Social Marketing Books: Which Ones are Must-Reads?

Today I was checking out a book about YouTube (YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts) recommended by Chris Brogan. As usual when I hit the Amazon site, one thing lead to another and I was following all kinds of paths to more books on social marketing. Which got me thinking.

There are SO MANY books on social marketing. How do you know which are the best...which are worth the investment..which ones are really must-reads and will provide the best,usable information for you to build your business?

Here's a sampling of what I found on Amazon and kept getting "recommended" to me:

• Facebook Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Plug Your Business with Web 2.0
• MySpace Marketing
• YouTube for Business
• Twitter Revolution (I own this - highly recommended!)
• World Wide Rave (I was lucky enough to get a review copy from David Meerman Scott; in my opinion anything DSM writes is worth your time to read and study)
• Tribes (I own this too; anything by Seth Godin is worth reading IMHO)

This is a tiny, tiny list of what I saw available on Amazon. I'd love to know from you which social marketing books you've found to be useful-absolutely-must-read books.

Please share your faves in the comments and let me know why you think your recommended book is worth the investment of time and money. I'd like to know what books I need to add to my library and study. Thanks! 

Comments

[Ellen]

You already mentioned Seth Godin, but I am currently reading "The Dip" which I think is great. I would recommend especially to newbies like myself. I think it's all about knowing when to quit and knowing when to persevere Knowing the dip is there gives you the courage to continue.

[Denise Wakeman]

Great suggestion, Ellen. My all time favorite Seth Godin book is Purple Cow. When it came out, I sent a copy to all my clients cuz it really helps illustrate how you can stand out from the crowd in your niche.

[Russ Milland]

Forrester Research is one of the leading business research firms. Two of their principals, Charlene Li (VP in thier Social Computign and Web 2.0 Research area and Josh Bernooff - also a VP, have published a book called "Groundswell - Winning in a world transformed by social technologies". Seth Godin, who Densie mentions earlier gave them this testimopnial - "Groundswell is jammed with big ideas, useful stories and quotable stats. This is the new industrial revolution. Are you on board?" A client of mine with who is a very successful author and consultant read the book, then came to me with grat enthusaism to help me take her online. At her insistence, I bought the book (actually the audio version by mistake). I have listened to two of the 7 CD's and it is very well done with very clear messages and great examples targetted at folks (liek my client) who know nothing about the excitign new world of INternet-based business.

[Russ Milland]

Forgive my spelling erros .. it does not look like I can go back and correct them

Russ

[Russ Milland]

Don Tapscott is a international best selling author and consultant who has wriiten or co-written eleven books on the new "connected economy" including "Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes everything (2006)". I have acquired (but not yet read) his latest book: "Grown Up Digital - How the Net Generation is Changing your Wolrd (2009)". Don tends to fuel these books through massive syndicated studies - in this case, a $4 million dollar private study of 11,000 young people. He wallks like he talks - check out his website at www.grownupdigital.com

Russ

[Russ Milland]

Note that you can download the first chapter of Don Tapscott's book on the home page of www.grownupdigital.com

[Monica McPherrin]

Hi Denise!
I'm currently reading Facebook Marketing by Steve Holzner and would definatly recommend it.

It's given me some ideas of how to use with my business. Explained some applications I didn't understand and others I wasn't aware of. It's an easy read with lots of visuals that I'm sure will be helpful to those less familiar with the platform. A definate thumbs up!

Monica McPherrin
Online Marketing Intro

[Michelle]

I was invited by an open invitation at Massive Visibility Mastermind on Facebook.

I've got to say, I would never consider spending money on real-life books on social marketing, just because there is such a prolification of this available over the internet - including free information, e-courses (some very expensive) and so many e-books available. A lot of information is given away for free on internet marketing and/or social media blogs. The 30DC, as a free challenge last August gave a lot of information on marketing this way free, and other paid for courses I've been involved in since have also targeted social media services heavily in any marketing content.

As a long-time social media user, I find myself still always playing catchup with the latest and greatest.

So saying that, I have to agree that anything by Seth Godin is well worth the spend (although he gives away a lot of excellent ideas in e-book form also).

[Denise Wakeman]

Russ, thanks for contributing your selections. I've heard a lot about Groundswell, but havent' gotten to it you. Guess I better put it on my wishlist!

[Denise Wakeman]

Monica, thanks for your endorsement of Facebook Marketing. I'll definitely check it out.