Product Description

Is it important to be connected? Well, consider this: If Facebook were a country, it would have the sixth largest population in the world.

The truth is, we no longer live in a world of six degrees of separation. In fact, we're now down to only six pixels of separation, which changes everything we know about doing business.

This is the first book to integrate digital marketing, social media, personal branding, and entrepreneurship in a clear, entertaining, and instructive manner that everyone can understand and apply.


Through the use of timely case studies and fascinating stories, SIX PIXELS OF SEPARATION offers a complete set of the latest tactics, insights, and tools that will empower you to reach a global audience and consumer base-and, best yet, you can do this pretty much for free. Digital marketing expert Mitch Joel unravels this fascinating world of new media-but does so with a brand-new perspective that is driven by compelling results. The smarter entrepreneurs and top executives are leveraging these digital channels to get their voice "out there"-connecting with others, becoming better community citizens, and, ultimately, making strategic business moves that are increasing revenue, awareness, and overall success in the marketplace-without the support of traditional mass media.

Everyone is connected. Isn't it time for you and your company to connect to everyone? SIX PIXELS OF SEPARATION will show you how.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12773 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780446548236
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
A digital marketing maven who parlayed a podcast into a thriving career, Joel extends the notion of human interconnectedness by six degrees to the virtual world. With abundant Internet social networking sites and mobile texting, we are all intrinsically connected, he argues in this accessible primer to capitalizing on connections to increase brand awareness. New breeds of entrepreneurs are being created daily, he asserts, using free publishing tools available on the Internet to create brands and develop audiences on a scale that rivals the biggest firms in the world. Joel cites such success stories as Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library, who transformed his parents' New Jersey liquor store from a $4 million business to a $45 million one in five years by connecting to Facebook and Twitter and creating a video podcast to lure customers. More than a mere collection of inspirational case studies, the book offers practical advice, from choosing a catchy blog name to tips on Web presentation. Joel has created an eminently readable guide to harnessing the various tools available across the virtual landscape. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image - an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada's Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada's Top 40 Under 40.

Customer Reviews

Not a howto book
This is a book for someone who is unfamiliar with the internet. There are terrific tips scattered throughout, some of which I could really use. My problem with it is that a huge chunk of space is devoted to convincing the reader how important the internet is, how useful it can be in creating a successful business model in this new and exciting digital world. I already know I want to create a presence. I think anyone who picks up this book already knows s/he wants to create a presence. The question is how, but this is not a howto book.

Mitch Joel throws out a bunch of examples of things we can consider doing for our business: pod casts, widgets, blogs, etc. There's not much information about how to get started doing a pod cast, just that we should consider doing it and why it could help. There seems to be an assumption that the audience would be familiar with the technology enough to know how to get started, but such a reader would not need this book.

Empowering look at Web 2.0
"Six Pixels of Separation" by Mitch Joel helps businesspeople understand the relevance of social media and how to succeed in a Web 2.0 world. Mr. Joel clearly explains both the challenges and the opportunities to be had from embracing change. He is specific about the technologies and methodologies that have worked for others, inspiring readers to plan and start their own projects as well.

As a successful entrepreneur and author of popular blogs and podcasts, Mr. Joel is indisputably a highly credible subject matter expert. While the book is very informative throughout, the author is probably at his best when he explains how online communities work to facilitate meaningful dialogues between producers and consumers. We come to understand that these new dynamics must be better understood by businesspeople if they wish their brands to remain relevant to their customers in the future.

I highly recommend this timely and well-written business book to everyone.

A thorough, well written book aimed squarely at business owners
This book fills a void that's existed for some time now, mainly, a major work on marketing and social media that strives for business results as opposed to building a world wide coffee klatch.

The distinction between the two can best be summed up by a response to a question posted on LinkedIn recently about how business owners felt that "social media" had a direct, profitable impact on their business. The response read "I now have a giant list of people who will probably never be of any benefit to my business or me personally."

It was a sobering thing to read, and a reminder of how many people are throwing money at "social media experts" and buying books on social media and just not getting results. The reason? They are not selecting the right tools for their specific business goals, and if they are, they lack a strategic action plan and / or are not putting in enough "sweat equity" to make it pay off.

The Web and all of its elements...podcasts, Twitter, Facebook, all of it...can either be a recreational outlet or a powerful arsenal for business owners. This is how many people are finding themselves disillusioned by the whole "social media" phenomenon. They devote limited time and effort, they treat it like an after-hours hobby, and wonder why they are not being deafened by the sound of constantly ringing cash registers.

It doesn't work that way. If you are a business owner and want to know about the business implications of these tools, this is the book for you.

The examples provided by the author are all purposeful and all illustrate the specific point he's trying to make in that chapter. The most effective way for you to embrace a concept as beneficial to you is to see how others have used the same concept and reaped the benefit. On page 11, he writes "If I can do this, so can you." But you must take the time to understand the principles and develop a strategic road map that is appropriate to you and the specific challenges / opportunities in your industry. This book will help you do that. No, it is not a dull, scholarly work. It's very entertaining and engaging. But once again, the purpose of sharing this information with you is so that you will hopefully roll up your sleeves and put it into practice.

Quite often these books are a vanity piece about the author, positioning themselves as a vain rock star presence and laying the groundwork for the lucrative speaking tours and merchandising deals that follow the publication of a successful book.

This is not one of those books.

Joel's primary strength is that he continually holds the mirror up to YOU, the reader, with content like "Your Personal Branding Questionnaire" on page 129. He bursts a few bubbles that have long been in need of bursting ("Traffic does not equal community" on page 165...how many people do you know who are obsessed with the number of "hits" to their Web Site without having a clue as to the direct impact those hits are having on sales?

He also encourages you to analyze this data...and your traffic...on a regular basis, using the free tools that are available to you. A large part of my own business is Web Site design, and I made it a standard practice two years ago to install Google Analytics tracking code in every site I build. This allows my customers to start looking at reports, once the site has had a month or two to build some momentum, and know what's working and what's not. The content that's pulling them in? Add more of it. The content that's virtually being ignored? Get rid of it. Fine tune, fine tune, fine tune.

He's honest enough to ask if a blog is worth doing (for some people, it is not). He then offers "Six General Rules For A Healthy Blog (Or Another Form Of Online Content" (page 160). Over the course of the book's 272 pages, you get this approach over and over again. Joel takes one "bite-sized" aspect, so as not to overwhelm you, discusses it, gives an example of how someone else has used it successfully, and then gives you the tools to discern if it's right for you. If it is, he helps you roll it into your strategic action plan.

If there's a list of "Best Business Books Of 2009" out there somewhere, this book belongs on it. My review is based on an advanced paperback copy I received in June 2009 with a notation on the front "Advance Reading Copy, Not For Sale, To Be Published In Hardcover September 2009." I mention this because yes, I did actually read the book, and also because the page numbers I refer to may differ in the final hardcover edition.