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Social Media Marketing Book List

September 27, 2011 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

When I teach classes I’m often asked if I have any book recommendations. While I hesitate to recommend books in a new media field, because the content changes frequently, I do read books and also have a wish list. Here are a few books to consider for getting started in Social Media Marketing.

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. Brought to us by the founders of the ever successful and highly popular HubSpot, this book covers everything you need to know to be a good digital citizen today. It includes tips on how to optimize your profile, content and general attitude in order to secure work in today’s competitive marketplace. It’s an easy read and well worth a listen if you prefer books on tape too.

Engage: Revised and Updated: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web by Brian Solis. I’m a Solis follower and fan and believe he knows his stuff from both traditional public relations, and new media. He was extremely influential in my getting started in this field and he said “Participation is marketing” before anyone really even understood what participation meant.

The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani. This is a fresh approach written by a very successful 25 year-old entrepreneur. I enjoyed the insights from many leading online marketers and entrepreneurs included in the book as well.

Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment by Jim Stern. This is a great introduction for tracking results in social media and how best to use the built in data to maximize your Return On Influence. Don’t miss this one.

Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit by Philip Kotler. A more academic look at the state of marketing today including and social media, sustainability and how businesses are solving new challenges today.

On the wish list:

Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition by Michael A. Stelzner

Success Secrets of Social Media Superstars by Mitch Meyerson

Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks) by Dave Kerpen

If you have read and/or are reading any of these books and would like to share your thoughts about them, please do so in the comments area below. Thanks.

Marketing, Social Media

Google AdWords Certified

June 27, 2011 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

This is a belated announcement, but never-the-less important. We are proud to say that our very own Cariwyl Hebert is a Google AdWords Certified specialist. In order to achieve Google AdWords Certification one must study a series of lessons and then take a rigorous exam. Cariwyl passed the exam with flying colors and is our in-house AdWords specialist. We’re very proud of Cariwyl and very pleased to be able to offer this qualification to our valued clients.

If you are in need of Google AdWords assistance, please give us a call at 415.305.6403. Thank you!

business, Marketing, Search, Uncategorized Marketing, Search, search engines, susby

Social Media Marketing Certificate Program

January 26, 2011 Suse Barnes One comment

I’m very honored to be on the faculty with several highly accomplished people in the new Social Media Marketing Certificate Program that is starting next week at SF State’s College of Extended Learning. I planted the seed for this program two years ago and worked with Linda Popky of Leverage 2 Market and Lauren Vanett of SF State to get it going, so I’m very excited about the launch.

I’m teaching the intro course which is Introduction to Social Media: The Power of Community, followed by George Kao‘s tools class called: Masting Social Media: 3 Essential Tools for the Business Professional in which students will understand how to use these three tools for effective business networking online. This course will greatly benefit small business owners, life and business coaches, independent business and marketing consultants, authors and speakers. George is an excellent business and marketing coach with a track record for empowering people on the best tools and strategies in social media.

Then in March, Avery Horzewski of Ave Consulting will be teaching Engaging Your Community: Creating an Effective Social Media Campaign in which students will learn learn the essential do’s and don’ts for planning and executing effective social media campaigns that keep your community engaged and committed. Avery is also the president of Women in Consulting and Program Advisor for the SF State Social Media Program. She regularly speaks on social media, its impact on business, and implementation best practices and has a very impressive client list.

Our Social Media in the Real World: Successful Applications of Social Media Strategies will be taught by Jennifer Neely Lindsay of The A-List fame on Blogtalkradio in between visits to the middle east for training sessions she has scheduled there. Jennifer’s course will provide a closer look at the strategies and planning used by effective social media practitioners within organizations. Case studies and hands-on projects will reveal which strategies are most effective and why. You’ll learn to think strategically and adjust your plan to changes in the community conversation.

In the summer, we’ll be adding a Mobile Social course about social media marketing on mobile devices taught by Mario Tapia of Mobile Mondays Silicon Valley, as well as a capstone course with Linda Popky of Leverage 2 Market Associates titled Integrating Social Media into the Overall Marketing Strategy.

