The Now Revolution Book Review

A couple of disclosures: 1) The H&R Block social media team is included as an example in Jay Baer's and Amber Naslund's book The Now Revolution and 2) Amber leads Social Strategy at Radian6 which is H&R Block's online listening tool.
 
You know you are reading a breakthrough business book when industry cohorts hear you are reading it and they say something along the lines of this book:
1) Nails the issues my team is dealing with;
2) Gives me reassurance we are on the right track;
3) Brings it all together for my management; or
4) That's on my list to read.
 
Well, I heard all of these quips (with #4 being the most popular) when discussing The Now Revolution by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund with industry peers. 'Now' explains how organizations are not only making changes to accommodate real-time business but also shows us how we can weave these changes into our own processes.
 
Jay and Amber lead us through seven core business shifts with case studies, checklists, charts, best-in-class lessons learned and interactive QR codes jam-packed with yet more brain food. It's an easily digestible "read, learn, adapt, blend, repeat" book. Yep, I dig it. And for the record, this is the best use of QR codes (greatest end-user utility) I've come across to date.
 
Have you noticed I haven't said anything about social media? To me this book is not a social media book. And I for one am thrilled this isn't another social media strategy read. This is a playbook for how to operationalize your company for client-focused, real-time business.
 
One quick example, Shift Four, in Jay and Amber's book, dubbed Answering The New Telephone, helped me take a step back and realize how far our team has come in a year's time with operationalizing listening, from executive buy-in to response-ability. And, honestly, it's shed light on how much more we need to do to really integrate online brand reputation management into our listening and response processes.
 
There have been several reviews of 'Now' from folks not appearing in it, just in case you think there'a a bit too much fangirl going on with my post. Here's a few diverse 'Now' review posts:
1) Sparkplug Digital
2) PureDriven
3) The Customer Collective
4) Ask Aaron Lee

Still skeptical? Download a <i>free</i> chapter to taste test 'Now' yourself.

Ready to dive in? Go devour 'Now' and thank me with a Guinness later.

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