Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business!

by Paul Gillin

""Secrets of Social Media Marketing"" is a handbook for marketers and business owners to use in deciding how to employ the new social media for online marketing. Social media has quickly moved from the periphery of marketing into the forefront, but this is a new and quickly-evolving field and there are few established formulas for success. Building on the lessons set out in Gillin's acclaimed and oft-reviewed ""The New A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media,"" this book provides practical advice on strategy, tools, and tactics. It is a hands-on manual that will educate marketers on how to extend their brands, generate leads, and engage customer communities using online tools.

Genres: Social Media, Nonfiction, Business

290 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Mark]

This book is a very detailed, comprehensive look at social media marketing, pitched at the beginner-early intermediate market. Paul Gillin is the former executive editor of the Computerworld technology news weekly. (Full disclosure: I know Mr. Gillin, and some of the people profiled, quoted in the book from when I worked in PR and marketing, within the technology events industry.)

Two very strong points of the book, both within the final third of the volume. The chapters on planning social media, as well as the research and measurement chapter. Social media has exploded since then, and entire books have been written just on measurement. I would still recommend this book if you were just starting out, and planning a social media strategy for your small to medium- sized business. The book is well outlined.

I cannot give it a top score because the book was published in 2009*. (*MySpace, Prodigy and Second Life are now in obscurity zone. I hope Paul Gillin can someday produce an updated 2021 volume. The book's two weak spots are that it's dated, and also that it goes into so much detail in a few sections, that you'll be winded. (So overall score: 3.8-4.3 stars)

[Faye]

This is the very first book I read on the subject of social media. In an age where customers are talking about their brand experiences in their online social networks, Paul Gillin shows how marketers can leverage these conversations to engage in two-way conversations with their customers. This is a great book for companies who are trying to navigate the social media world. Gillin provides examples and best practices of some of the more successful companies currently incorporating social media into their marketing strategies.

[David Feinstein]

The best concept in the book is that you don't need to become an expert in each social media area. Remember, the rules are constantly changing.

Jump in and figure it out "on the fly". Those who stay out of the conversations will become marketing dinosaurs.

I can highly recommend this book to any one seeking to market on the web and wanting to leverage social media experiences.

[Jaclyn]

Excellent resource for the constantly evolving twenty-first century marketing avenues.

[Cynthia]

Great information on new social networking sites. Useful info on what works and what doesn't as far as having conversations within communities.

[Michael Rowley]

Not particularly well written. It has a lot of platitudes with the occasional insight.

[Lori Grant]

A must-read book on social media for the knowledge worker, manager, executive, or entrepreneur.

[Jj Kwashnak]

Clear concise guide that is a good start and a good reference book.