Take home assignment 2: Book Discussion
Socialnomics – How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live & Do Business

Part 2 of the take-home assignment also contributes 10 points or 10% of your grade. I’d like you to read chapters 11-19 of Erik Qualman’s Socialnomics. I’m looking for a write-up of 4 pages (10 point font, double spaced) with your responses to the following queries.

1) In chapter 11, the author refers to the need for businesses to ask the question, “what is the social play” of their plans and programs. What does “social play” mean. Describe briefly the strategies of a brand that you use which has a strong “social play” in your view.
2) Have you ever created a blog? As an exercise for this class, please go to the blog Tumblr and create a blog account for yourself. Also conduct a search on Tumblr for any blogs that have been written on the brand/product for which you are writing a marketing plan. List 5 things that you learnt about your product as a result of the search on Tumblr.
3) Chapter 13 lists 100+ social media tools available. Of the list provided, please pick 5, look these up and write a short blurb on each. When picking the tools, keep in mind your role as a marketer and describe how these tools could be useful to marketing professionals.
4) The author states that “only viewers make videos go viral”. However, what could you as a marketer do to maximize the chances of a video for your product to go viral?
5) List 2 videos that you have shared on a social media platform in the recent past. What were the main reasons that made you share those videos?
6) Pick 2 of the following brands, considered to be strong social brands. These are: Burberry, Four Seasons, Zappos, Starbucks and West Elm. After some research on social media sites that include (but not restricted to) Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest & Instagram, please write a couple of paragraphs on the strategies and tactics used by these brands that make them strong social brands.