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My latest podcast interview is with Word of Mouth Marketing Guru Ed Keller. The Influentials book he co-wrote with Jon Berry in 2003 was a key source for the Connected Marketing book I co-edited and authored, so I caught up with him to hear about the new book he’s written with his business partner Brad Fay, The Face-to-Face Book: Why Real Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace.

Unlike the plethora of books being released about Social Media Marketing, this one argues that the largest and most important part of social influence is that which happens when conversations happen in the real world, face to face. We discuss the books key themes, but also link this back to some of the key themes I’ve been exploring, such as Word Of Mouth Marketing, Influence and even Advocacy briefly. Keller and Fay are not advocating offline over online, they’re simply pointing out that 90% of word of mouth still happens offline, and these conversations are more emotive and so have a bigger impact for brands. You can read a free excerpt of their book and win a copy here.