Thoughts on The Thank You Economy (book)

I have no idea how I originally stumbled across Gary Vaynerchuk but I have been following his video blog and occasional wine series episode for a few years.

I skipped his last book Crush it! but thought i’d give his next outing a whirl as I like to support people who’s online work has given me idea’s or food for thought.

The book, The Thank You Economy, sets out to explain why you should be engaging with your audience and that using social media as the platform makes sense in 2011 and beyond – get involved or get left behind. This is something i have been actively doing with the day job over at JISC Digital Media, rolling my sleeves up and taking the time to understand what folk are interested in, going to them and joining in. The results of which are that I am filled with new ideas and there has been a noticeable growth in interest to our services. Not huge, but a heck of a lot cheaper than marketing the traditional way.

The core theme is that of community engagement and is something that I have been interested in since University, stemming from using discussion boards and blogs. In many ways the contents of the book is obvious to folk like myself who are living the web every day. So the book is really aimed at folk like me to give the book to other people who are not yet convinced and Gary suggests starting at the top.

So while I didn’t discover much new, I did enjoy the book and like the idea that this is a marathon and not a sprint I will be recommending it to folk who are interested in learning about harnessing the power of web tools to improve their services and that bad reviews actually help us to deliver next time.

If your thinking of getting the book then next time your in a bookshop skip to the back “Part V” and see the highlights. If it resonates with you then pick it up!

Or if you want to borrow the book let me know as it now sits on the shelf and i’d love to do a book swap.

 

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