Social Media Strategy Class Reading List
I recently taught a class at DePaul University on Social Media Strategy to Graduate Students in Public Relations and Advertising. Below is the reading list I compiled with tech sources, interesting articles, and relevant case studies that helped guide our class discussion.
Technology and Social Media Blogs
- Mashable
- ReadWriteWeb
- TechCrunch
- The Next Web
- AllFacebook
- Inside Facebook
- Wired
- Business Insider
- Soshable
Analyst Blogs
- Jeremiah Owayng
- Scott Monty
- Greg Satell
- Chris Brogan
- Peter Kim
- Brian Solis
- Tim O’Reilly
- Jeff Jarvis
- Aaron Strout
Podcasts
Podcasts have been my “secret weapon” over the years. All the news covered on the sites above is broken down into detail. I strongly recommend them
- This Week In Tech
- This Week In Google
- Tech News Today
- The Social Hour
- NPR’s On The Media
- Quick N Dirty
- Brand Fast Trackers
Twitter Lists
- Ben Foster’s Tweets With Value
- Marshall Kirkpatrick’s Social Strategists
- Marshall Kirkpatrick’s Friends of Strategists
- Tim O’Reilly’s Tech News
- Mashable’s Brands
- AdWeek 25
- TechCocktail Chicago
- The Community Roundtable
Specific Articles
Class 1 – The State of the Internet and Public Relations
- Mary Meeker – 10 Questions Internet Execs should Ask and Answer via TechCrunch
- The Cluetrain Manifesto
- Markets Are Conversations – The Cluetrain Manifesto
- The Future of Public Relations
Class 2 – Objectives, Strategies, and Audience Research
- The 5 Ways Companies Organize for Social Business – Jeremiah Owyang
- Online Database of Social Media Policies
- Best Buy’s Social Media Policy
- How to Create Good Social Media Business Objectives – Ben Foster
- How Social Media is changing paid, earned, and owned media – Lauren Drell
- Portfolio Approach to Social Media Strategy – Ben Foster
- Consumer Decision Journey – McKinsey
- Summary of HBR article on Social Media and the New Rules of Branding – Paul Marsden
Class 3 – Creativity, Integrated Social Media Marketing, Content Strategy and Online Community Management
- Old Spice Creativity
- Checklist for Content Strategy – Ben Foster
- The Four Tenets of the Community Manager – Jeremiah Owyang
- P&G Drives new Product Innovation to the Next Level with Increased Crowdsourcing Program
- Starbucks’ Groundswell Award Application
Class 4 – Facebook
- Facebook User Growth Chart – Ben Foster
- How to Create a Facebook Engagement Policy
- Building Your Brand on Facebook
- Healthy Choice Case Study
- Next Restaurant Creates Online Community Of Foodies
- Facebook Open Graph
Class 5 – Twitter, YouTube, and Blogs
- 9 Lessons from Successful Brands on Twitter – Dave Kerpen on Mashable
- Twitter for Business
- Mashable – YouTube and Brands
- How Social Media’s Short News Cycle Can Precipitate Bad Journalism – Bob Garfield on Mashable
- Forbes: Yes, CEOs Should Facebook and Twitter
- Should CEOs Blog?
Class 6 – Internal Communities and SEO
- The Many Roles of an Internal Community Manager – Steve Radick
- Enterprise 2.0 on Wikipedia
- Google SEO Basics
- Google on Search Engine Optimization
- Perfecting Keyword Targeting On Page Optimization
- JC Penney’s Black Hat SEO
Class 7 – Blogger Outreach, Meme Hijacking, Mobile, and Paid Tactics
- You, Dim PR Person, are dumb and Should be Fired – NBA Finals
- Facebook Busted in Clumsy Smear Attempt on Google
- 13 Branded Mobile Apps that Got It Right
- 5 Innovative Mobile Marketing Campaigns to Learn From
- Free Beer! Foursquare starts Alerting Users of Nearby Mayor Deals
- 9 Killer Tips for Location Based Marketing
- 10 Keys to a Good Location Based Marketing Campaign
- 4 Ways to Utilize the Google Keyword tool
- Foursquare and Amex Team Up For Deals
Class 8 – Online Reputation Management
- Social Media’s Role in Company Crisis Management
- United Breaks Guitars
- Domino’s Pizza
- BP Oil and Twitter
- Southwest Airlines and Kevin Smith
- Motrin Moms
Class 9 – Online Measurement and Metrics
Google Analytics Basics
Facebook Analytics
- http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Pages_Insights_Guide_Updated.pdf
- http://www.arikhanson.com/2011/04/08/5-facebook-insights-metrics-to-track-and-why/
- http://todaymade.com/blog/facebook-course/using-facebooks-insights/
- http://www.allfacebook.com/how-to-monitor-your-facebook-page-insights-to-improve-content-2009-09
Class 10 – The Future of the Internet (and Your Career)
- Wired’s coverage of the development of Google+
- Wedbush on The Social Graph
- TechCrunch, “The Age of Relevance”
- The Battle Against Info Overload
- The Career Path of the Corporate Social Strategist – Jeremiah Owang
- Twitter Twitter Little Stars
- 5 Clever Ways to Get a Job Using Social Media
- 5 Tips for Aspiring Social Media Marketers
42 Tactics for Content – Content Toolkit Playbook by Content Management Institute
This is a good guide written by Joe Pulizzi at Junta 42 containing 42 different tactics (with case studies) on content marketing. Sure, some of these are obvious…but what is really great about this is that it’s a list of everything in one place that you can easily use and reference.
