DreamGrow Social Media

9 Free Social Media eBooks

A friend of mine listed the social media ebooks he’s reading at the moment. There are dozens of social media ebooks around free and otherwise. So, I decided to make a list of the ebooks that seem to stand out. Here are nine of them:

The New Rules of Viral Marketing, David Meerman Scott. The smart marketers profiled in The New Rules of Viral Marketing: How word-of-mouse spreads your ideas for free tell you exactly how they used viral marketing and provide advice in their own words.

Fish Where the Fish Are- Mapping Social Media to the Buying Cycle, Chris Brogan. An ebook meant to get your mind started on how social media ties to the more traditional buying cycle. These are some thoughts I’d put together immediately after my presentation, fleshed out, lined up, and with some takeaways that you can use to dig in once you feel comfortable.

The Social Web Analytics eBook 2008, Philip Sheldrake. If you could go back to the mid-90s and offer a marketer a little box that could sit on her desk and let her listen in on thousands of customer conversations and participate in those discussions regardless of geography or time zone, it would appear so farfetched that she’d probably call security. This eBook is about that reality.

Customer Service, The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media, Brian Solis. Transforming people into a surrogate sales force is the dream of any service organization. The difference today is that the landscape has shifted to the point where good customer service is no longer the minimum ante to play the game.

Getting a Foothold in Social Media, Amber Naslund. you don’t have any idea where to start. It starts with a strategy, rooted in a desire to forge better relationships with your customers.

The Social Media Starter Kit, Amber Naslund. Several times a day, I hear folks asking about how to get started with all this social media stuff. What tools they need, what sites they should look at so as not to get overwhelmed. This is the nuts and bolts stuff, not so much the “why”.

Social Media Time Management. Strategies for Tackling Information Overload, Amber Naslund. How many hours do I have to spend in social media each day? Do I have resources/people other than me? What can I expect of them? (Note: if you’re serious about doing social, you need to find an hour a day to start with, at least.) Which 2 or 3 tools and social networks make sense based on my listening efforts? What is my goal for participation on those sites? What is the culture of those communities and how will my participation line up with that?

Social Media and Network Starting Points, Chris Brogan. Some thoughts based on a question about guidelines, a toolbox, and how to grow a community.

The Simple Web: A Philosophy for Getting What You Want, Skellie. How can I get visitors, subscribers, comments, inbound links, and people saying good things about what I do?

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Image credit: Antony Ruggiero

Social Media Fails To Manifest As Marketing Medium

When I read that headline on MediPost I was certain that people who are saying that have yet to receive a clue. If you ask 100 people if advertising influences their decisions then the majority of respondents would say ‘no’. That does not mean you stop advertising. They just don’t know how media influences them.

The same thing goes for social networks. Marketers may dream that some day we can call them marketing networks but I wouldn’t hold may breath. People are there to connect with each other, to talk about their dog and how their day went. I do too. Sure, sometimes you stumble upon something great and insightful but for the most part it’s just chatter. When you try to turn it into a home shopping network people will just leave.

“What we’re seeing is that word-of-mouth is still the No. 1 most influential source, followed by TV. The influence of social media isn’t at the bottom of the list, but it is somewhere in the long tail of marketing – about the same as print ads, or online [display] ads.” says Dave Tice, vice president and group account director at Knowledge Networks, and the top analyst behind the report.

But there’s a bit more to it than that. We tend to talk about brands. Some say that about 1/6 of our conversations are about brands. Up until recently this talk was cheap, just hot air. Now, with the social networks, this talk is permanently recorded, indexed and searchable. Word of mouth has found a new carrier in the form of social media. A carrier where others can tap into your conversation.

This is the marketers opportunity to engage, change minds and sell. But tread carefully as the rules are still vague…
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Image credit: Alex Brazhnikov

Weekend social media reading

Social Media in the 2009 Inc. 500: New Tools & New Trends
The study compares adoption of social media over three years (2007, 2008 and 2009) by the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies. Regardless of the particular technology, social media matters and is here to stay. Forty-three percent of the 2009 Inc. 500 reported social media was “very important” to their business/marketing strategy. And an incredible 91% of the Inc. 500 is using at least one social media tool in 2009 (up from 77% in 2008).

Online Video Advertising: Doubles Engagement, Boosts ROI (PDF)
Adding video to your online campaign can significantly improve your marketing results. Marketers are responding in kind with a larger slice of their advertising budgets. What makes online video advertising so successful? What can make your video campaign even better? In this in-depth bulletin, based on the knowledge accumulated at Eyeblaster from serving a large portion of the online video campaigns worldwide, we share our insights.

Consumers Open to Marketing Messages on Social Media Sites
Forty-six percent of respondents say they would talk about or recommend a product on Facebook. The survey of more than 3,000 U.S. consumers comprised 100+ questions to determine how various segments of consumers use social networks in their daily lives, specifically in regard to finding out about different types of products and in relation to other media channels. The study found that marketers who embrace the medium and communicate relevant messages in consumers’ language and on their terms could gain customers and grow sales.

Do Fortune 100 companies need a Twitter-vention?
With more than 20 million people on Twitter in the U.S. (50 million worldwide), there are ample opportunities for audiences to engage with corporations and brands. Weber Shandwick conducted research to evaluate how effectively Fortune 100 companies used Twitter to its full potential as an engagement platform. The results provide key learnings for companies who want to make sure their party is one that’s buzzing. Think of Twitter as the über corporate cocktail party. Your influential guests will stay only if the conversation is entertaining, valuable and interesting.

FEED: The 2009 Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report

FEED is Razorfish’s annual study charting how technology is changing the way consumers engage with brands. The report, and the blog, are written by Garrick Schmitt, Group Vice President, Experience Planning. Get the PDF.

Social Media Campaigns are a Waste of Money!

Social media is a place where people interact with each other and, if you are luck, this may include your brand. This is engagement. Everybody wants it, but to achieve that you have to think long term not one off campaigns. We have seen politicians do that a lot. The last tweet or blog post has the same date as the election day. A few months before next election they come out of hibernation and try to engage you again.

You may have “friends” who turn to you only when they need something. This is the same thing as a campaign in social media. So, don’t do social media campaigns! I took the last sentence from Brendan Hughes who dug deeper into the matter of campaigns versus engagement in social media:

What’s wrong with a campaign then? In a campaign approach, you’re missing the essence of the nature (and thus the opportunity) of social media. It’s about relationships, and to draw a parallel, a social media campaign is a bit like a one night stand. Everyone had a bit of fun, but ultimately I feel a bit used.

In our work we meet a lot of agency people. What strikes me as odd is that if they go into all that trouble to make and launch a campaign, why wouldn’t they go one step further and make it a long term program? This campaign mentality seems to be a rule rather than exception. You should take that last step and really connect with people.

Who’s most engaged? The world’s most valuable brands

The world’s most valuable brands.
Who’s most engaged? (PDF). There exist thousands of social media channels, each with a slightly different value proposition. It is therefore a daunting task to figure how to objectively evaluate various marketing efforts across all social mediums. The Wetpaint/Altimeter Group ENGAGEMENTdb Report introduces a single criterion: engagement.

The goals of the study were to measure how deeply engaged the top 100 global brands are in a variety of social media channels and, more importantly, understand if higher engagement is correlated with financial performance. We found that not only could we quantifiably measure engagement, we could also understand how more engaged companies tap an engagement mindset to perform better. Below are some of our key findings.

Depth of engagement can be measured.