Anatomy of a Buzz
Emanuel Rosen
DoubleDay, 2000 - 303 pages

I have yet to read Anatomy of a Buzz but it is sitting on my shelf and has been recommended to me by a few people.  For word of mouth advertising I have read Seth Godin’s Unleashing the IdeaVirus and Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, two books worth reading if you are a marketer.  Frankly, the previous two are where to start when you want to learn more about word of mouth and viral marketing.

The Internet industry has been enamored of buzz-based marketing ever since venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson coined the phrase "viral marketing" in 1997 to describe Hotmail's strategy of tagging every e-mail message with a promotion for its service.

Examples of “buzz marketing” provided in the book include, The Palm Pilot. The novel Cold Mountain. The iMac. Hotmail. FedEx. The Blair Witch Project, and There's Something About Mary.

The book is divided into three parts: The first looks at how buzz spreads (a small percentage of all the people do all of the connecting together of information networks); the second examines what makes for success with buzz (having things people want to talk about and encouraging that talking); and the third details how to stimulate buzz for your business (this is summarized in a workshop for you in chapter 16).

Anyone that is interested in marketing should also look into Robert Cialdini’s Influence, and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Reis and Jack Trout.

About the Author: Emanuel Rosen was Vice President of Marketing for Niles Software, the makers of EndNote.  When he sold the company he retired and then wrote this book.