Social Media Marketing

Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media
Liana “Li” Evans
Que; 1 Original edition (June 28, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0789742845
ISBN-13: 978-0789742841
360 pages
$16.49 (on Amazon)

Author Li Evans has been active in social media and search marketing for more than 10 years; who better to write a book that guides companies through social media solutions that actually work.

Divided into five sections (see below), Social Media Marketing is all about being social in the marketplace; from Twitter and Facebook to LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr. Evans shows readers how to make the most of social media, including

• • customizing your social media strategies
  • understanding the quirks of your social media audience
  • managing and executing your strategies (don’t let an intern be in charge of the program!)
  • building trust among strangers

What You’ll Learn About Social Media

Section I:  The Basics of Social Media
This is the section that sets up the rest of your strategies; know your goals, know your audience and understanding what social media can and cannot do.  Great section here on ROC (Return on Conversation) not ROI (Return on Investment).

Section II: It’s About Conversation
If you think social media is about selling, you’re forgetting the “social” part.  People don’t go on Facebook or Twitter to buy something, they go to have conversations.  Fortunately Evans saves social media newbies from making the big “let’s go sell something” mistake when they first get involved in the networks.

Section III: Social Media from the Inside Out
Here, Evans helps readers convey the value of social media to the company. It’s all about ethics, interns, consistency, transparency, trust, and defining social media policy for employees.

Section IV: It’s Not About You
Evans writes astutely about keeping your customer’s needs in front of you at all times.  I suspect she’s seen a lot of crash and burns from the “my ego is more important than your needs” crowd.  As she so wisely states “for it to work, you have to be social.”

Section V: How Social Media Fits into the Online Marketing Picture
Don’t fall so in love with social media that you forget it’s just one slice in the marketing pie.  Here, you’ll learn how to create a social media-friendly pressroom, align your offline efforts with your online, and why you really need to be on YouTube (seriously).

Summary Points

1.  If you work for a company that’s just getting started in social media, this is a must-have book.

2.  If you’ve done a little with social media, but more of a shotgun than a laser, this is a must-read book.

3. If your peeps think social media is all about sales, this is a must-read book for them.

4.  If for no other reason, buy the book to read the section on conversations.  If you don’t, you’ll be sorry.  (I’m just sayin’)

I sat in on an interesting webinar thrown by the 60-second marketer.  The presenter gave these anologies for our favorite social media marketing sites.

Facebook is like a pub, an informal place where people get together, hoist a beer and shoot the breeze.

LinkedIn is like a Tradeshow – very business-like, watch your language, dress up a little.

Twitter is the famous cocktail party, with lots going on and very high energy

YouTube is like Times Square on New Years Eve – anything goes!

MySpace is like Woodstock - populated by the young and the crazy!

LinkedIn isn’t the world’s most intuitive network, but you can do some pretty cool stuff – if you know where to look. For example, you can promote your LinkedIn profile by adding View My Profile buttons (like mine here), just by following these simple steps:

1.  Click ‘Edit My Profile’ found in the left navigation area

2.  Click ‘Edit Public Profile Settings’ in the upper right-hand corner of your profile page

3.  Click on the ‘customized buttons’ link found in your Public Profile box.

4.  Choose a logo button and copy the HTML code.

5.  Paste the code on to your blog, message board or website. When site visitors click on the button, it will take them to your profile on LinkedIn.

For the last several months I’ve realized that my LinkedIn strategy has been less than brilliant. 

Translation: It totally sucks, lacks imagination and consistency, and serves my marketing efforts about as well as a bipolar Congress does the health care crisis.

Solution: Get over to Amazon and buy How to Really Use LinkedIn, by Jan Vermeiren, with the assumption that the author (a networking expert) really knows what he’s talking about . . . AND, the book is new enough to still be meaningful.  Mission accomplished. 

But, what did I learn?

Leverage the Power of LinkedIn
Although you can learn the basics of LinkedIn, the real power of Vermeiren’s book is using LinkedIn’s existing tools to leverage the power of the network.  I think many of us solopreneurs sit out here in cyberspace, forgetting that every person we contact or who contacts us becomes part of our network.  Imagine the most intricate spider web you ever saw out back in the garden.

Filled with advanced techniques as well as the fundamentals of effective networking – - this book preaches what I have long believed to be true – - building relationships begins with you, not the other guy.  Reach out and help, and you’ll get more people reaching back to you than you thought possible.

I’m particularly fond of the charts on pages 31-33, that show at a glance which part of LinkedIn to use to accomplish specific goals.  For example, if you want an introduction, use the introductions tool; if you want to maintain existing relationships use personal messages or share ideas in Discussions and Answers.

There are plenty of advanced strategies, with a separate section devoted to:

• finding new customers
• finding a new employee
• finding a new job or internship
• finding a new supplier or partnership
• finding expertise

I also liked the section on free tools to use when working on LinkedIn, particularly browser toolbar and widgets.

I’ve already highlighted and side-noted my way through How to Really Use LinkedIn, and am calendar-ing how to best implement both basic and advanced strategies. Because I’m just starting out, I can’t speak to how effective the strategies will be, but I do feel for the first time that I’ve been able to wrap my head around more of LinkedIn than ever in the past.

Anyone else read this one? Would like to know what LinkedIn strategies you feel really helped.