The new edition of the bestselling book for real estate agents, loan officers, SaaS and small businesses. In this revision, The Conversion Code: A Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing and Sales that Will Grow Your Business Faster, Second Edition, digital marketing and lead conversion expert Chris Smith delivers the ultimate exploration of the marketing and advertising tactics that are successfully generating higher quality leads that are easier for salespeople to convert. Smith researches and tests the latest and most popular platforms, including TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, while also studying the most effective sales techniques, tools, and scripts. In this book, you'll learn to: Increase your lead conversion rate, reduce your cost per lead and improve your overall ROI from marketing and sales Generate an endless supply of high-quality leads from social media that are easy to convert into closed sales Stop chasing leads and start attracting clients with amazing marketing and clever ads Adapt to the consumer privacy changes that have made targeting ads and getting leads to answer the phone harder than ever Differentiate your brand in a way that positions you as the authority and gets people contacting you who are already sold An invaluable reference and easy to follow guide for real estate agents, loan officers, SaaS and small businessescompeting in the hyper-competitive online environment. The Conversion Code, Second Edition, is also a fantastic resource for sales leaders, marketing managers, business owners and anyone else with a team who is responsible for growing revenue.

Affiliate marketing is hot; here's how to get your program going

Nearly every retailer in the Internet Retailers' Top 500 has an affiliate marketing program. Now free affiliate networks, automation software, and pay-for-performance compensation models are making it easy for small businesses to take advantage of this marketing tool. In the popular "An Hour a Day" format, this guide features a detailed, real-world, task-based approach to developing, launching, and managing a successful affiliate marketing program. It explores market research, determining payment models and reporting guidelines, recruiting affiliates, crafting appropriate communications, and much more.Affiliate marketing programs help boost marketing efforts without incurring excessive costs; this "Hour a Day" guide provides everything merchants, business owners, and those charged with managing an affiliate program need to knowOffers a modern, real-world, step-by-step guide to researching, launching, managing, and optimizing a successful affiliate marketing programCovers social media; creating policies; working with feeds, coupons, widgets, and video; creating compelling content; handling partners who are not meeting goals; and much more

"Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day" is the do-it-yourself guide to planning and maintaining a successful affiliate program.

There has been growing interest on business models among academics and practitioners in recent years, as business model describes how an organization creates, distributes and captures value and, therefore, can be considered the DNA of the organization. Recently, factors related to digital transformation, the vital role of sustainability and social aspects, along with an increasing globalization, have pushed towards radical transformations in business models. This book aims to further our knowledge on business model innovation in new contexts of analysis and with new perspectives of investigation. Insights from business model innovation are presented from studies focusing on start-ups, small businesses and large businesses to provide a bigger picture on new dynamics connected to digital transformation, sustainability, new global relationships. As such, the scope is on new ways to create value, new components and dynamics (such as digitalization and sustainability) concerning the key elements of the business model (value creation, value configuration and value capture), and new relationships between actors that may foster business model innovation. It represents a valuable resource for practitioners willing to innovate business models, academics aiming at finding new research lines, and students keen to learn more about business models.

The future of work is already here. Customers are adopting disruptive technologies faster than your company can adapt. When your customers are delighted, they can amplify your message in ways that were never before possible. But when your company's performance runs short of what you've promised, customers can seize control of your brand message, spreading their disappointment and frustration faster than you can keep up. To keep pace with today's connected customers, your company must become a connected company. That means deeply engaging with workers, partners, and customers, changing how work is done, how you measure success, and how performance is rewarded. It requires a new way of thinking about your company: less like a machine to be controlled, and more like a complex, dynamic system that can learn and adapt over time. Connected companies have the advantage, because they learn and move faster than their competitors. While others work in isolation, they link into rich networks of possibility and expand their influence. Connected companies around the world are aggressively acquiring customers and disrupting the competition. In The Connected Company, we examine what they're doing, how they're doing it, and why it works. And we show you how your company can use the same principles to adapt - and thrive - in today's ever-changing global marketplace.

