Bridgewater, NJ – July 31, 2013 – Blue Focus Marketing is proud to announce the release of The Social Employee: How Great Companies Make Social Media Work on Friday, Aug. 23, 2013 through McGraw-Hill. The book, written by Blue Focus Marketing co-founders Cheryl Burgess and Mark Burgess, details the social business success stories of eight major companies, including IBM, AT&T, Dell, Cisco, Adobe, Southwest Airlines, Domo, and Acxiom.

In addition to these social business success stories, The Social Employee also features commentary and analysis from prominent thought leaders such as David Edelman, Dion Hinchliffe, David Armano, Mari Smith, Ann Handley, David Aaker, and Simon Mainwaring. The Social Employee explores the many challenges businesses face when designing an empowered social employee workforce. Drawing on their extensive behind-the-scenes experience working with major brands, Cheryl Burgess and Mark Burgess work to dispel many of the prominent myths surrounding social business, offering proven strategies to help employees and executives alike better navigate the new social terrain.

“Companies must harness the power of the social employee to brand from the inside out,” said Blue Focus Marketing CEO Cheryl Burgess. “Small startups and multinational giants alike have a responsibility to their employees to arm them with tools and cultural framework for success. Building a social employee culture means the company must give its employees a voice. We wrote The Social Employee as a guide to the many business professionals, executives, and employees still wondering what social business looks like in practice—and to inspire them with these dynamic templates for success!”

“If you want to understand the powerful transformations taking place in offices around the world,” said Blue Focus Marketing President Mark Burgess, “The Social Employee is like a playbook of successful social branding practices, offering a wealth of proven strategies designed to leverage the power of the modern, social-savvy worker.”

To provide readers with the clearest picture possible of the social media landscape, The Social Employee examines many pressing questions confronting businesses today, such as the role of the social executive in building a social employee culture, how social engagement strategies such as content marketing can provide much-needed exposure for brands, and why the incoming millennial generation is ideally suited to act as authentic brand ambassadors on behalf of their respective companies.

Distributed by McGraw-Hill, The Social Employee is available in both paperback and ebook editions through major retailers such as, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Books-A-Million, and Google Books.

About the Authors

Cheryl Burgess, cofounder, CEO, and CMO of Blue Focus Marketing, is an award-winning social branding marketer and speaker with expertise in B2B marketing. Burgess, who Huffington Post called a social media “Passionista,” appears regularly as an expert blogger for AT&T Business Solutions. Blue Focus Marketing won Marketing Sherpa’s 2012 Reader’s Choice Award for Best Social Media Marketing Blog. She is a member of the Wharton Advertising 2020 Contributor Community and a featured blogger at CMO.com. She is also the winner of four Twitter Shorty Awards. In 2011, she cofounded the #Nifty50 Top Men & Women on Twitter Awards. Follow her on Twitter at @ckburgess @SocialEmployee and @BlueFocus.

Mark Burgess is cofounder and president of Blue Focus Marketing, a social branding firm that helps businesses realize the power of the social employee. The firm also focuses on integrated marketing and content marketing solutions. Burgess is a digital and social branding consultant, content marketing strategist, and speaker. His career spans advertising, marketing, professional services consulting, and education. Mark is an expert blogger for AT&T Business Solutions. He is a member of the Wharton Advertising 2020 Contributor Community. Burgess has held senior level B2B and B2C positions at McCann, PwC, and AT&T. An adjunct MBA professor at leading universities, Burgess ranks in the Top 100 Marketing Professors on Twitter. Follow him on Twitter at @mnburgess @SocialEmployee and @BlueFocus.

For more information about THE SOCIAL EMPLOYEE, please visit www.bluefocusmarketing.com or contact BLUE FOCUS MARKETING at +1 908.566.3359