I’ll tell you one thing: if you are to search for the top books you can read to improve your social media and marketing skills, you’ll probably end up with a list which for the most part is long and boring – and to sum it all up, misleading. And since it’s only a few days before the New Year, you’ve probably abandoned your new year’s resolution to create a new social strategy to boost your blog or whatever it is you’re marketing online.
But it’s never too late to create a new professional development for 2015! Staying sharp and up-to-date is fairly difficult, especially when you don’t have that much time to spare on researching and doing all the paper works. But today is different! From the long list of must-read social media books, I’ve come up with the top 15 you’ll want to get your hands (or probably your eyes for reading) into!
Let’s have a quick rundown and you’ll understand why I have chosen (and is recommending) these social media books.
There is no friend as loyal as a book, - Ernest HemingwayClick To TweetJab, Jab, Jab Right Hook: How To Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World.
“Great marketing is all about telling your story in such a way that it compels people to buy what you are selling.”
New York Time’s Best Selling Author, Gary Vaynerchuk shares his social media expertise once more in this blueprint to social media marketing that really works! Gary has a lot of credibility in the social media world and in this book, he shares his mantra: if you want to sell, you need to emotionally invest in your customers for them to care about you. If you don’t want to be ignored on social media, never ever sell too hard.
Why Now Is the Time To Crush It! Cash In Your Own Passion.
“The difference between promoting your brand via traditional marketing and advertising media and doing it via social networking platforms is like the difference between sending a message by Pony Express and chatting on Instant Messenger.” ~ Gary Vaynerchuk
This is another bestselling book by Gary where he shares how he started making money by following his bliss – his love for wine. It’s a documentary of how his family business came to be – from scratch and starting an online marketing campaign that changed it all. It’s about finding your passion, start writing about it until you finally get the right audience you need to start marketing your own brand.
The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users.
Guy Kawasaki is a genius when it comes to promoting products, services and his self online! The Art of Social Media provides 123 social media marketing tips that you will definitely want to apply in your own social media strategies. I personally recommend the content creation and sharing strategy that Guy shared in his book – which also explained how to set up your own personalized editorial calendar.
Just like Joe Pulizzi, Epic Content Marketing is the real thing! I’ll give you just three reasons to convince you to read this book: it’s what the online market needs right now, it’s packed with real examples and it’s so bloody practical! Pulizzi will teach you three things: how to tell a unique story, how to break through the clutter and how to win more online customers with less marketing effort. How cool is that!
If you still don’t have a business roadmap for 2015, this is definitely the book I can recommend for you! Maximize Your Social offers a clear strategy on how to create and execute your own social media business roadmap. Neal Schaffer nailed it again in this book as he thoroughly explains the evolution of social media and the unparalleled need to create a social media strategy to market your business online.
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends. And Friends Into Customers.
“Marketing by interrupting people isn’t cost-effective anymore. You can’t afford to seek out people and send them unwanted marketing messages, in large groups, and hope that some will send you money.”
How would you like to learn a social media strategy from the vice president of Direct Marketing at Yahoo? Seth Godin identifies five levels of premises that you should consider when marketing your business online. He also gave emphasis on the rules for keeping permission. Permission Marketing is packed with valuable concepts you should start incorporating in your own business!
YoUtility: Why Smart Marketing Is About Help not Hype.
I gave this book two thumbs up for convincing powers! There’s not much to say because I can only give you three reasons to read this book and you’ll probably grab one after reading this review:
1. It comes from a very reputable source. Jay Baer founded five (5) digital companies.
2. It is packed with proven case studies on social media marketing.
3. It gives a clear blueprint on how to effectively create your own social media marketing plan.
I think this is enough said.
Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us.
“The very nature of leadership is that you’re not doing what’s been done before. If you were, you’d be following, not leading.”
This is another book by Seth Godin that you will have a hard time putting down, I tell you! I immediately felt connected with the book and was surprised with I had read. Ultimately, Tribes is a very inspirational book about leadership and community.
Your Brand – The Next Media Company.
Michael Brito really nailed it with his book! Your Brand distinctly explains how a social business strategy is a great tool to create better content, market smarter and build a deeper relationship with customers. This book is a whole pack of strategic insights I would gladly incorporate in my own social media strategy. Along the way, Brito pointed out a few case studies worldwide that delivered actionable and powerful insights that had transformed and paved the company’s success.
Born to Blog: Building Your Blog for Personal and Business Success One Post at a Time.
This is the perfect book for those entrepreneurs maintaining a business blog. Born To Blog is a collection of street-smart and practical writing ideas and techniques that can help you succeed in marketing your business blog. With this book, you will learn how to attract followers who will be willing to promote your blog for free! This book had actually helped me write powerful content for my blog!
In this book, Ted Rubin and Kathryn Rose prove that social media is an engagement driver and engagement drives loyalty; along with loyalty is a direct increase to sales. Return on Relationship briefly explains how community-focused tools such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs can help you from seeing dramatic results in your social media strategy. Building a responsive community can also help significantly increase your brand impact online.