Add Facebook to your marketing plan--and watch your sales grow With 2 billion monthly active users across the world, Facebook has evolved into a community of consumers, creating a primary resource for marketers. This presents a demand for knowledge about how to strategically plan, execute, and analyze a successful Facebook marketing campaign. Now, the trusted Facebook Marketing For Dummies has been fully updated to cover the newest tools and features important to marketers and Facebook page owners. If you're a marketer looking to effectively add Facebook to your overall marketing mix, consider this book the mecca of Facebook marketing. Inside, you'll discover the psychology of the Facebook user, establish a social media presence, increase your brand awareness, integrate Facebook marketing with other marketing strategies, learn to target a specific audience, and much more. Develop a desirable community Sell products and services Use Facebook events to drive sales Get new business tips and avoid common mistakes Whether you're a novice or a pro, you're no stranger to the power of Facebook. And this book makes Facebook marketing that much more exciting and easy!

From a long-time Alibaba executive and friend of Jack Ma, this is first book to articulate how Alibaba's unique culture and "tai chi" management principles are providing a business and economic development model for the rest of the world.If you took the economic might of Amazon, and added the penetration of Facebook, the ubiquity of Google, and the cultural significance of YouTube, you might have something starting to resemble Alibaba. Commonly mischaracterized as a kind of Chinese eBay for businesses, Alibaba and its interlinked network of products and services have exploded into global markets, disrupting conventional businesses and creating previously unimaginable opportunities for millions of small businesses worldwide. This book reveals the Tao of Alibaba-the company's "secret sauce"-a consciously cultivated ethos and spirit that has enabled Alibaba to weather tough times (including its recent setbacks with the Chinese government) and persist toward a common mission. It is a blueprint of the company's management philosophy, crystalized into the most important elements that have driven its success, and it provides a road map for how to incorporate these principles into any organization's operations. Wong distills his 20 years of experience inside the company to show readers how to align their organization's capabilities with performance-maximizing tools in order to achieve success. But most importantly, the Tao of Alibaba teaches the pursuit of greater purpose and meaning, steering entrepreneurs to view their ventures as a vehicle for having profound and lasting impacts on their communities. Ultimately, the lessons shared in The Tao of Alibaba will serve as timeless tools for any entrepreneur seeking to configure their organization toward purpose and impact.

When managers and marketers outline their social media strategies, they often plan for the right hook-their next highly anticipated sale or campaign that's going to put the competition out for the count. Even companies committed to jabbing-patiently engaging with customers to build the relationships so crucial to successful social media campaigns-still yearn to land the powerful, bruising swing that will knock out their opponent or their customer's resistance in one tooth-spritzing, killer blow. Right hooks, after all, convert traffic to sales. They easily show results and ROI. Except when they don't. In the same passionate, street-wise style readers have come to expect, Gary Vaynerchuk is on a mission to improve marketers' right hooks by changing the way they fight to make their customers happy, and ultimately to compete. Thanks to the massive change and proliferation in social media platforms in the last four years, the winning combination of jabs and right hooks is different now. Communication is still key, but context matters more than ever. It's not just about developing high-quality content, but developing high-quality content perfectly adapted to specific social media platforms and mobile devices-content tailor-made for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr. A mash-up of the best elements of Crush It! and The Thank You Economy with a 2013 spin, here is a blueprint to social media marketing strategies that really works.

