People, process, data…and most importantly a real focus on data. In Trendology, Chris Kerns does an excellent job covering the phenomenon of Real-Time Marketing on Twitter based on his study of over 100 brands and 250,000 Tweets. He defines what Real-Time Marketing is and gives a foundation on how to define success in the space.
On a tactical level he dedicates chapters to Real-Time Marketing around large, well know events (e.g. The Oscars) as well as unknown events (e.g. breaking news or celebrity stories) and daily trends on Twitter.
The later part of the book focuses on people, strategy and process and provides valuable insight on what needs to get done and the type of people you need to do it. Mr. Kerns is very aware of the challenges organization face in terms of budgets and staffing and incorporates that into his writing.
In my opinion the most important part of the book is the coverage of data. Not only is the use of data covered implicitly, it is a reoccurring theme that threads itself throughout the book. This is crucial to successful marketing and Chris Kerns nails it here.
While I give this book a five start rating there is one piece of constructive criticism I would like to share. The conversational style of the book is not fully suited for a business book of this length (226 pages plus forward). Near the end of the work, fatigue did set in and found myself asking ‘when will he get to the point’? Slightly less “conversation” may have alleviate this in his next book; which I am sure will be on my reading list.