Social Media Reading List
July 4th, 2009 | Published in Resources
A friend of mine teaches at a community college in south Georgia. The school recently asked him to prepare a lecture series for using social media. He turned to me looking for good reference material to help him prepare and help his students succeed. Here’s the list I gave him.
Please add to the list or comment on the list by using the comments feature below. Thanks much.
Philosophy
Community: The Structure of Belonging
Peter Block
Key focus: We’re at a crossroad in history; we have the opportunity to redefine society. Start to seize the opportunity by changing perspective from problems to possibilities, from entitlement to generosity, and interests to gifts.
Note: If you’re looking for just one philosophical treatise relevant to social media, Community is it.
The Designful Company: How to Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation
Marty Neumeier
Key focus: “the more technological our culture becomes, the more we’ll need the sensual and metaphorical power of beauty.”
Note: Anything written by Marty Neumeier is worth reading. Seems that Marty has a knack for whacking through the hype like pile drivers get through the sand. Both will get you solidly grounded on bedrock so you can build a stable structure. Though The Designful Company is not about social media, it does provide a necessary perspective for meaningful engagement.
Gonzo Marketing
Christopher Locke
Key focus: Conventional wisdom just isn’t. Whatever everyone is doing is probably the worst possible thing you can do.
Note: Though the sun has set on Gonzo Marketing, it is worth reading in order to be positioned to understand what’s working and what’s not. Mr. Locke will also help you develop a robust sense of humor as you look at what “smart” people are doing.
Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing-Weary Consumers with the Power of Community, Dialogue, and Partnership
Joseph Jaffe
Key focus: stepping back, listening in, and joining what’s already going on
Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge
Key focus: “With and not to,” and embedding yourself within communities if you want to influence.
Note: Both Brian and Deirdre have significant presence on social media platforms and are well worth seeking out and connecting with.
Strategy
Neuro Web Design: What makes them click?
Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D.
Key focus: People aren’t as random as they seem; people behave in predictable ways for a reason.
Note: This book, along with Designing for the Social Web and Social Corp are published by New Riders in their Voices That Matter series. I’ve never been disappointed with a Voices That Matter book even though they are much more expensive than a typical book. Don’t let their price and size discourage you from buying and sharing.
The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media
Paul Gillin
Key focus: It’s not the new tools, it’s the new people with influence. There are more “important” people than you might have thought.
Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity—and How Great Brands Get It Back
Rohit Bhargava
Key focus: Unpack, throw away those stuffed shirts and rediscover the “soul” of the organization.
Note: Though Christopher Locke will make a good case for the impossibility of the corporate soul, Rohit makes a good case for ripping off the corporate façade to let the people express their souls at work.
Social Corp: Social Media Goes Corporate
Joel Postman
Key focus: Understand the basics of social media.
Note: This is the McGuffy Reader of social media written in understandable language for the corporate mind. If you’re looking for a “gift book” to give to your corporate friends who are still saying, “What is social media and why should we care?” this is it
Designing for the Social Web
Joshua Porter
Key focus: Understand why people participate and then participate with authenticity.
Note: This is another good corporate “gift book” to help your corporate clients understand necessary components and actions of and on social media.
Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide
Amy Shuen
Key focus: Great things happen to companies who create places online where people gather to “share what they think, see, and do.
Tactics
Facebook Marketing: Leveraging Social Media to Grow Your Business
Steven Holzner
Key focus: A primer on Facebook including numerous screen shots.
Note: This is a basic book on using Facebook. You’ll probably be able to learn most of the content of this book by simply jumping into Facebook and using it. The most valuable part of this book is the lengthy section on Facebook Ads. If you want to understand who’s using Facebook, understanding how Facebook Ads work is a good place to start. You’ll discover the richness of demographic data readily available to even the smallest marketer.
The New Language of Marketing 2.0: How to Use ANGELS to Energize Your Market
Sandy Carter
Key focus: Here is a wide cross section of available tools in the world of web 2.0 and how others are using them.
Note: Includes case studies of BIG company involvement in the web 2.0 world. This book is probably more intellectually satisfying for those with a more academic inclination. Published by IBM Press, it’s probably suitable for an advanced class in marketing or technological application. If found the illustrations and graphics to be helpful for understanding the author’s concepts.
The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly
David Meerman Scott
Key focus: Tactics and tools to bypass audience gatekeepers and reach buyers directly.
Note: David Meerman Scott is not only active on social media, but is also quite engaged on Twitter. If you write to him, you’ll most likely get a response from him.
Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business
Paul Gillin
Key focus: You’ll have to court people and demonstrate that you understand them.
Note: “Marketers must learn to engage with people according to their narrow interests because there may be no other way to reach them.” Do you have the patience to not only find those pockets of passion, but to also stay out of their way while encouraging them to find each other?
Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
Dave Evans
Key focus: Do something, even a little something, every day.
Note: Yep, I did actually buy this book. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The book met my curiosity need. The perfect application of this book is in the corporate marketing department. Before the big companies continue adding director level social media executives, they might consider giving this book to the most passionate twenty-something in the marketing or public relations department and then getting out of his or her way. They’d save a ton of money and most likely a ton of embarrassment, too.
33 Million People in the Room: How to Create, Influence, and Run a Successful Business with Social Networking
Juliette Powell
Key focus: There are many, many more people expecting to contribute and participate to and in the conversations going on about their problems and the solutions to them. The old command-and-control structure is dead.
Note: You may just want to review this quick read at your library. If you do, be sure to take note of the section on strong ties/weak ties and social capital. Both concepts are worth noting and exploring more fully in other works. Malcolm Gladwell highlights the significance of weak ties in his blockbuster best seller The Tipping Point and there’s an entire industry built around social capital. It probably is just that significant.
Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
Joel Comm
Key focus: Use Twitter to interact with customers in a whole new way.
Note: Joel Comm is a friend who’s not only popular on social media, he’s also responsive. In addition, he created a URL shortener with tracking capabilities built in: http://www.twitPWR.com.
Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business and Market Online
Deborah Micek and Warren Whitlock
Key focus: Using Twitter to meet new people and talk with them.
Note: This is a good start-up book for someone new to Twitter. If you’re wanting your forty-something (or older) boss to let you use Twitter for customer service or prospecting, give him or her this book and ask them to follow the instructions in the first ninety-nine pages. You will foster a new addiction for your boss! Another step you’ll probably want to take is immediately follow the thirty-seven Twitter enthusiasts listed on the Rave Reviews pages at the front of the book.
World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories
David Meerman Scott
Key focus: Would you please just jump in and start using social media, please?
Note: This is an information- and idea-packed book artfully designed and produced. Give it to your boss or hesitant client. Though you probably won’t actually get millions of people to spread your ideas by engaging on social media, at least you’ll have a chance at significant reach and influence through social media.
Nearly every book I’ve referenced here at least mentioned the concepts of story or storytelling. Because of the vital role story plays in enabling human beings to make and communicate meaning, I’ll create a storytelling reading list next. For the past six years I’ve been reading as much as I could find on storytelling and was active in the National Storytelling Association (and later Network). In 2007 I made my pilgrimage to the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee. I’d still like to go to the Storytelling Festival there some October.
Social Media Marketing Reading List | © 2009 Trey Pennington | http://twitter.com/treypennington
All of my social media profiles. You may freely distribute this with attribution to Trey Pennington.