Search Engine Optimization and Marketing: A Recipe for Success in Digital Marketing analyzes the web traffic for online promotion that includes search engine optimization and search engine marketing. After careful analysis of the nuances of the semantic web, of search engine optimization (SEO), and its practical set up, readers can put their best foot forward for SEO setup, link-building for SERP establishment, various methods with requisite algorithms, and programming codes with process inferences. The book offers comprehensive coverage of essential topics, including: * The concept of SEM and SEO * The mechanism of crawler program concepts of keywords * Keyword generation tools * Page ranking mechanism and indexing * Concepts of title, meta, alt tags * Concepts of PPC/PPM/CTR * SEO/SEM strategies * Anchor text and setting up * Query-based search While other books are focused on the traditional explanation of digital marketing, theoretical features of SEO and SEM for keyword set up with link-building, this book focuses on the practical applications of the above-mentioned concepts for effective SERP generation. Another unique aspect of this book is its abundance of handy workarounds to set up the techniques for SEO, a topic too often neglected by other works in the field. This book is an invaluable resource for social media analytics researchers and digital marketing students.

Make the right hires every time, with an analytical approach to talent Predicting Success is a practical guide to finding the perfect member for your team. By applying the principles and tools of human analytics to the workplace, you'll avoid bad culture fits, mismatched skillsets, entitled workers, and other hiring missteps that drain the team of productivity and morale. This book provides guidance toward implementing tools like the Predictive Index(R), behavior analytics, hiring assessments, and other practical resources to build your best team and achieve the best outcomes. Written by a human analytics specialist who applies these principles daily, this book is the manager's guide to aligning people with business strategy to find the exact person your team is missing. An avalanche of research describes an evolving business landscape that will soon be populated by workers in jobs that don't fit. This is bad news for both the workers and the companies, as bad hires affect outcomes on the individual and organizational level, and can potentially hinder progress long after the situation has been rectified. Predicting Success is a guide to avoiding that by integrating analytical tools into the hiring process from the start. Hire without the worry of mismatched expectations Apply practical analytics tools to the hiring process Build the right team and avoid disconnected or dissatisfied workers Stop seeing candidates as "chances," and start seeing them as opportunities Analytics has proved to be integral in the finance, tech, marketing, and banking industries, but when applied to talent acquisition, it can build the team that takes the company to the next level. If the future will be full of unhappy workers in underperforming companies, getting out from under that weight ahead of time would confer a major advantage. Predicting Success provides evidence-based strategies that help you find precisely the talent you need.

The goal of this book is to gain a clear picture of the current status and future challenges with regard to the digitalization of the supply chain - from the perspective of the suppliers, the manufacturers, and the customers. They were the target groups of the book. Digitization has touched upon all aspects of businesses, including supply chains. Technologies such as RFID, GPS, and sensors have enabled organizations to transform their existing hybrid (combination of paper-based and IT-supported processes) supply chain structures into more f lexible, open, agile, and collaborative digital models. Unlike hybrid supply chain models, which have resulted in rigid organizational structures, unobtainable data, and disjointed relationships with partners, digital supply chains enable business process automation, organizational flexibility, and digital management of corporate assets. In order to reap maximum benefits from digital supply chain models, it is important that companies internalize it as an integral part of the overall business model and organizational structure. Localized disconnected projects and silo-based operations pose a serious threat to competitiveness in an increasingly digital world. The technologies discussed in this text - artificial intelligence, 3D printing, Internet of things, etc. - are beginning to come together to help digitize, automate, integrate, and improve the global supply chains. It's certainly an exciting and challenging time for both new supply chain professionals and long-time supply chain professionals.

The internet of things (IoT) has the potential to change how we live and work. It represents the next evolution of the computing revolution and will see the embedding of information and communication technologies within machines at home and in the workplace and across a broad range of industrial processes. The effect will be a radical restructuring of industries and business models driven by massive flows of data providing new insights into how the man-made and natural worlds work. The Internet of Things & Business explores the business models emerging from the IoT and considers the challenges as well as the opportunities they pose to businesses around the world. Via real examples and a range of international case studies, the reader will develop an understanding of how this technology revolution will impact on the business world as well as on broader society.

