Like many recent marketing books, Social Media 101 cobbles together blog posts (nearly 90) from the frightfully popular chrisbrogan.com.
As a result, the book suffers somewhat. Many parts are uneven and repetitious (although Brogan claims in the introduction that the repetition is intended).
But he more than makes up for those flaws by providing top-drawer technical advice.
And although the title implies the book is a survey for beginners, it's far more insightful than that. Here are a just a few of the hundreds of gems in the book:
On technology. "There really aren't many secrets about how things work in social media. There are skills to learn, and then there are human traits to relearn."
On traffic. "New communities grow by gently encouraging new immigrants."
On engagement. "In social media, as in life, listening is twice as important as speaking."
On selling. "Deliver great content and value, and then make your offer on the other side of it."
On authenticity. "Instead of going the route of old marketing, those who create content with the intent of building business relationships could try going the route of being honest, being genuine, being human. It's no more difficult than the alternative: crafting something that's dishonest, but perhaps shinier."
On strategy. "Building icebergs that float away isn't the right way to implement social media in the company. Instead, think about how to use the project as a pilot that might sway everything down the road; build it with an 'over there' flavor to start, and formulate a plan to make it the 'the main thing' and also plan for 'let's bury that mistake.'"
If you're at all reluctant to read Social Media 101, you can sample more of Brogan's writing by visiting his blog.
That should convince you.
