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
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- 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’)
An online quipster poised the question: “How do you measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media marketing?” He then answered his own question with “You don’t.”