Discover the updated edition of the go-to guide for rapidly scaling your social media platform. More than 60 billion online messages are sent on digital platforms every day, and only a select few succeed in the mad scramble for customer attention. This means that the question for anyone who wants to gain mass exposure for their transformative content, business, or brand or connect with audiences around the globe is no longer if they should use social media but how to best take advantage of the numerous different platforms and beat the algorithms. How can you make a significant impact in the digital world and stand out among all the noise? Digital strategist and "growth hacker" Brendan Kane has the answer and will show you how-in 30 days or less. A wizard of the social media sphere, Kane has built online platforms for A-listers including Taylor Swift and Rihanna. He's advised brands such as MTV, Skechers, Vice, and IKEA on how to establish and grow their digital audience and engagement. Kane has spent his career discovering the best tools to turn any no-name into a top influencer simply by speaking into a camera or publishing a popular blog-and now he'll share his secrets to success with you. In this revised and expanded edition of One Million Followers, Kane will teach you how to gain an authentic, dedicated, and diverse online following from scratch; create personal, unique, and valuable content that will engage your core audience; and build a multi-media brand through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Plus, Kane now shares his favorite tips for lead generation, e-commerce, direct response marketing, and how to skyrocket your revenue. Featuring in-depth interviews with celebrities, influencers, and marketing experts, including: * Chris Barton, cofounder and board director of Shazam and former head of Android business development for Google * Ray Chan, CEO and cofounder of 9GAG * Julius Dein, internet personality and magician with nearly 16 million Facebook followers * Mike Jurkovac, Emmy Award-winner and creative director of will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas * Phil Ranta, former COO of Studio71 and VP of network at Fullscreen * Eamonn Carey, managing director at Techstars London * Jonathan Skogmo, founder and CEO of Jukin Media, Inc. * Jon Jashni, founder of Raintree Ventures and former president and chief creative officer of Legendary Entertainment One Million Followers is the ultimate guide to building your worldwide brand and unlocking all the benefits social media has to offer. It's time to stop being a follower and start being a leader.

Praise for EMAIL MARKETING by the NUM8ERS

"At last--a book that marketers can use to gain real respect from CFOs and CEOs who care about the bottom line. Baggott, author of the award-winning blog 'Email Marketing Best Practices, ' clearly explains how to make your campaigns perform measurably better. The secret's in your test results."
-- Anne Holland, President, MarketingSherpa

"Despite its proven power, email marketing receives a fraction of the attention given to other, fancier media. This week you'll probably hear far more about mobile videocasting (or some such fashion) than you will about email marketing. You can help correct this imbalance by reading this book."
-- Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Group, London, UK

"Baggott's wonderful new direct marketing book is loaded with practical advice and recommendations from some of the best minds in the industry. Email Marketing by the Numbers should be read by everyone in the industry who wants to profit from acquiring and retaining customers."
-- Arthur Middleton Hughes, Vice President/Solutions Architect, Knowledge Base Marketing, and author of Strategic Database Marketing

"Amidst the confusion and changing landscape of the Web, Baggott is one of the clear thinkers who can cut through the hype and help you understand how to drive revenues through the use of marketing technology."
-- Scott Burkey, Business Development Executive, Definition 6

"Baggott is the ultimate Web 2.0 entrepreneur who takes Email 2.0 to a new level. In Email Marketing by the Numbers, he gives marketers instructions for creating one-to-one conversations with prospects and customers. This book should be on the desk of everymarketer in every company, big or small."
-- Scott Maxwell, founder, OpenView Venture Partners

This book provides a practical guide to digital supply chain modelling, demonstrating an agile approach to how such models can be applied to any manufacturing company to build competitive advantage, facilitate new business models and drive towards Industry 4.0. The agile approach of the book provides an attractive alternative to the conventional country-by-country deployment of S/4 HANA and other relevant technologies. This book contains the expertise Gotz G. Wehberg has amassed over 20 years as a senior partner in a leading consulting company, working across industries and with globally recognized clients, advising on digitization. In it, he explains the scientific roots of digital supply chain management such as holism, cybernetics, self-organization and evolutionary theory to inform a deep understanding that can drive a supremely innovative strategy for Industry 4.0. Beyond strategy, Wehberg introduces the practical tools and technologies used in supply chain modelling, for example, sensors, big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, as well as a reference framework that categorizes the technologies, together with the latest concepts and tools, such as DDMRP, predictive S&OP, pattern recognition, autonomous logistics and Lean. This framework supports decision making for developing supply chains in an end-to-end and cross-functional fashion, providing clear guidance for executives and managers on how to design supply chains for the future.