Our goal is to provide participants with a foundation in the new evolving world of social media tools and strategies that they can immediately apply in the workplace. It is sure to be fun and I’m excited to learn a lot from the students too.

For more information please visit the Social Media Marketing course pages.

Marketing, Social Media SF State, SMM, teaching

Fun: A Print Ad for Online Marketing Classes

May 6, 2010 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

I teach three classes at San Francisco State’s Integrated Marketing Program in the College of Extended Learning. This semester my Maximizing Search Engines class was the subject of a photo shoot. The class was a lot of fun despite the photographer and the ad turned out quite well too. A client called me on Monday morning to say they saw me in the San Francisco Chronicle. A nice surprise. I would have missed it had they not called. The newspaper was very thin, but the ad is sharp and arrogantly I think I look quite good. The students in the inset are all rock stars too. Here’s a photo I took with my iPhone:

I do love teaching. I learn so much from my students and it’s so fun to teach about things that are en vogue today. Don’t get me wrong, I believe search engine marketing and social media are where every company should be putting the majority of their marketing budgets, I just think it’s a bit ironic that the ad is in the newspaper when my classes are all about online marketing. Then again we’re promoting the Integrated Marketing Program and integrated means integrating online and offline, so as they say, “All ink is good ink,” and especially when you’re in print.

Do join us at the information session on May 13th. I’ll be there in person, which is after all the absolute best way to connect socially.

What do you think? Please share your comments below.

Fun, Internet, Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing, search engines, Susan Barnes

The Social Media Marathon

April 7, 2010 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

One of the reasons why social media is different from traditional marketing methods is that is something you have to start and participate in for the long term. It’s not like an ad campaign, where you sprint to get the creative, messaging and production complete before placing the ad on television, radio or in a print publication. Instead it is a marathon where you continuously engage with customers and advocates both about your brand and also by adding value to the community.

When you start a blog it’s for the long haul, in other words, it’s a commitment that you have continue to post great content to your readers for the rest of the blog’s life. It may not be something you pay for with money, but you will certainly be paying for it with sweat equity and/or your staff’s time.

Just like in the marathon, you will hit the wall where you feel you have nothing more interesting to say. That’s when you need to push your hardest and go the extra distance and just get another post out. If you’re struggling to find something to say, talk about someone else. The social media industry mantra is to talk about other people twelve times more than you talk about yourself. Why? Because you’re adding value to your community. Sharing what you like about other people shows your fans and followers more about who you are and it also leaves them feeling like you care about them. And that, my friends is the ultimate goal. Care about your community, because it cares about you.

I recently read Gary Vaynerchuck’s Crush It Vook which I purchased through Vook.com. I highly recommend the new Vook platform (and thanks to the amazing Cariwyl of Salon97.org for turning me on to it). The guy (Gary Vaynerchuck) is dynamic to say the least. He puts the P in Passion and is just an inspiration to watch. The best part about him is that he started from nothing and is now a multi-millionaire with several businesses including WineLibrary.com, WineLibrary.tv and VaynerMedia and he is still humble to boot! You go Gary V, you’re my man and I’m a fan. Thanks for keeping it real, sharing your passion, drive and knowledge. And thanks for caring enough to help anyone who is willing, to simply try.

Marketing, Social Media Social Media

Evidence of the Long Tail

March 4, 2010 Suse Barnes One comment

If you haven’t read The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson, read it. The book is much more entertaining that the Wikipedia definition.

I was just referred to this blog titled “Social Media Will Change Your Business” from one of my favorite Facebook contacts. She’s not really a friend and I don’t even remember how I am connected to her, but she posts really great quotes on Facebook and I am inspired daily. Thank you @claudiaguzman who I just today discovered that you are on Twitter. I’m really going to enjoy following you on Twitter too.

The blog (and introductory video) mentioned above, was last updated in February 2008. Yes, that’s a long time ago, but the story was first published in 2005 and the post is still receiving comments. That’s the power of the long tail. Post something once and it may just live on forever. If it’s on the web, people can find it, link to it, share it and help it spread. This is a great example of that and also the power of crowd sourcing.

What’s your favorite Long Tail story?

