As you may know by now, Social Media Club officially launched a monthly book club last month.
The new Social Media Book Club will feature social media’s most innovative thought leaders, who have written books that can help our gloabl community learn, improve and share. We have selected several titles we will be introducing to you at the beginning of the month and have asked several of our Professional member and chapter leaders to help us review the monthly titles.
We are introducing our April book of the month, Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks,
Webinars that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman.
Blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other online platforms are giving organizations like yours an enormous opportunity to engage directly with your customers. That’s a lucky thing: because instead of creating awareness about your company or your brand solely the old-school way (through annoying people with advertising, or bugging them with direct mail, or interrupting them with whatever), you now have an unprecedented and enormous opportunity.
Now, thanks to the advent of the Internet and the rise of Web-based tools and technologies, you can create the kind of web content, blog posts, videos, webinars, and web sites that will attract customers to you, rather than you chasing after them. What’s more, you can entice your customers to share those stories with each other, all across the web.
via Content Rules
At the beginning of last month, we had a team of ten people read and review Content Rules on behalf of Social Media Book Club. Here are some experts from their reviews,
In a nutshell, Content Rules is a refreshing no-nonsense read that reminded me why I got into the business of social media in the first place — social media has allowed me to take off my corporate costume and engage with consumers at a human level. Most importantly, this book is a resource that I will return to time and time again given its lasting content about, well, content.
via Mark Krupinski from SMC Orlando
Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman made this book readable, not mundane, and I can tell they put their honest personality in the book and they wrote like they were talking to us not at us.
via Jenn Boyd from SMC San Diego
I loved the metaphor Handley and Chapman use when referring to creating content, “Stoke the Campfire.” (pg. 96) They go on to write, “Remember the tinder you needed to get a fire started? Small, highly combustible items that catch on quickly and help ignite the bigger stuff?”(pg. 97) One of my go-to working documents with Social Media Club is my editorial calendar, without it I would be running blind. This begs the question, Is your content stream or calendar setting you up for success? Editorial calendars are used in journalism, we have calendars managing our tasks each day, so do you have a content calendar? See Chapter 5 for some great tips on building out the most effective editorial calendar for you and/or your business.
via Jessica Murray from SMC Chicago
In an effort to continue discussion and connect our Social Media Club community with the authors, we are hosting a complimentary webinar on Wednesday, April 27th at 2pm EDT with C.C. Chapman, author of Content Rules.
C.C. will be offering further insight into the need for companies to create compelling content and highlight brands who are doing this effectively.
Our Social Media Club Members (Open/Pro/SMB/Corporate) are welcome to join us on Wednesday, April 27th at 2pm EDT for the webinar highlighting our April book of the month , Content Rules with C.C. Chapman, register here.
As a Social Media Club Professional Membership benefit, we are inviting you to be part of our Social Media Book Club. If you are a Professional Member and interested in receiving, reviewing and sharing your feedback with the rest of the SMC community, please email Jessica (Jessica at socialmediaclub dot org) for details.
For more information and to purchase your copy of Content Rules visit our Amazon account at Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series)
Be sure to follow the Social Media Book Club hashtag on Twitter, #smcbooks.