SNW - Nov 16 -You know social media has hit the big time when your local newscasts are asking you to connect with them using Twitter and Facebook.  However, there are still a lot of businesses who haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet.  Most of the reasoning has to do with not understanding social media and how to use it to their benefit.  The most important thing to understand is that these conversations are happening online with or without you.

A great introduction to social media is Social Media Marketing.  This is a detailed step-by-step guide to understanding how to enter the social media field and use it to your advantage.  The book is written for everyone to be able to read and understand; they don’t talk above your head and assume you know the terms of social media marketing.  The demographics for each social media site are listed which is helpful in determining which platform will best serve your needs.  The second part of the book describes different social media campaigns and how to execute each plan. The book uses specific, real world examples of why different campaigns did and did not work. The book does an excellent job of explaining how to integrate your social online work with your real world work. The Best Practices and the Top Mistakes are a must read for anyone.

My only criticism is with the section on Blogger networks.  Most blogs are not in a network, and you have to meet certain criteria to get into most of these networks. I also take some issue with the Reaching The Influencers section. The authors seem to lean towards acquiring an expert influencer to promote your product. Most of these experts are very choosy about what they will and will not promote, and they charge a premium for their endorsement. The book states that finding referent influencers is difficult which I have to disagree. With the number of mom and review blogs skyrocketing, influencers are fairly easy to find.  There also are companies like IZEA which partners with influential bloggers and is able to provide bloggers demographics.

If you are an expert in social media, this is not the book for you.  However, if you are brand new or just dipping your toes into social media, I would recommend reading Social Media Marketing.  According to a recent study that was done, those brands that were the most engaged saw their revenue grow over the past year by 18% while the least engaged brands saw losses of 6%.  Which do you choose to be?

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