POST method (one of Aaron’s favorite part of the book), more on the technologies in the groundswell including social media sites (SNSs), wikis, blogs, and forums.

The three get into some discussion about advertising on the web. In particular, the three discuss impressions, click-throughs, and conversions. They also discuss the issue with pay advertising inside sites like Facebook.

Groundswell asks PR and marketing professionals to really consider the audience and how we want our relationship with our audience to change before technologies are even considered. Aaron mentions far too many people approach web 2.0 simply because “everybody’s doing it” without fully understanding the potential ramifications.

At one point, the three take a brief aside to discuss the Kindle and how Phil and Aaron are leveraging their new e-readers.

The three then get back to business and discuss a few case studies of how other companies have leveraged web 2.0 technologies. The three also talk about personal experience with blogs, Facebook, and podcasts. Aaron brings up Facebook Connect and the likely trend of ease in participating in the groundswell.

For more information about The Groundswell, visit Forrester Research and check out the Groundswell Awards.

From Amazon: The marketing guru, Seth Godin argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. Smart innovators find or assemble a movement of similarly minded individuals and get the tribe excited by a new product, service or message, often via the Internet (consider, for example, the popularity of the Obama campaign, Facebook or Twitter). Tribes, Godin says, can be within or outside a corporation, and almost everyone can be a leader; most are kept from realizing their potential by fear of criticism and fear of being wrong. The book’s helpful nuggets are buried beneath esoteric case studies and multiple reiterations: we can be leaders if we want, tribes are the way of the future and change is good.

This episode of Cocktail Party Statement discusses how Tribes can be used in conjunction with some other popular marketing books to develop new corporate concepts and methods of conducting business. Tribes are different than leader/follower groups – they are made up of like minded, passionate members working towards similar goals.

A few notes from the show:

Find your niche (your tribe, the people that love your product) and be sure to spend the majority of your time on the right people.

Every customer is not for you. “Some people are better than others”

Mass marketing is dead. You’re no longer marketing to everyone, instead market to the early adopters who will spread to the mainstream.

Tribe: Shared interest, not a team, equal + high level of involvement

“A tighter tribe is better than a bigger tribe”

“Leaders have followers, managers have employees”

“A tribe is a method to get change to occur”

Our Cocktail Party Statements:

Phil – “No matter how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of things, find your passion, find the other people who are passionate and market to them.”

Aaron – “Leaders have followers, managers have employees. Find what you’re passionate about and go.”

Karin -“Reacting is what your body does to medicine. Responding is when you respond to competitive action. Initiating is causing the things that others react to.”

This book talks about what’s going on in all of the social media and how to be positioned in the right places and use all the social media tools to get you to where you want to be.

From Amazon: In Trust Agents, two social media veterans show you how to tap into the power of social networks to build your brand’s influence, reputation, and, of course, profits. Today’s online influencers are web natives who trade in trust, reputation, and relationships, using social media to accrue the influence that builds up or brings down businesses online. The book shows how people use online social tools to build networks of influence and how you can use those networks to positively impact your business.

Our Cocktail Party Statements:

Phil – “Be authentic”

Aaron – “Show up”

Karin – “How to be a digital native, where you find a different path around the current game. Also, be human – social media is just another way to communicate and extend as a human.”