"As a major voice in the travel space, I'm no stranger to poor customer service--and how to fix it. Peter has proven multiple times that it's the little things you do before the meltdown occurs that will save your company. I encourage anyone working with clients or customers to read this book--multiple times!" --Christopher Elliott Consumer advocate Ombudsman National Geographic Traveler "I've always said the three most important things in business are customer service, customer service, and customer service. Now I'll add a fourth--read this book!" --Dayna Steele Speaker, business consultant, and author of Rock to the Top:What I Learned about Success from the World's Greatest Rock Stars "There is no question that customer service and, even more, customer perception can make or break your business. I am glad that social media uber-guru Peter Shankman has finally deigned to share his secrets with the rest of us. This book belongs in every businessperson's library. It's in mine!" --Charles Justiz Retired NASA pilot and author of Specific Impulse "Peter's a buzzsaw of ideas. The big risk is that your head will explode before you implement this all. The beauty of a book is that you can read it slowly. Peter's mind moves so fast that, were you to receive these ideas in person, you couldn't possibly write fast enough to keep up." --Chris Brogan President, Human Business Works, and publisher chrisbrogan.com "Peter Shankman gets his kicks jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. As it turns out, that avocation may be an apt analogy for the world of social media. It is rising up to meet you--fast--and if you don't pull the 'tweet' chord in time, you are destined to crater. Shankman offers a compelling, engaging, humorous checklist of do's and don'ts for those who are still in a freefall--a bit dazed--wondering what happened to all the tried-and-true rules of advertising, marketing, and PR. Shankman knows the answer, and he can barely contain his enthusiasm in sharing his insights. He is a leading social networking evangelizer--that is why so many blue-chip companies seek him out. And that is why I selected him to be on the NASA Advisory Council Education and Public Outreach Committee. His advice is not rocket science, but it isn't always what you might predict. As skydivers like to say, you'll be fine so long as you don't do anything stupid. Read this book and you will know how to be smart--in 140 characters or less!" --Miles O'Brien formerly of CNN "I'll give you my favorite piece of advice from Peter right here: don't have a goal of making something viral. Make it good, and it will go viral. Peter shares my belief: don't treat your customers well after something has gone wrong. Treat them well at every interaction." --Franco Bianchi President & CEO Haworth, Inc.

Peter Shankman--PR Week Magazine has described Peter as "redefining the art of networking," and Investor's Business Daily has called him "crazy, but effective." Peter Shankman is a spectacular example of what happens when you harness the power of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and make it work to your advantage. An entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about social media, PR, marketing, advertising, creativity, and customer service. Peter is perhaps best known for founding Help A Reporter Out (HARO), which in under a year has become the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 125,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media. HARO is currently the largest free source repository in the world, sending out over 1,500 queries from worldwide media each week. HARO's tagline, "Everyone Is an Expert at Something," proves over and over again to be true, as thousands of new members join at helpareporter.com each week. In addition to HARO, Peter is the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique social media and marketing strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide. His blog (www.shankman.com), which he launched as a website in 1995, both comments on and generates news and conversation. Peter's PR and social media clients have included the Snapple Beverage Group, NASA, The U.S. Department of Defense, Walt Disney World, The Ad Council, American Express, Discovery Networks, New Frontier Media, Napster, Juno, Dream Catcher Destinations Club, Harrah's Hotels, and many others. In addition, he sits on the board of the Scott-e-Vest, the world's first technologically enabled clothing line. Peter is the author of Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them (Wiley and Sons 2006) and is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences and tradeshows worldwide, including The Public Relations Society of America, The International Association of Business Communicators, CTIA, CTAM, CES, PMA, OMMA, Mobile Marketing Asia, and the Direct Marketing Association. A marketing pundit for several national and international news channels, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, Peter is frequently quoted in major media and trade publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York DailyNews, Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, and USA Today. Peter started his career in Vienna, Virginia, with America Online as a senior news editor. He helped found the AOL Newsroom and spearheaded coverage of the Democratic and Republican 1996 conventions, which marked the first time an online news service covered any major political event. Born and raised in New York City, Peter still lives there with his two psychotic cats, Karma and NASA, who consistently deny his repeated requests to relinquish the couch. In the few hours of spare time Peter has per month, he's a frequent runner, with 13 completed marathons and countless triathlons to his credit, and is a "B" licensed skydiver, specializing in free-flying.

