Twitter Power 2.0: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time

A couple weeks ago I flew down to Atlanta to meet Diane Myer (@flydigemini) of StudioCom (@studiocom) at her Atlanta agency. After chatting, she handed me a copy of Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time. Having never read it herself, she passed it off to me so that I might read it and write a book report for her. Here's that book report. Twitter Power was written by Joel Comm (@joelcomm) and is a rare bird: a book that is both a shameless, step-by-step self-promotion and marketing guide for social media and a book that trains readers on best practices, which is a great help to people new to social media (Twitter being only one of many social media tools that it shows you how to use). Twitter Power is dead center between the PhD work of history, case studies, and Twilosophy offered by Shel Israel in the form of Twitterville and the more moralistic 101 step-by-step work of Tee Morris in All a Twitter. What makes Twitter Power different to me is that is spends quite a bit of the book ignoring Twitter. It backs off and deals with the broader social media solutions offered over the last decades, including advice for blogging and the history of social media. Then it paves the way for why Twitter actually matters -- not only offering partial context in the form Twitter's history but also context that traces back to BBS systems. Mind you, this isn't Cluetrain. Twitter Power does suggest that just about anything and everything can be monetized and is open to monetization -- and it also suggests that maybe, sometimes, dropping affiliate links into everything might not be the right way to play it. I appreciate this sort of shamelessness. It is more honest and a lot less moralistic than a lot of the other Twitter books. For example, this is the only book I have read that doesn't do the requisite Guy Kawasaki witchhunt. In fact, unlike many of the books I have reviewed, I dog-eared page 48. I have been meaning to jump into Photoshop and create myself a custom Twitter background image -- like all the cool kids make. The one I have isn't nearly as pimp-daddy as I would like. So, I turned down a corner to remind me to go back and either make my own or drop $100 for @Twitart to make one for me. Like I said, this is a useful book! I think 2009 is the year that the nerds who are trying to keep Twitter pure and pretty get a wedgy and a good pantsing, and Twitter gets a little less "church lady" and a little more "rock star." Joel Comm is someone I look to as a leader. Additionally, I am much obliged to MC Hammer (@mchammer), Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee), Darren Rowse (@problogger), Chris Pirillo (@ChrisPirillo), Steve Rubel (@steveRubel), and Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) for also paving the way to Twitter and blog shamelessness! God bless all your souls. Thank you, Joel Comm, for actually writing the book on it.

What are you doing? Does anybody really care? That was my first reaction to Twitter. Why in the world would anyone care if I was at the grocery store or hanging out with my friends? To me the entire concept behind Twitter was kind of stupid. So for months I resisted - a naysayer on the sidelines. Slowly though it began to occur to me that Twitter held real value for my business. With a few microblogs a day I could stay connected with my customers and keep them connected to me. Of course with any new technology there is a learning curve. And in today's fast paced world not knowing how to use new technology to your advantage can hold you back, and worse, give your competitors' an edge in the marketplace. So if you, like me, are asking "What can Twitter do for my business?" I highly recommend author Joel Comm's new book, Twitter Power - How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet At a Time. Twitter Power shows you how to leverage the real power of Twitter for instant business benefits like reaching new markets and increasing sales. In the book Comm provides step by step instructions for integrating Twitter into your current business strategy. His techniques will help you build a loyal customer base, expand brand awareness, and generate buzz for your products, services, and in my case - web content. One of the best parts of the book is Comm's 30 Day Plan For Dominating Twitter. This one chapter is worth the price of the entire book! This step by step plan will give you the kick start you need to get off of the sidelines and into the Twitter game. Give Twitter Power a try - it worked for me. And be sure to follow me @salesgravy. Jeb Blount[...]

If you're interested in creating a successful Twitter account- especially one you hope will boost your bottom-line- you'll find the book is worth every cent. It's obvious from the start of the book, which you'll want to read in front of your computer, that Comm wants readers to utilize it as a reference guide to get started and make productive use of their Twitter time- not be an end-all-be-all Twitter Bible (he leaves plenty of room for Twitter to upgrade). New Twitter users will find the first three chapters immensely helpful, while those of us who are already Tweetie Birds (follow me @RhiBowman) could easily skip them. Though, I wouldn't, if I were you; you'll likely find a couple of wise tips you never knew you were looking for within those pages. They cover a brief history of social media, Twitter's recipe for success and how to get started- from choosing a user name to resources for designing your profile page. While it's true much of the rest of the book is intended for business users, the good-to-know information will be helpful for those who are all about Twitter fun, too. Every Twitterer wants to build a following (chapter five), needs to "play nice" (chapter 12 covers legal-ese) and lots of groups might be interested in using Twitter to communicate with their members (chapter seven). But, business users will want to pay particularly close attention to the chapters on customer service, brand building and using Twitter as a tool to drive traffic to your Web site (and products). The book is easy to use as a reference with its thorough contents page(s) and comprehensive index. So, for those who don't feel they have the time to read cover-to-cover, you can certainly pick through for the specific information you need to know. Speaking of picking, I do have a couple of gripes. I'll start with typos; they're distracting. There aren't tons of them, but there are enough of them for me to mention them here. Second, of the many helpful Web sites Comm lists, I did find that he has a business interest in one of them (TwitPwr.com). Wish he would have disclosed that fact. (Maybe since the name is so close to the book's title he assumed we'd figure it out.) Lastly, his co-author Ken Burge, mentions a portion of the book's Web site several times in techy chapter 11 but, as of this writing, it's under construction. Of course, the book is only one week old. And, frankly, those are minor problems and shouldn't prevent you from reading the book. twitterstats Here's why: the book is going to help you increase your "followers" list and it will help you use Twitter more effectively- whether for business or for pleasure. For proof, look at the stats for my Twitter account. When I began reading the book- three days ago- I had 328 followers. Right now I have 454- and, I've only just begun to follow Comm's advice. Plus, I've gained followers that I genuinely like who I hope enjoy Tweeting with me. I can't help but believe Comm would be proud of me for payin

This is the third Twitter book I have read and this one was the best by far. In my reading and marking pages, I found at least 50 specific marketing strategies I can use right now. Being an author of 20 books myself, I am a tough critic of these kinds of books. I would give this one my highest recommendation for anyone wanting to learn about Twitter or online marketing in general. [...]

I've been following Joel on Twitter for over a year as of writing this. Over that time I've seen his Twitter following grow by thousands of followers! Watching this amazing growth and following Joel's tweets I've realized he definitely knows Twitter inside and out. I'm glad he's finally released all his knowledge and tips into book format. Just in the the first few chapters Twitter Power covers the basics and potential mistakes I see SO MANY people making with Twitter. It then goes on to cover many other helpful aspects such as how to use Twitter to build your brand, getting help, building a team, applications you can use with Twitter, and more. I highly recommend reading Twitter power for anyone that uses Twitter and wants to get the most out of it. Miles Baker www.twitter.com/milesbaker www.MarketingWithMiles.com