Read Part 1 of this review first (if you haven't yet seen it) at Groundswell - by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff - review - part 1.

One of the things that's changed in the last 30 years is that shouting doesn't work so well to get attention (page 102) and as Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff point out - once a prospect gets to the middle of the sales funnel it hardly works at all!

But that's just the point, we've changed (we have so much more input) that marketing has to also change, and I think that's what the Groundswell book is really all about.

I think the ROI of an executive's blog (table 6-1 on page 112) is a good example of how one could justify to management the creation of social media - Groundswell is full of examples like this one, where the ROI is calculated for Social Media in an reasonable way.

One of the things that impressed me about Groundswell was a paragraph on page 138 about transparency and the need to let negative comments remain posted, in most cases.  In fact, the authors cite research that 80% of all comments tend to be positive - so negative comments actually give the positive comments a validity they'd not have otherwise.

However, in order to use Groundswell effectively, you need a audience measurement service that can break down the demographics of a website and generally, that means Comscore or Nielsen - so while the book gives you a tool anyone can use, in practice, while that may be true - reality is - many won't be able to extrapolate from the web tool to their target audiences (because they don't understand the audiences well enough in the first place). 

I don't know if that's any one's fault - yet, Groundswell is probably not a book that is for everyone - it's only for people who are serious about working with social media in an intelligent way - and that's not everyone.

In fact, the author's clearly cite strategies that aren't for everyone, like Energizing, on page 148, where it's noted that energizing works well for companies with customers who are enthusiastic about the company and its products - but many products are commodities (like computer chips and paper - and are not easily made into an "energizing" message).

Groundswell also points out that building communities isn't easy (page 149) and it takes a commitment to stay in it for the long hall - that's something I can relate to in the creation of the Web Analytics Association's Social Network - WAASocial.

I was also intrigued with the idea of "psychic income" (page 161) or income people get that's not based on money but which is still highly valued - many people are motivated by good feelings they get by being altruistic and/or belonging to a community - these people might not care about the money as much as the "psychic income" of contributing to the community. 

In the same vein, on page 168 the authors let loose that Wikis are a breeding ground for influentials and open up an argument for investment in corporate wikis that hasn't really been fully explored by most corporations - the whole reason for doing a Wiki, might initially start as a group wanting to collaborate, but might end up being a way to breed experts - and I suspect, most people haven't ever considered this as the reason to do Wikis - but Groundswell makes a strong case for it on pages 168 - 173, and it's worth reading closely.

And one thing that hit home, to me, is the need for executive support and sponsorship in corporations that's not easy to come by (page 199) - where it's pointed out that whatever social strategy you employ - you better have in mind how it's going to be sold to someone in upper management (especially on the basis of Groundswell thinking) - and honestly, that's not easy to do - I know, because I've tried to do those things - and all sounds good, but when you try to sell it - not easy - and I bet it takes time and the right contacts within the organization.

However, on page 204, it's pointed out by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff that if you can get the right person responsible for content, certain projects that were stalled, could succeed, even where there's not a clear line of support from upper management.

This pretty much concludes my review of by Groundswell - I think the book by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff was pretty darn good - even if it's not perfect (as I pointed out - there are weaknesses in their approach - which is too demographic based, and not behavioral enough, in my opinion) - but if you put aside those weaknesses, Groundswell is probably one of the best books written on how to practically implement Social Media to a group, and I would buy it and read it, perhaps more than once.