I was sent a copy of the book “The Real Truth About Social Media” by Eric Harr. Overall I found this book to be an easy read and full of real life examples of social media successes and failures.
Since the book mainly focuses on core social media fundamentals, strategies and platforms, it is not a book for someone who is experienced in social media, but those those who are relatively new to social media, this is a good buy.
There is a lot of information and insights in the book and some the best points I found were:
- Social media as a viable communication platform is here to stay. It is not a passing fad. Embrace it or be left out in the cold while your competitors reap the rewards.
- Social media requires a significant investment of time and resources. If you can’t allocate each of these, then don’t get involved.
- “Begin with the end in mind,” as Eric points out. Make sure before you dive into the world of social media that you have a strategy in place and you clearly define your Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). Measure the “metrics that matter.”
- Understand the permanency of social media. Once something is said, it can’t be taken back.
- Don’t just create content. Create awesome content that moves people to act.
- Transparency is paramount in the social media world. If you can’t adopt a transparent approach, modern culture is astute enough to figure out who you really are in about 5 seconds.
My favorite part of the book by far was the real life examples of social media successes and failures. Sometimes social media can seem abstract to new people to the space and it was great reading about successful campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIN. Also because the book is newly printed I was able to find the campaigns that the author Eric Harr was talking about to actually see them in action
You can find the book at Amazon and Barnes and Noble and is worth adding to your holiday wish list.
I agree we sure need to embrace social media. The recent addition of Google’s “Google Plus” is a good indication they realize how important sharing and social media is.
Thanks
I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you – from the bottom of my heart – for this review. I appreciate the insights and commentary. The bottom line with social media is that it’s not a media or marketing. It’s a human relationship. Bring your “old school” business practices to this “new media” and you will win in social media! Thank you again! ~Eric
Thanks,very informative.
I think that there should be more information on how to drive serious traffic to a website,for beginners.
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