Book Review: Social Media Marketing – How To Use Social Media For Business By Jason McDonald PhD
Social Media Marketing: How To Use Social Media For Business – Guide For Beginners, More Advanced Users
Social Media Marketing is an excellent primer for those who want to learn more about using social media in their marketing efforts. It is not always easy to start out, and there are so many different books on the topic that it can make it hard to know where to begin.
This book is slightly different, in that it is arranged more in a workbook style, rather than as just a book you read straight through. By taking the time to go through the worksheets for each social media platform, the reader can learn much more about their audience, along with the possibilities for reaching them through social media.
For example, maybe you have been thinking about using Instagram, but you aren’t sure if it is right for your audience. Is your audience even on Instagram? Not everyone is on this site, though many people are.
Armed with the knowledge of your own particular audience, which you have gathered from other sources such as website metrics trackers, you can apply the principles in the worksheets to your own business. Using them, you can decide which social media platform you want to use, if any, and how much time you will need to devote to this pursuit. With that knowledge, you can determine if the trade-off is worthwhile.
One important thing to remember, which the author reminds you of numerous times throughout the book, is that each platform takes time. it takes time to use it; it takes time to generate content; it takes time to post, and there are minimum frequencies of posting that apply to each platform.
The author does an excellent job of describing the primary audience of each social media platform. Then, when you answer the questionnaire, you start to understand if your audience is even on this site, and how much time you are going to spend on it.
He also helps you to understand the WHY of being on social media, for your own company. Are you a company that will sell your product directly to consumers? Are you a company that markets healthcare, and wants to connect with new clients on these platforms? There are so many possibilities.
However, the important thing to remember, and that the author reminds you of multiple times in the book, is that each social platform comes with its own set of rules and norms. So, some are all about fun, and to participate in the conversation, you need to be generating content that is fun-focused. And so on.
The other thing to note is that each social media platform will take a certain amount of time each week in order to build a following on the given platform. The way to generate a following is to participate in the conversation.
As the author notes, you are not there merely to promote a product, Companies that do this are not often successful on social media, because the users are looking for something more, a different kind of engagement.
In general, it will take somewhere in the area of two hours a week PER PLATFORM, consisting of posting your own content, and also engaging with the content of others by reposting, quoting, or otherwise connecting with other accounts.
So, you don’t want to be wasting all that time on a platform that your buyers don’t utilize. This is why the research phase, using the worksheets and info in the book, are super critical. These steps should not be skipped.
This book was also an engaging and informative read, with an easy-to-understand and accessible writing style. I would highly recommend this book, and would give it five stars.
Banner Image: Social Media Marketing book cover. Image Credit – Jason McDonald
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