42 Rules

A popular phrase in marketing is “Return On Investment” or ROI.  We always want to know the ROI of the marketing tactics we use and this is sometimes easy to determine.  Where it gets murky is when it comes to social media.  There isn’t a way to monitor social media impact at present because social media is not meant to be a marketing or sales channel.  Social media is the opportunity to build relationships with present and future customers, build your brand and create a positive reputation.  Most of this can’t be quantified.

In my opinion the best practices in social media include:

1.  Build relationships.  Tweeting a couple of times a week or posting to your Facebook profile or Fan Page once in a while isn’t going to build relationships.  You need to monitor your accounts for visitor response at least twice a week if you’re just starting out and more often when you become more experienced.  Answer questions, “like” responses and thank people for commenting.  If you have the time check out the profile of your most vocal fans and follow them as well.

2.  Don’t start a flame war.  Build your reputation by responding positively and constructively to criticism.  Show enthusiasm for suggestions even if they aren’t spot on.  Move potentially destructive conversations off social media and on to e-mail or telephone.   Do feel free to remove comments that are spammy or inappropriate and report people who continuously spam you.  Building your reputation doesn’t mean you have to be a doormat and you have the right to protect your brand.

3.  Monitor conversations about you or your book.  People may be talking about you in a positive or negative manner on their own social media accounts so it’s important that you search for mentions of your book title and respond appropriately.  You can setup Google Alerts to monitor some of this but you must also manually search social media sites proactively.  You’ll be surprised at what you learn and much of it will be positive.

4.  Use social media to promote but not sell.  No one wants to follow someone on Twitter just to hear over and over again “Buy my book. Buy my book.  Buy my book.” It is permissible, however, to mention a product discreetly.

If you get frustrated with the time you spend on social media remind yourself that you are building relationships and no one can put a price on that!

What’s it about?

42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business is the modern survival guide to effective social media communications and the answer to the question, “what do I do with social media?” Written by communications professional Jennifer L. Jacobson, this book is designed to help entrepreneuring professionals use social media to propel their business and get the most out of their social presence. From networking communication to social branding, 42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business addresses specific rules of engagement, as well as the fundamental approach to online, as opposed to traditional, media.

As part of the 42 Rules series, this social media book is designed to quickly and effectively equip business professionals with the tools they need to grow an effective customer community through social media, that translates into customer loyalty, excitement for the brand, and return business that eventually generates a dedicated customer base and increased revenue. 42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business demystifies social media and teaches readers why social media is important to their business and how they can maximize their social media effectiveness.

Jennifer L. Jacobson is a communications professional who drives public relations and social media for Retrevo.com, one of the largest consumer electronics shopping and review sites in the world.

What they're saying.

What's in the book.

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What’s it about?

Do you know how to use LinkedIn to achieve your business goals? There are millions of registered users on LinkedIn. Relatively few of them seem to have any real understanding of how to effectively use LinkedIn. With registered users on LinkedIn projected to grow to 70 million by the end of 2009, business professionals are searching for ways to leverage this new communication medium. Although Social Networking is exploding, there are very few resources that teach what users are craving – solutions to increase their desired business success.

42 Rules to 24-Hour Success on LinkedIn is a user-friendly guidebook designed to help you leverage the power of LinkedIn to build visibility, make connections and support your brand. There is a theory that everyone in the world is connected by no more than 6 people. You know who you are, but who else in this socially-networked world knows you?  This career book can help you answer those questions and more.

Author Chris Muccio is an award-winning entrepreneur who draws upon insightful experiences from his successful career in Corporate America to guide business leaders on the most effective strategies to uncover profit and growth opportunities resulting in rapid and sustainable improvements within their business.

What they’re saying.

“’42 Rules to 24 Hour Success on LinkedIn’ provides straightforward, common sense advice on how to get the most out of LinkedIn – the most popular social networking site for busy professionals. In this compact book, Chris, David and Peggy show you what to do to leverage the power of social networking on LinkedIn. And they do it in an easy to use, enjoyable read. If you want to build a network of likeminded professionals, you need to be on LinkedIn. If you’re on LinkedIn you need to read 42 Rules to 24 Hour Success on LinkedIn.” Bud Bilanich, The Common Sense Guy, Bestselling author of ‘Straight Talk for Success’

“These 42 Rules provide entrepreneurs, corporations and job seekers with gems of advice and are the perfect resource to make sense of how you can generate success with LinkedIn. For new users, it is provides a terrific overview and for experienced users, it is a great reminder of the things you may know intuitively but may have forgotten in the rush of our hectic schedules.” Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid & The Contrarian Effect

“The book is a very practical, yet easy and fun read. It is impressive in its clarity presenting the various aspects for generating 24-hour success on LinkedIn without the typical hype. You will come away understanding the core business principles driving your LinkedIn success.” Mitch Meyerson, Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coaching and author of Mastering Online Marketing

What’s in the book.

Here’s a small sample of the actionable content in this book:

Rule 3 Get LinkedIn or Get Left Out?
Rule 8 Communicate Constantly Without Being Annoying
Rule 39 Separate Professional from Personal

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