Social Media Consultancy can help accelerate the development of your social media presence for your company, however, it can be very expensive and even if you do hire consultants you still need to develop your own skills in this area. Do you feel that your skills could be improved and are you prepared to allocate a small amount of time each week to develop these skills?
There are some great books that are written by experts in Social media that are certainly worth investing in. But just reading is not enough. You should try to commit to reading them and implementing at least 2 to 3 things from what you read and then it will be a wise investment. The following are 4 books I have read recently that I would highly recommend.
Mike Stelzner – How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond your Competition
Mike is founder of Social Media Examiner which largest online social media magazine in the world. That in itself is amazing considering it is only a couple of years old. With over 165,000 subscribers and over 700k unique users on a monthly basis it is hugely successful. In this book Mike shares how he did it. It’s an amazing book full of actionable insights that you can take on board. If you’re writing any content for your audience online this is a must buy.
Mark Schaeffer – Return on Influence
Mark is one of the top marketing consultants in the US and is considered one of the top 50 social media influencers by Forbes magazine. Influential people are not just the footballers or pop stars any more, there are plenty of examples of ordinary people having huge influence online. By mastering how influence works online you can sell more of your products and services. Mark’s book will give you a greater understanding of influence in the online world.
Robert Rose & Joe Pulizzi – Managing Content Marketing
Delivering valuable insightful content to your current or potential customers is hugely beneficial to driving additional awareness and sales of your products and services. But it’s not a case of throwing up a case study and hoping for the best. Robert and Joe provide insights into how you would build a content marketing strategy that aligns content with each stage of the buying cycle thus providing the right content at the right time. When you read this book you’ll realise the importance of content marketing and that there is a lot to learn about it.
Scott Stratten – Unmarketing – Stop Marketing and Start Engaging
Scott is an expert in viral, social and authentic marketing which he calls unmarketing. The book is really about practical examples of how to market yourself in a way that will guarantee loyal customers. There are 57 short chapters all with interesting and relevant information. The short chapters make it very easy to read a chapter or two in 10 to 15 minute slots. The book has been out a while but still very relevant. Scott is just about to launch his next one!
I enjoyed all 4 books and learned something from each so I’m hoping that you will also learn some and also save on some consultancy fees. Have you read any of these books already? Any other ones you would recommend?