Lean actually got its name from the best selling book, The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production– Toyota’s Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry. This management classic was the first book to reveal Toyota’s lean production system that is the basis for its enduring success. The next book on Lean, Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated by Womack and Jones, introduced five core concepts:

Specify value in the eyes of the customer

Identify the value stream and eliminate waste

Make value flow at the pull of the customer

Involve and empower employees

Continuously improve in the pursuit of perfection.

These concepts have stood the test of time and are still used as the foundation in Lean thinking through out the world. But as I review these concepts look how readily they apply to social media and marketing today. I have chosen a list of books that will reinforces these 5 core principles.

Specify value in the eyes of the customer: Social Media has brought on a wave of content marketing. As a result, we have more FREE information available instantaneously today than ever. Social Media is about supplying value to the customer. The essence of Social Media is the interaction and discussion. Book Recommendation: Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

Identify the value stream and eliminate waste: To be effective in Social Media, you have to understand your value stream and do what is important to your customers. If you try to do everything, you will be quite ineffective and realize very little results, if any. Book Recommendation: Get Content Get Customers: Turn Prospects into Buyers with Content Marketing

Make value flow at the pull of the customer: Customers find you in Social Media by your activity, not by your bombarding of messages. Book Recommendation: Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)

Involve and empower employees: Social Media is about transparency and authenticity throughout the entire organization. More people are communicating with each other at all levels of our organizations then ever before. We have no barriers. World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories

Continuously improve in the pursuit of perfection: The bar is raised for us everyday. The people that are falling behind in Social Media may not recognize the world tomorrow. Do you have to jump in and spend vast amount of time in this world. No, not at this point. However, you need to have not only your toe but a rather large portion of your foot immersed testing the waters. If you are participating in Social Media, the result of it will be continuous improvement.

Visit the Business901 website to see how you can Market with Lean!