Social Media Marketing: 5 Books - 5 Blogs - 5 Experts

Photo courtesy of Death To Stock Photo.

I've been using/creating/consuming social media content for over a decade now. I remember coding my first blog in HTML back in 2005, while taking a graduate class in eCommerce at McGill University. Then came Blogger.com, podcasting, Facebook, Twitter and the rest.

I was recently asked to recommend my "top 5 books/blogs/websites for social marketing beginners", and, always willing to help out, I thought I expand on the question and list 5 of each, adding a twist to it and including 5 Experts.

Now of course, this list is far from complete, and the limit has forced me to really narrow down to the "top" sources. I'll revisit each categories in later posts and expend.

5 Books for Social Media Marketing Beginners:

1. Tribes by Seth Godin - This book is not specifically about social media, you'll learn how to differentiate yourself on social media and standing out.
2. The Now Revolution by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund - It's all about the NOW.
3. Renegades Write The Rules by Amy Jo Martin - Using social media to innovate.
4. The Social Employee by Cheryl Burgess and Mark Burgess - The title says it all.
5. The Content Formula by Michael Brenner and Liz Bedor - The ROI of Content Marketing.
   
   
6. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk - BONUS Book!

5 Blogs for Social Media Marketing Beginners:

1. Convince and Convert
2. Business 2 Community - Digital & Social
3. Buffer Blog
4. Social Media Today
5. Social Media Examiner

5 Experts on Social Media Marketing:

1. Gary Vaynerchuk
2. Jay Baer
3. Michael A. Stelzner
4. Melonie Dodaro
5. Bryan Kramer

So there's my lists of top 5 books, 5 blogs and 5 experts on social media marketing.

What do think? 

Who are your top 5? I'd love to know!

The Gang of Four: Apple / Amazon / Facebook / Google

Sit down. Buckle-up. And get ready for a one fast ride through a ton of eye opening data and analysis!

Scott Galloway, L2 Inc. founder and professor of Marketing and Brand Strategy at the NYU Stern School of Business, discusses “The Gang of Four” (Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon), their victims, and the strategies that led them onto a path to a trillion dollar market cap.

If you haven't seen last years presentation (The Four Horsemen) you'll want to see it as well.

MAERSK Line Social: The most successful B2B social media campaign?

At the end of 2011, Maersk Line, the container shipping company, launched its social media campaign in an effort to get closer to its customers. The result is what is probably considered today one of the most successful B2B content marketing campaign ever launched.

Below is a series of articles, cases studies and interviews on the campaign and how it marked a major milestone in what could be achieved in the B2B space.

• Why Social Media?
• How Maersk Line Use Social Media (case study)
• B2B Case Study: Maersk Gets Social Media Right
• Maersk Line sets B2B social media example
• 7 Lessons for Effective B2B Content Marketing via the Maersk Line Case Study
• How Maersk Line Container Shipping Turned B2B Social Media on Its Head
• Being B2B social: A conversation with Maersk Line’s head of social media

And a 6-part case study from the man behind the initiative, Jonathan Wichmann (@JonathanWich):

1. Unlocking the full potential of social media: Maersk Line’s social media study (part 1)
2. Getting started with social media: Maersk Line’s social media study (part 2)
3. What is the value of social media? Maersk Line’s social media study (part 3)
4. Social customer service and the Man in the Machine: Maersk Line’s social media study (part 4)
5. Social selling and teaching where our customers learn: Maersk Line’s social media study (part 5)
6. Social collaboration and why a cultural journey is necessary: Maersk Line’s social media study (part 6)

120+ Tips and Tricks On How To Increase Your YouTube Subscribers

I'm currently working with a number of clients who are looking to increase their number of YouTube subscribers. I thought I'd share the top 10 articles on how to achieve this growth. Feel free to share your tips and tricks!

1. Simple Trick to Increase YouTube Subscribers by 400%
2. 6 Ways to Grow YouTube Subscribers and Your Exposure
3. 50 Free Ways To Grow Your YouTube Channel Subscribers And Views
4. 18 tips how to increase YouTube subscribers
5. How to Increase YouTube Subscribers [VIDEO]
6. 11 Ways To Double Your YouTube Subscribers (Without Buying Them)
7. 20 Smart Ways to Get More Subscribers on YouTube in 2015
8. 9 Advanced Tactics for Promoting Your YouTube Channel and Increasing Subscribers
9. 7 Hard Hitting Ways to Grow Your YouTube Audience
10. WikiHow: How to Get Tons of Subscribers on YouTube

Who will be the next Facebook?

The next Facebook is, well, Facebook. 

To be more accurate Instagram and WhatsApp Messenger, which were purchase by Facebook, have the greatest potential for growth of all current social networks. The two most important drivers of social media are “visual” and “being born on mobile”, which Instagram is on both counts, and which WhatsApp is in the case of the latter.

Instagram was one of the best tech acquisitions in recent years. Acquired by Facebook in April 2012, it’s estimated that Instagram generated between 250M-400M in revenue for Facebook in 2014.Instagram is currently the  fastest growing any social platform, with the exception of WeChat (100M users, versus Instagram’s 300M users) . Instagram gets 15 times the engagement level of Facebook and 25 times that of Twitter.

The WhatsApp acquisition was a master stroke for Facebook. WhatsApp had a strong presence in geographies where Facebook was the weakest. Their user bases complement each other.  In late 2014, WhatsApp Messenger surpassed SMS in number of messages sent. In combination with Facebook’s own Messenger application – now its own mobile/web app – these Messenger app are becoming a platform onto their own, on which other developers can build. 

Looking at mobile apps, as of July of last year, Facebook held the top spot in all age groups (18-24, 25-34, 35-54 & 55+), followed by Instagram (3^rd, 4^th, 7^th place is these age groups, except 55+) and Messenger (8^th, 6^th, 3^rd and 2^nd place).  Over 91% of 18-34 year olds are on Facebook – clearly, the exodus of the Millennials away from Facebook is not as true as some report.

Finally, two thirds of all times spent on social media is spent on Facebook.

Clearly, Facebook is the next Facebook.