Top 15 Social Media Books for Online Marketing

1. Think Before You Engage: 100 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign By David Peck

This book is essential reading prior to starting any type of social media venture. The reason why so many social media campaigns fail is because they were poorly planned in the first place. Knowing who you want to connect with, how, and why are vital questions that this book will help you answer.

By Shama Kabani

If you don’t know Shama Kabani, then you should. She is not only the author of this book, but also the CEO of The Marketing Zen, which is a Internet marketing firm. Her book is great for beginners who want to know the lay of the land in social media and gain an understanding of which sites are appropriate for their purposes and how to use them.

By Susan Sweeny and Randall Craig

Social media can be a time waster for businesses that do not know how to use it effectively. This book is geared toward businesses that want to get into social media without wasting their time, money,  or effort. It provides practical strategies and advice to get started and create an effective strategy that will increase their exposure and bottom line.

This particular book has been the center of many controversies, but it does have some good points. The point of this book is not so much to help you create a social media strategy, but rather to understand the true limitations of social media. It explains that social media can be good for a few things and if what you’re doing is not one of them, then you should probably direct your efforts elsewhere.

If you are a total beginner at social media, then this would also be a great book to check out. It is very lengthy and comprehensive because it will actually give you step by step instructions about what to do. Even more some of the more experienced social media marketers have this book for reference purpose.

A must read for businesses using social media. If you are planning on using social media to earn more money, get clients, or build your brand then you have to be able gauge your progress in some way. This book explains exactly how to measure your ROI and what you can do if things are not adding up.

Whenever you say social media, you should put an emphasis on the word media. One of the secrets to becoming successful in social media is understanding that the same principles of working in the media are also at work. Reading this book will make you more skeptical about some the things you read online, but it will help you understand how to promote yourself via social media and understand how and why things go viral.

Seth Godin is legendary in marketing period, but especially when it comes to social media. His book is a must read to learn how to build a following on any social media website whether it is Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. It is all about establishing yourself as the leader of a tribe and manage them across any platform.

This book is really geared toward the music industry and the shift to digital content, but it has some great tips about how to build an effective social  media strategy. It can help musicians and non musicians alike. There are a lot of techniques about connecting with people, building a fan base, and bundling products and services in world that wants to get everything for free online.

Creating valuable content is just as important as any other aspect of your social media strategy. Some people get stuck trying to figure out what to write about on a regular basis and this book can help. It offers practical ideas about to make interesting content to keep your followers happy and fulfilled.

A book about how to look at the big picture of social media. Yes, it does touch on some key strategies, but it is mostly about knowing how to navigate this new realm and and use it your advantage. The information in this book is applicable for both individuals and businesses.

A quick read full of some of the best tips and tricks to gain traction online. The good thing about this book is that it covers the entire spectrum, so you can learn some useful techniques for sites outside of the more popular ones.

Danny Iny may be the Freddy Kreuger of blogging, but he also knows his stuff when it comes to social media too. This book is a actually a compilation of essays from other popular bloggers, marketers, and social media experts. Much of their advice does apply to social media and the best thing about it is that all of the writers are speaking from personal experience building their own brands online.

Everything you know about marketing is wrong, so you need to read this book. The biggest misconception that people have about social media is that they think that plugging products every 5 minutes on Twitter is effective. Quite frankly, it does not work like that and if anything it will cause you to lose a lot of followers.

Jeffrey Gitomer is another well known marketing expert and his book is unlike the others in the sense that he explains everything you would want to know about Internet marketing, social media, and how they connect. There is a fair amount of information about social media, but the strength of this book is that it will provide a comprehensive plan to include blogging and other types of strategies to build your brand online.