Blogging, business, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter blogging, Social Media, Twitter

3 Reasons Why LinkedIn Polls are Useless

March 3, 2010 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

I’m not usually one to complain publicly about issues, but I think LinkedIn is missing a huge opportunity to improve user experience here.

Why LinkedIn Polls are Useless:

There is no way to share the poll to get feedback from your own network.
There is no way to share the poll on other social networks to solicit feedback
LinkedIn is not interested in fixing the issue.

So you have a business and you’re doing your due diligence and collecting feedback about your product or industry. LinkedIn seems like a good place to ask people for feedback because you’ve started building you network and there are people in it who may offer valuable opinions to your questions. You see a link to a poll that someone in your network has posted and because you’re like me and enjoy experimenting and learning by experience, you’re intrigued by the idea of creating your own poll on LinkedIn to see what kind of response you can get. So you set up the poll, which is really simple. Great job, LinkedIn, no problems there.

However, when you try to link to your handy dandy new poll to share it, you find you that the only share link that LinkedIn provides is one to the poll results. Well what good is that if no-one can find your poll and you can’t share it via Twitter, Facebook, your blog or other favorite social network? That’s right, a big fat zero! Thanks LinkedIn, you just lost my interest in this application.

So I wrote to LinkedIn customer support explaining that they are a little behind the times in this share economy that we live in today and suggested that they create a way for people to share the poll question screen with their network and provide a link to share this on other networks and here’s the response I received in return:
—-
Thread Response
(LinkedIn – Katie)
03/01/2010 02:04 PM
Dear Susan,

Thank you for contacting LinkedIn Customer Support.

The functionality described is not available.

Have a great day and thank you for being a valued member of our LinkedIn community!

Katie
LinkedIn Customer Support
—
Auto-Response
02/26/2010 02:11 PM
LinkedIn has received your question. A service professional will review and respond to your inquiry as quickly as possible. Thank you!

Check out our free Learning Center (http://learn.linkedin.com/training) offering learn at your own pace e-learning modules and free classes.
Search our online Customer Service Center (http://linkedin.custhelp.com) for LinkedIn FAQ topics.
—
Customer (Susan Barnes)
02/26/2010 02:11 PM
I would love to be able to share a poll that I create on LinkedIn with my other social networks so that I can get maximum reach and responses on the poll. Why don’t you make this easy?
I see the link to the results, but there is no link to share the actual poll.

Thanks,
Susan
—

In order to create a poll and share it with my LinkedIn network and other social communities, I am going to use something like Poll Daddy instead.

What do you think LinkedIn should do?

LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media LinkedIn, Marketing, polls

When you love what you do…

February 7, 2010 Suse Barnes Leave a comment

When you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work. In fact it feels more like being on vacation. Last week I was on vacation in Salt Lake City Utah. I was snowboarding at a fabulous resort called Snowbird. Snowboarding Snowbird! Lucky me indeed!

I snowboarded for three days and then took a day off from vacation to get some work done. If work is work for you, you’re probably thinking I’m crazy, but if you really love what you do, you understand the meaning of work being fun. When work is fun and fulfilling it makes you smile, it’s motivating, it can make you laugh and feel happy. Admittedly I was a bit concerned that I enjoyed my day off from vacation so much, but then I looked at this video created by Click to Play Media and saw how happy this work makes me.

The video came out of an opportunity to consult with a very interesting start-up called iConfident. The make dental implant software to help dental professionals improve communication, build loyalty, and grow their practice. We looked at their website in terms of search engine optimization and discussed social media opportunities. Susby was collaborating with Click to Play Media who graciously produced this one minute video about Susby in the process. I think you can tell that how much fun it was. On days like this I really love my job.

BIG thank yous to Anna, Brad and Stephanie at Click to Play Media and also to Rob, Robbie and Karoline of iConfident for allowing us to shoot.

My advice to you if you’re not enjoying what you do: Find a way to play more. Do something that makes you smile, i.e. Do what you love, the money will follow. Connect, collaborate and start some conversations. The world revolves around relationships and communication and both are equally important.

Are you working or playing?

Marketing, Search, SEO, Social Media Search, SEO, Social Media, Susan Barnes, susby, video

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