Friends with Benefits

Book excerpt: The rules of marketing have changed. With viral YouTube videos racking up millions of views, popular bloggers reaching more readers than their traditional media counterparts, and Facebook mavens influencing thousands of their friends, marketing professionals simply cannot ignore the web's new communication channels. But this new brand of marketing can be intimidating to those unfamiliar with the new tools, the evolving culture, and the unwritten rules surrounding them. Friends with Benefits is a tactical guide, filled with tricks, tips, and real-world case studies that show marketers how to reach out to the new online influencers to increase their companies' online visibility and bring more visitors to their websites. Readers learn how to create viral campaigns, craft a compelling social media pitch, and market effectively inside intimidating social media channels, where honesty and connections are far more important than the size of their marketing budget. The power of social media is huge: 65 million Americans read blogs every day; Facebook has over 150 million users; and the most popular YouTube videos receive over 10 million views, often in less than a week. Nearly 80 percent of consumers trust recommendations from family, friends, and "influential" persons over any kind of advertising or marketing. Businesses need to reach these influencers.