3 things you should read, and one you shouldn’t.
1) Yes Is More
a book by Bjarke Ingels Group (2010)
Why you should read it: You get a step-by-step view into the creative process of one of the worlds foremost thinkers.
Yes Is More is an “archicomic” created by the visionary architect, Bjarke Ingels. You may have seen his Ted talk on the same topic. (If you are feeling lazy, and want the Coles Notes version, just watch that.)
The book expands on those stories and profiles over 40 of BIG’s architectural projects, walking you through the process of revisions, edits and the thinking behind the why.Yes Is More is a manifesto on the creative process, and is filled with insights like this “We as architects respond to accidental challenges through opportunistic improvisation, mutation, and migration of ideas. Often the story we tell after is a product of post-rationalization or hindsight”
2) Where Are People on Facebook?
an article by @baekdal (2011)
Why you should read it: Data based insights into how to make a successful Facebook page.
As I tweeted last week, this article is a must read for anyone involved in managing a Facebook page. The primary sources of the article are two recent whitepapers that hone in on the actual behaviours of Facebook users. If your interested in the data, here are the two studies: Comscore and PageLever
The article is particularly valuable, because it validates many of my assumptions about user behavior on Facebook in relation to brands.
These three specifically:
- Invest in content, not in page tabs. People spend a majority of their time cruising the newsfeed, not individual brand pages. Specifically, 48% of the time is spent on News feeds or on other people’s profiles, while only 10% is spent in Facebook apps
- While likes are great, they also have a reverse impact on impression levels. “As a page grows, pageviews drop 12x faster than impressions.”
- Engagement rates needs to be vetted through the number of unique impressions to get an accurate rate.
“If you have 5,000 fans, and you post something that generates 40 comments, you have an engagement rate of 0.8%. But if you compare the 5,000 fans to the number of unique impressions (9.38%), and then compare that to your engagement, you end up with an engagement rate of 8.5% (*out of the people who see it that day*).”
3) Positioning: How to Be Seen in a Crowded Marketplace
a book by Al Reis and Jack Trout (1981)
Why you should read it: Its always good to be reminded how important positioning is to any brand.
Deemed a marketing and adverting “classic”, Positioning is a short book based of a string of successful articles penned by the authors in the early ’80s in Advertising Age. Consisting primarily of case studies, the book walks through how to properly position a product. For example, at one time, Lowenbrau was the most popular German beer sold in the United States, but Beck’s established a unique competitive “position” by creating the slogan “You’ve tasted the German beer that’s the most popular in America. Now, taste the German beer that’s the most popular in Germany.”
4) The King Of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising
a book by Kenneth Roman (2009)
Why you shouldn’t read it: While Ogilvy was a tremendous ad man, responsible for some amazing advertising, the book focuses mainly on the man himself, who was a less than inspiring figure.
I have always been more of a Bill Bernbach fan (and not only because his name is on the building of where I work) But of course, Ogilvy was a tour de force during the golden age of advertising as well, and his work speaks for itself. I was hoping to get insights into the mind of the Ogilvy, and perhaps some old war stories of the time. This book falls short however, glossing over elements that would have given the reader more insight into why Ogilvy was successful, and instead drilling into the more mundane elements of the his story. Don’t waste your time- I found Ogilvy on Advertising to a much better crafted book, which make sense, as it was written by the man himself.