Big Data Analytics in the Insurance Market is an industry-specific guide to creating operational effectiveness, managing risk, improving financials, and retaining customers. This book will be a 'must' for people seeking to broaden their knowledge of big data concepts and their real-world applications, particularly in the field of insurance. The insurance industry is largely dependent on data, and the advent of Big Data and analytics represents a major advance with tremendous potential. Yet clear, practical advice on the business side of analytics is lacking. This book fills the void with concrete information on using Big Data in the context of day-to-day insurance operations and strategy. This book an invaluable resource for any insurance professional from practitioners and policymakers working at insurance companies, to undergraduate and graduate students of economics management, and finance. Providing high quality academic research, ESFIRM provides a platform for authors to explore, analyse and discuss current and new financial models and theories, and engage with innovative research on an international scale.

Based on Donald Miller's bestselling book?Building a StoryBrand, Claire Diaz-Ortiz applies the seven principles of the StoryBrand Framework to help you build an effective, long-lasting social media plan for your brand. Most business owners are blindly guessing at their social media strategy, and it's costing them time and money. This book teaches you how to incorporate the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework into their social media channels to increase engagement and see better results. In Social Media Success for Every Brand, you will understand exactly what they need to do with their social media to drive growth to their organization through the practical guidance of the five-point SHARE model: Story How Audience Reach Excellence Social Media Success for Every Brand does not require you to be familiar with?Building a StoryBrand,?but provides enough foundation to prepare you for practical success with their social media content. Together with the StoryBrand Framework, Claire's SHARE model will help boost customer engagement and grow the organization's brand awareness and revenues.

Effective Training & Development is essential if you are to continuously get the best from your people and extend the knowledge shelf--life of your company. This module explores the vast array of options available to the HR function including on--the--job learning, formal management education, coaching and mentoring. Cost--effectiveness and measurable payback are also dealt with as cornerstones of any training and development activity.

The convergence of knowledge, technology, and human performance which comprises today's enterprise allows creative business process design. Thus, an organization can create new and innovative ways to service customers or to do business with suppliers and make itself a leader in its field. This capability relies on a successful strategy that integrates the enterprise. Enterprise Systems Integration, Second Edition continues to provide you with the business insight and the technical know-how that ensures successful systems integration. The book combines the perspectives, knowledge, and experience of more than 70 experts in the various areas that involve enterprise integration. Their expertise ranges from hands-on experience with technology and project management to the higher-level issues of business and management strategy. Each chapter examines an issue or technology relevant to today's enterprise. Collectively, these chapters span the range of enterprise computing and systems integration. Once armed with the strategy and technologies, you must successfully deploy ERP systems within budget and on time. In addition, you must be able to integrate them into the rest of the enterprise. Still, ERP software does not make up the full picture of today's enterprise. Legacy systems, e-commerce and other Web-based systems, client/server applications, networks and communications systems, data warehousing, and integrated databases enter into the mix. Enterprise Systems Integration, Second Edition paints a comprehensive picture of the technologies that comprise today's enterprise and shows you how to make them work together.

