I’m working on a social media strategy document for a client right now. It has an analysis of their current social media presence and how it affects their traffic and conversions at their website, a look at the competitive landscape, and lots of screenshots with feedback on opportunities they can leverage.
Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks) is about as close to that type of document as you can get for $20.00 or less.
This is an enjoyable read, with no difficult techie or mathy bits. Obviously, that means that this book will not help you with questions like, “How can I tweak my Facebook ads for maximum ROI?” or, “How should bounce rate be included in calculations comparing Twitter and LinkedIn for decisions about resource allocation?”
Instead, this book will introduce you to the benefits of social media marketing, show you some great examples of how it can work, and give you some action items to get started in that direction.
A lot of the book is devoted to explanations of how to be a good digital citizen. If you feel that the benefits of authenticity are too obvious to mention, you won’t get much out of this book. However, I see lots (and lots and lots) of really nice people who still confuse social media with advertising. If your company is still mixing up the two, or if you worry that social media as the experts present it is just playing around and will never work for you — or, worse, you think that buying Twitter followers will somehow magically translate into sales — this book will make the concept clear for you.
Each chapter contains action items, like coming up with a list of “phrases people might use which would identify them as a customer of yours” and searching for them in social media streams, packaging your company’s story for social media consumption, and thinking of three ways to respond to customer comments that will build trust.
There are discussions of how to handle social media emergencies, what kinds of coupons and giveaways are most likely to be effective, and integrating social media with all aspects of your company. In short, this is a great, highly accessible (even likeable) book on social media for companies that are beginning to concentrate on the issue. It will help you look at your current social media involvement and decide how to make it more effective. It will give you a nice selection of Next Steps to take. It will inspire you and make you feel that You Can Do It.
If you want stronger stuff, here are some alternatives to consider:
- No Bull**** Social Media, by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers
- The Like Economy, (Facebook only) by Brian Carter
- Social Networking for Business, by Rawn Shah
[Disclosure: The publisher of this book sent me a copy for review. I am not paid for reviews, and you know I always tell you the truth.]
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