Time to be Gone?

Every social media consultant seems to be writing a book these days. Those who haven’t published yet probably are contemplating doing so. Since the community prides itself on having many smart minds, lots of good material gets written.

The latest entry to the fray comes from Washington, DC’s Geoff Livingston who, along with co-author Brian Solis, recently released Now is Gone, a 194 page primer on business participation in the world of social media communications. Organized into six chapters, this quick read attempts to lay out the reasons for participation, along with advice on how to create content successfully. It moves from there into promotion and other basic marketing tactics, as well as a look at the future as Livingston sees it.

For communicators just dipping their toes into the social media waters, Now is Gone provides a decent foundation for the skills and thinking necessary for a successful new media effort. The core principles that few would differ about - at least at the 30,000 foot level - like transparency, authenticity, and immediacy all make appearances. The book addresses the likely challenges and shares success stories, like Southwest Airlines and Coca-Cola.

Livingston, like many of his contemporary counterparts (including this scribe from time to time), does have a tendency to occasionally declare hard-and-fast rules where none exist (“Videos should be limited to three minutes.”). Sometimes the arrogance of those of us who are social media true believers also creeps in, as it does when the author reveals that he once told a Washington Post reporter to go to “blogsearch.google.com” to find the answer to why a client’s product was important. My guess is the conversation was more substantive than that, with a blog search suggested merely to support the claims he made on the client’s behalf (at least I would hope so).

At times, Now is Gone may even lead novices astray or scare them off, as when Livingston quotes the author of the blog BobMeetsWorld saying that “If I don’t see updates in 3 to 4 days I assume you must have stopped blogging and went on to do something useful with your life.” Yet very successful blogs exist despite publishing less frequently.

The religiosity of social media experts reveals itself on the section related to pitching bloggers. Livingston appropriately notes this is a controversial area, but he sides mostly with those who would oppose such a tactic despite including a how-to guide (“There’s much debate about communicating directly with bloggers. Frankly, this is a very dangerous tactic for novices…”). Of course, beginners face risks with all of their communications activities, whether in the new media or traditional media worlds. The notion that one should avoid direct communication with a blogger is, however, absurd and dangerous itself, in this reviewer’s opinion.

This is perhaps the area where Now is Gone feels most sorely lacking: a strong dialogue on blogger relations. Where the book focuses on content creation and general promotion, it does a good job of serving the basic needs of beginners. But it would have benefited from a deeper dive into the tactics and approaches that can be used to build rapport and support from others in the social media space. More fundamentally, it should encourage such behavior rather than putting fear into the reader. In general, people learn better by understanding how to do something successfully rather than focusing on failure avoidance.

Nevertheless, Geoff Livingston has successfully authored a book that many communicators new to the social media game will find to be a useful introduction to the techniques needed to thrive.

Recommended, with reservations.

Now is Gone by Geoff Livingston with Brian Solis (194 pages)