Understand how to reach and engage with the modern buyer using this bestseller. Social Selling outlines how to implement a social selling strategy and drive revenue, competitive advantage and market share through social networks. Social Selling is a practical, step-by-step blueprint on how to create digital communities and build and turn relationships into sales online. Featuring checklists, tips and examples providing practical guidance, it covers important subjects such as how to network purposely and build social media trust in a mistrustful time and how to develop real influence and authority in your subject area. Now newly revised, the second edition of Social Selling captures the latest changes and developments in the industry. It will be accompanied by a new introductory chapter, two new chapters on defining digital businesses and the future of sales and marketing, alongside new case studies by leading industry experts. Written by a thought-leader and renowned practitioner in social selling, Timothy Hughes, this book is essential reading for sales professionals, digital sales directors and social media executives who want to embrace the power of social selling in their organization.

Everyone knows that social media is free, millennials are all adept social media experts, that businesses always have to be available 24/7 and ultimately none of it really matters, as the digital space is full of fake news and online messaging is seen as inauthentic. Don't they? The use of social media as a business tool is dominated by falsehoods, fictions and fabrications. In Myths of Social Media, digital consultant Michelle Carvill and workplace psychologist Ian MacRae dismiss many of the most keenly-held misconceptions and instead, present the reality of social media best practice. Using helpful and instructive, sometimes entertaining and occasionally eye-watering examples of what you should and should not do, Myths of Social Media debunks the most commonly held myths and shows you how to use social media effectively for work and at work. About the Business Myths series... The Business Myths series tackles the falsehoods that pervade the business world. From leadership and management to social media, strategy and the workplace, these accessible books overturn out-of-date assumptions, skewer stereotypes and put oft-repeated slogans to the test. Entertaining and rigorously researched, these books will equip you with the insight and no-nonsense wisdom you need to succeed.

The Business of Innovating Online responds to a critical need for concrete narratives of innovation success that can serve as a foundation for administrators and leaders who are in need of practical guidance as they scale and grow their online learning organizations. Through specific examples and practical suggestions from experienced e-learning leaders, readers will be introduced to concrete strategies for how to create a climate of creativity and innovation that can lead to more successful and scalable online programs and initiatives. The Business of Innovating Online demystifies the relationship between business, creativity, and innovation by describing the logistics required to create an agile online education enterprise. Topics discussed will include: Defining innovation and creativity for online education and e-learning Knowing when and how to innovate Creating a culture of innovation Effectively leading innovation Collaborative innovation Making innovation stick and transitioning innovative strategies into day-to-day practice Assuring quality in the midst of innovation Staffing structures/administrative stability to support creativity and innovation The Business of Innovating Online provides both novice and experienced online education administrators with a comprehensive overview of a range of online innovations, how they came to be created, the components that led to their success, and concrete steps that they can take to create a more innovative culture for their own e-learning organization.

USA Today Bestseller In his sixth business book, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and investor Gary Vaynerchuk explores the twelve essential emotional skills that are integral to his life-and business-success and provides today's (and tomorrow's) leaders with critical tools to acquire and develop these traits. For decades, leaders have relied on "hard" skills to make smart decisions, while dismissing the importance of emotional intelligence. Soft skills like self-awareness and curiosity aren't quantifiable; they can't be measured on a spreadsheet and aren't taught in B-schools or emphasized in institutions. We've been taught that emotional intelligence is a "nice to have" in business, not a requirement. But soft skills can actually accelerate business success, Gary Vaynerchuk argues. For analytical minds, it's challenging to understand how to get "better" at being self-aware, curious, or empathetic-or even why it's important to try. In this wise and practical book, Gary explores the 12 human ingredients that have led to his success and happiness and provides exercises to help you develop these traits yourself. He also shares what the "half" is-that emotional ingredient of leadership he's weakest at and makes the most effort to improve. Working through the ideas and exercises in the book, he teaches you how to discover your own "halves" and offers insight on how to strengthen them. Gary's secret to success is using these twelve traits in varying mixtures, depending on the situation. But how do we know when to balance patience with ambition? Humility with conviction? Gary provides real-life examples involving common business scenarios to show you how to use them together for optimum results. This iconoclastic book will help you refine your ingredients and improve your leadership capabilities. When implemented in the proper situation, these ingredients can help leaders land promotions, retain core employees, move faster than competitors, win the loyalty of customers, and build successful organizations that last.

