Regardless of if you are new to social media or a seasoned veteran, this book offers something for you. With 301 ways to use and improve social media marketing, you are sure to find a skill, approach or tool that will improve your online marketing efforts. The one-point-per-page format is an easy read and the content is broken into eight logical sections. Individual points are easily extracted and put into practice. The only drawback is that the sheer volume of actionable tips can be a little overwhelming.
- Written by Catherine Parker
- Published by McGrawHill Professional
- Softcover, 328 pages
- ISBN 978-0-07-173904-7
Full Review of 301 Ways to Use Social Media to Boost Your Marketing
Parker sets the tone for the book in the first paragraph, advising that an overall strategy is needed before implementing the specifics in the book. Sure, its great to know how to use a hammer and drill, but what will you build? Think in terms of your overall campaign and these individual tools and tips will help make it a success.
A consistent voice will build a strong brand and a responsive (profitable) following). Covers seven main categories:
- blogging
- microblogging
- social networking
- social bookmarking
- multimedia
- review and opinions
- wikis
Learn About Blogging and Microblogging
The first category is Blogging. Here are the blogging highlights.
Tips 7-10: Help determining the difference between hosted and self hosted blogging platforms and help setting up the look and feel of a blog.
Tips 15-22: Learn how to create useful blog content. Covers everything from what to write about, staying within your niche, creating viral content and how to encourage reader interaction.
The second category is Microblogging. Three platforms are covered: Twitter, FriendFeed and Tumblr.
26 of the 39 tips (tips 50-75) in this section relate to Twitter. Its little wonder - Twitter is by far the largest, and has the largest user-base. The tips in this section cover the basics (getting started and understanding the basics) and the more advanced skills (hashtags and desktop management applications).
Learn About Social Networking and Bookmarking
The third section is Social Networking. Facebook, Linkedin and some fringe (in comparison) networks are covered (Orkut, Plaxo, Ning, MySpace and Meetup). Some of the tips in the Facebooks section should be of interest: choosing between a page or a group, how to create your Facebook fan page, and understanding Facebook Advertising.
One of the Linkedin tips (#110) was new to me. She recommends adding a "Share on LinkedIn" widget to your site, to promote your company profile. It works similar to a Facebook Fan box that encourages visitors to share your site/blog content with their connections on LinkedIn. A great idea!
Next comes Social Bookmarking. You'll learn how to use: Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, Google Reader and Reddit. Each bookmarking network has from 5-10 tips on how to successfully setup and use the account.
Learn About MultiMedia, Reviews & Opinions, and Wikis
The fifth section discusses MultiMedia. Parker discusses Flickr, SmugMug, Video-Sharing Sites, YouTube, SlideShare and Podcasting. While everyone always thinks of YouTube for sharing video, you'll learn about 4 other sites that cater to specific niches, along with TubeMogul, a powerful tool that can help you manage all of your video uploading to multiple sites, complete with centralized analytics.
Section six discusses Reviews and Opinions. While I'm personally not a big fan of spending time/effort on these platforms, the section discusses the how-to of Yelp, Epinions, RateItAll, Yahoo! Answers and eHow. Many of these sites are known for being spammy and having low quality content. Investing your time into them can only result in your being grouped in with them. Maybe I'm missing something and maybe it works well for many people, but I'm not too sure.
The sevenths section discusses Wikis. The most common example of this is Wikipedia, the largest wiki online today, and the sixth most popular website (according to Alexa). While you'll gain limited benefit (aside from feeling good) contributing to Wikipedia, the other wikis could provide significant benefits. Or start one of your own. You'll learn about how to do this as well.
Book author, Catherine Parker, recently took a few minutes to chat with me about her book, social media in action and how she helps businesses market. Read the full interview.