Influence Marketing: How To Create, Manage, And Measure Brand Influencers In Social Media Marketing.
Influence marketing is a book I would gladly recommend to toughen the online marketing competition. Danny Brown and Sam Fiorella did a very good job in sharing empirical evidence from influence marketers. With the use of this book, you will learn how to effectively integrate new tools that you can use to generate more convertible leads. And the results are faster if you know how to influence other people!
The Power of Visual Storytelling: How To Use Visuals, Videos, And Social Media To Market Your Brand.
Most people say that The Power of Visual Story Telling is a new marketing bible! I never believed them until I had my own copy of this book and started reading the first page. The Power of Visual Storytelling explains how to effectively grow your business and creating a brand name through the powerful use of visuals such as videos, photos and personalized infographics and presentations. The book will help you every step of the way its powerful roadmap while at the same time inspiring you to be creative on your own.
Three things: with Klout Matters you can stand out, build trust and grow your online business! Two of today’s top social media gurus, Gina Carr and Terry Brock, will show you how to increase your Klout score and use it to your full advantage. Now you don’t have to worry on how to build your online reputation, as Klout Matters and this book will be your step-by-step guidance!
In a study by Nielson, it was recorded that about 92% of consumers will probably buy whatever it is you’re selling because of word of mouth recommendation. Highly recommended is the perfect book you need to seize the competitive edge and master the technique to grow your business. Take advantage of the social media marketing opportunity that Highly Recommended is serving you in a silver platter. All you have to do is find out how your customers are talking about your brand and build a true social business.
You have all year round to read these books I have recommended. But I tell you, once you have your own social media marketing strategy in place, everything will be a success. Start reading and incorporating ideas in your social media plan for a fruitful business year ahead of you!
Final thoughts:
Be Relevant by doing interesting things that people want to share, like, and comment on.Click To TweetThis is my Top 15 Social Media Books to add into your Reading List for 2015.
duromine says
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog.Thanks Again. Cool.
duromine says
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog.Thanks Again. Cool.
Anna Zubarev says
Thanks for your feedback and for stopping by and letting me know you enjoyed this.
Anna Zubarev says
Thanks for your feedback and for stopping by and letting me know you enjoyed this.
Carson says
Great blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your theme. Thanks
Carson says
Great blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your theme. Thanks
Anna Zubarev says
Thanks for your feedback, however, please note that this theme isn’t working for me currently and it has few glitches and with that I am working on change this theme very soon and I will not recommend using this.
Anna Zubarev says
Thanks for your feedback, however, please note that this theme isn’t working for me currently and it has few glitches and with that I am working on change this theme very soon and I will not recommend using this.
Migrom eebest8 says
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
Migrom eebest8 says
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
Anna Zubarev says
It is a paid theme and I have a developer who is assisting me with my wordpress questions.
Anna Zubarev says
It is a paid theme and I have a developer who is assisting me with my wordpress questions.
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rank in google. This is major ranking factor nowadays.
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Anna Zubarev says
I appreciate your tips Johnnie, being that I m still rather new to blogging, but know what I want, I am taking slowly.
Thank you.
Anna Zubarev says
I appreciate your tips Johnnie, being that I m still rather new to blogging, but know what I want, I am taking slowly.
Thank you.
Tanya Patxot says
Thank you I have marked all to read
Tanya Patxot says
Thank you I have marked all to read
Anna Zubarev says
I appreciate it Tanya! I look forward to your feedback.
Anna Zubarev says
I appreciate it Tanya! I look forward to your feedback.
BrianandFelicia White says
Wow! We thought we had quite an extensive library on marketing, but after looking over your list, we see we only have 3 out of 15 of them. Really appreciate your recommendations and the immense value you continuously share. Thanks!
BrianandFelicia White says
Wow! We thought we had quite an extensive library on marketing, but after looking over your list, we see we only have 3 out of 15 of them. Really appreciate your recommendations and the immense value you continuously share. Thanks!
Anna Zubarev says
I truly appreciate what you said in here Felicia, as you know I Love to give advice and a specially on Social Media where my passion is.
Anna Zubarev says
I truly appreciate what you said in here Felicia, as you know I Love to give advice and a specially on Social Media where my passion is.
Max Juhasz says
This is some amazing training, and after reading this I have realized that I only own 1 out of these 15 books. Looks like I will be taking a trip to Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com and stock up on these.
Anna you are the Mistress ( or Master ) of social media marketing.
Thanks for sharing this, as I know this will help a TON of marketers out there.
Max
Max Juhasz says
This is some amazing training, and after reading this I have realized that I only own 1 out of these 15 books. Looks like I will be taking a trip to Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com and stock up on these.
Anna you are the Mistress ( or Master ) of social media marketing.
Thanks for sharing this, as I know this will help a TON of marketers out there.
Max
Anna Zubarev says
Thank you so much Max for your feedback, as this means a lot to me.
Anna Zubarev says
Thank you so much Max for your feedback, as this means a lot to me.