Emerging technologies are having a profound impact upon business as individuals and organisations increasingly embrace the benefits of the 'always on' attitude that digital technologies produce. The use of the web, apps, cloud storage, GPS and Internet-connected devices has transformed the way we live, learn, play and interact - yet how a business can fully benefit from this transformation is not always clear. In response, this book enables students and business leaders to take a strategic and sustainable approach to realising the value of digital technologies. It offers results-driven solutions that successfully transform organisations into data-driven, people-focused businesses capable of sustainably competing at a global level. Split across four key parts, the material moves through understanding digital business to planning, implementing and assessing digital transformation. The current challenges facing all small organisations, including limited resources, financial pressures and the lack of dedicated IT departments, are explored. The authors consider the ways in which innovation can increase competitive advantage, how innovative business models can create new opportunities and how a data-driven perspective can release embedded value within the organisation. Contemporary international case studies and examples throughout each chapter bridge theory with practical application and systematically document the patterns of activities that enable success. This textbook is a vital resource for postgraduate and undergraduate students of digital business, innovation and transformation. By showing how to initiate digital transformation across an organisation, it will prepare business owners, directors and management of small- and medium-sized businesses to take strategic advantage of new and emerging technologies to stay ahead of their competition.

In Blockchain Regulation and Governance in Europe, Michele Finck examines the relationship between blockchain technology and EU law and introduces the theme of blockchain governance. The book provides a general introduction to blockchains as both a regulatable and a regulatory technology and outlines the interaction between distributed ledger technology and specific areas of EU law, such as the General Data Protection Regulation. It should be read by anyone interested in EU law, the relationship between law, innovation and technology, and technology governance.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK 2022* *A TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEARS 2022* 'A fascinating study of the tech giant and its symbiotic relationship with the Chinese government' - Guardian 'Influence Empire by Lulu Yilun Chen is so much more than the long-awaited story of Tencent and its vital everything app, WeChat, the messaging tool used by 1.3 billion people. It's also the sobering account of an entire generation of high-flying Chinese tech entrepreneurs, whose wings were clipped by the omnipotent hand of their own government.' -- Brad Stone, author of Amazon Unbound and The Everything Store ORDER NOW: the first definitive look at Tencent, one of the world's largest tech companies. __________ In 2017, a company known as Tencent overtook Facebook to become the world's fifth largest company. It was a watershed moment, a wake-up call for those in the West accustomed to regarding the global tech industry through the prism of Silicon Valley: Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft. Yet to many of the two billion-plus people who live just across the Pacific Ocean, it came as no surprise at all. Founded by the enigmatic billionaire Pony Ma, the firm that began life as a simple text-message operator invested in and created some of China's most iconic games en route to dreaming up WeChat - the Swiss Army knife super-app that combines messaging, shopping and entertainment. Through billions of dollars of global investments in marquee names from Fortnite to Tesla and a horde of start-ups, Ma's company went on to build a near-unparalleled empire of influence. In this fascinating narrative - crammed with insider interviews and exclusive details - Lulu Chen tells the story of how Tencent created the golden era of Chinese technology, and delves into key battles involving Didi, Meituan and Alibaba. It's a chronicle of critical junctures and asks just what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in China. __________ 'There's so much fascinating detail here.' -- The Times 'Lulu Yilun Chen has written a sharply informed, smart and compelling account of the rise of some of the most powerful companies in China, which also stand among the biggest and richest tech giants in the world. Despite their enormous size and power, few outside of China know of or understand these companies. Now, thanks to Influence Empire: Inside the Story of Tencent and China's Tech Ambition, that will finally change.' -- Howard French, former NY Times Shanghai bureau chief and author of Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power 'A book that tells Tencent's story has been long overdue, and Lulu Chen's account is not only comprehensive, but also a gripping business narrative. The globally influential company finally has the account it deserves.' -- David Barboza, The Wire