I’ve been reading Socialized by Mark Fidelman over the past week. You can see my first review here. One of the things I like best about the book is it’s prescriptive. Unlike other books on social that spend page after page, pontificiationg on the greatness of social, Mark get’s down to the tactics.  He lays out what you need to do to make social work for your organization.

If you’re still not sold on social for business, and sales in particular, there is nothing I can say in the here and now to help you. But, for those of you who haven’t embraced social for business yet, but are considering it, get Mark’s book it will help you make the transition.

Like most things, the challenge of getting it done is the most daunting. Mark makes the challenge a little easier. In particular he does a good job of breaking down the seven people or roles you need to fill to build a social business: The Champion, The Executive Sponsor, The Devils Advocate, The Executor, The Quant, The Social Butterfly, The Community Manager,

I can see without these roles, it would be very difficult to successfully make the transition. In the book Mark provides great clarity for these roles in successfully transforming to a social business.

Socialize sums up the lack of social adoption well,

. . . one of the main barriers to achieving a successful social transformation — 77 percent of the time — was lack of skills, culture, and technology.

Socialize addresses these issues and lowers the barrier. It’s good stuff