Twitter? Facebook? MySpace? Foursquare? There's no question that social media is all the rage these days, but with all of the hype surrounding this new marketing channel, where's a company to begin? Well, let me offer some advice. If you're new to the idea of using social networking sites as marketing vehicles for your business and would like a little handholding on this brand new adventure, I'd highly suggest checking out this fantastic new read:
The book is titled "Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter, & Other Social Media" and it is authored by my good friend and Internet marketing maven Liana "Li" Evans. Li, for those of you who may not know her, is a true veteran in the search and social marketing industry and has experience expanding 10+ years. She's a person I personally look up to and very much respect within our industry.
I was gifted this book a couple weeks ago, and since then I have been eagerly awaiting for an opportunity to sit down and sink my teeth into it. Lucky for me, that opportunity came during this beautiful, very relaxing 3-day holiday weekend.
"Using new social media marketing techniques, you can deepen relationships with your most passionate, profitable customers - and create more of them than ever before! In this 100% practical book, world-renowned expert Li Evans shows exactly how to make the most of social media - in any company, in any industry."
I found the book to be an amazing read; one that everyone, novice or expert, should have on their bookshelf for education and reference. The book was very easy to read, just over 300 pages, and is filled with very powerful and actionable insights.
I believe readers will find great value in learning how to develop strategies and goals, to find conversations that are happening around their company, products, and services, to engage, and to define and measure success. Li's expertise is dead on.
My favorite chapter in the book came pretty early. Chapter 3, "Goals need to Be Defined", features valuable insights on ways companies can measure the success of their social marketing efforts. In my opinion, setting predefined goals and measuring success according to those goals is the most important detail when running a social marketing campaign. However, it is also the one detail that I believe is most overlooked.
In this chapter, Li does a superb job breaking down what seemed like an unlimited number of metrics a company could use to measure social media - several of which were even new to me.
Overall... I 100% endorse this book, and recommend it to anyone in, or looking to get into, the social media space. I have personally attained a few "golden nuggets" during the couple of hours I spent reading Li's book, and do plan to implement my findings into future ongoing personal and professional social media efforts.
Labels: social-media-marketing