Introduction 1 1 Putting Together a Social Media Team 11 Meet Your Team 12 The Customer Service People 13 The PR Person 13 The High-Level Exec 14 The Marketing Guys 15 The Guy from Accounting Who Has a Facebook Page 15 The Flip Side: Meet Your Audience 16 The One-time Complainer 16 The Constant Complainer 16 The Axe-to-Grind 17 The Happy Customer 17 The Prima Donna 17 End result 17 2 Examples of When It Doesn't Work (and What Happens) 19 Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst 24 Always Be Aware--It's the Thing You Don't Think of that Can Kill You 25 Trust Your Instincts 27 Cooler Heads Prevail 28 Doing Something Is Better Than Doing Nothing 31 Your Audience Is Smarter Than You Are 33 Never Deceive Your Audience 34 3 Before the Explosion: Winning Your Customer 37 Before the Customer Is Even a Customer 38 Driving Revenue 39 Find Out Where Your Customers Are 39 Pay Attention 41 Devise a Plan to Reach Your Customers 44 Case Studies 49 Solematescom 49 HARO 50 4 Customer Service Is a Way of Life 53 Self-Promotion Versus Helping 59 Case Study: Bravo! Italian Restaurant and Bar 61 Case Study: Risdall Integration Group 61 Case Study: Law Offices of Daniel R Rosen, PC 62 Background 62 A New Approach 63 From Invisible to the First Page 63 Case Study: Grasshopper 63 Case Study: Peter Kuhn's Food Truck 65 Case Study: Inclind, Inc 66 Case Study: Which Wich Superior Sandwiches 67 Summary (and a Challenge) 69 5 Social Media Damage Control: Stopping Small Problems from Becoming Big Ones 71 First Things First: Different Types of Complainers 73 Overarching Rules for Handling any Complaint 75 Handling Different Kinds of Complainers 76 The Never-Complained-Before Complainer 77 The Multi-Complainer Complainer 79 The I-Can't-Believe-He's-Complaining Complainer 80 The One-with-Photos-and-Videos-and-Multiple-Camera-Angles Complainer 84 Dealing with Complaints That Are Personal 86 The @cnnbreakingnews Complainer 90 Wrap-up 91 6 Making Customer Addicts Online: Best Practices That Work! 93 A Few Rules of the Road 95 So, How Do You Do It? 96 So You Have a Physical Presence 97 Make Them Feel Welcome 100 Make Them Feel Appreciated 103 Make Them Want to Return 105 Make Them Want to Share 107 Loyalty Codes 108 Recap 112 7 Keeping the Addiction Going 113 Ten Rules to Live By 115 You Want to Hook Your Customers 116 Poor Quality = Fewer Returning Customers 117 Yours Better Be Better 119 Breed Loyal Customers 120 Offer New Value 122 Make It Easy for the Customer 124 Refine, Refine, Refine 124 Know How Customers Want to Receive Information 126 Keep an Eye on the Competition 128 Freebies = Loyalty 131 Supply and Demand, Baby 132 Summary 133 8 Monitoring Your Successes and Failures 135 Google Tools 137 Google News Alerts 138 Google News (http://newsgooglecom) 141 Google Blogsearch 141 Twitter 141 Facebook 145 Email Marketing 148 An Example of Email Marketing Done Right 151 Finding the Time to Monitor Social Media 152 9 Putting It All Together: What Did We Learn? 157 The World of One Screen 160 Be "That Guy" 163 Saddling Up 164 Recovering from Social Media Face-plants 166 Paying It Forward Pays Off at Crisis Time 167 Learn It Know It Live It 169 Head 'em Off at the Pass 171 Creating Customers for Life 172 Thinking Like a Drug Dealer 174 The Right Tool for the Job 175 A Few Final Words 175 Index 179