Interesting – Nicorette uses Promoted Tweets to Direct to A Facebook Page?
When Twitter announced their Promoted Suite product late last year, it was easy to see how brands could use this to inject a trend into the conversation. Using a Promoted Trend on the day the DVD release of Inception to promote the BluRay version was a great example.
I saw Nicorette using this Promoted Trend (#QuittingSucks) on January 4, 2011. But the message that went along with it directed users to their Facebook Community? Paying for advertising on Twitter to direct to Facebook? This was interesting…a Promoted Tweet isn’t cheap, $80K according to this article.
Also interesting is that the link doesn’t really take you to a support community, it’s taking you to a splash screen ad with information and a coupon.
Highly recommended video satire of Social Media Experts by @bajillionhits . Or maybe it’s not satire and he knows his strat.
Alex Blagg of Bajillion Hits (http://bajillionhits.biz/) is a genius. I am likely one of the people his satire is intended to highlight, and that’s cool. He is pointing out the problems with our industry and that will only serve to make the internet better in the end.
I now look through every email, presentation, and document I create with an eye as to whether or not it’s “strat” or real.
Facebook Advertising for Men of Social Media 2011 Calendar Spot
I was on Facebook today and saw this ad for Tim McDonald who REALLY wants to win a spot in the 2011 Men of Social Media calendar
At first I thought this was funny…but probably a worthwhile advertising investment in one’s personal brand. And, with all the poseurs, you gotta love social media people who can execute what they preach.
However, if you’re like me and don’t want the digital elite decorating your office, I strongly suggest this alternative calendar. The 2011 Goats In Trees Calendar
My choice for 2011 Calendars
Digital Experience and Presence: Keys to Launching Successful Social Media Career
A reader at Culpwrit: Guiding the career in public relations asked our office director Ron Culp the following question:
I am interested in eventually transitioning to an agency role, specifically in digital PR or digital media planning. Do you have any suggestions for what my next steps should be?
Ron asked for my input which I gladly provided. Here are the highlights, please visit Ron’s site for the full text of my career advice for digital PR.
Creating a Digital Presence
- Have a portfolio of digital work you can point to on the interne t
- Start your own blog, doesn’t matter what. Just do something
- Ask friends/family if you can do any projects for them
Learn By Doing
- This lesson taught me so much about google search engine optimization for images
- Having this experience helps tell interesting stories in interviews
- Positions you to counsel clients well because you’ll have the experience they are counting on
Stay Up To Date on Current Trends
- Subscribe to Mashable, Read Write Web, TechCrunch, Wired
- Seek out Case Studies – These can be just as important as breaking tech
What is an Internet Meme? Perfect explanation for curious clients
Fantastic work by Ellie Koning at Online University – http://www.onlineuniversity.org/
Facebook User Growth Chart
How many Facebook users are there? This chart shows the number of Facebook users from 2004 to 2011 based on a variety of data including Facebook.
I was looking all over the internet for a chart that showed the number of Facebook users there are and couldn’t find one. I figured I’d just create one and share it so that other people wouldn’t have to go through the search that I did.
Number of Facebook Users
Here’s the user data from Facebook and other sources if you want to do your own thing
| Dec-04 | 1 |
| Dec-05 | 5.5 |
| Dec-06 | 12 |
| Apr-07 | 20 |
| Oct-07 | 50 |
| Aug-08 | 100 |
| Jan-09 | 150 |
| Feb-09 | 175 |
| Apr-09 | 200 |
| Jul-09 | 250 |
| Sep-09 | 300 |
| Dec-09 | 350 |
| Feb-10 | 450 |
| Jul-10 | 500 |
| Sept-10 | 550 |
| Jan-11 | 600 |
| Feb-11 | 650 |
| Jun-11 | 750 |
| Sep-11 | 800 |
| Nov-11 | 850 |
Great Posts on Social Media Strategy
- Social Media Strategy Execution – A How To Guide
- Portfolio Approach to Social Media Strategy
- Adding PEOPLE as the 5th P in your Marketing Mix
Updates to Facebook User Growth Data
- 9/22/10 – Business Week reports 550 million Facebook users
- 1/14/2011 – Aaron Lee reports 600 million Facebook users
- 2/17/2011 – Business Insider reports 650 million Facebook users
- 6/23/2011 – TechCrunch reports 750 million Facebook users
- 9/22/2011 – Mashable reports 800 million Facebook users
- 11/30/2011 – A cached Facebook job posting shows 850 million Facebook users. (Screenshot here)
Facebook Data Suggests We Have an Eating Problem
I was doing some research on top Facebook pages for Food and Beverages on the wonderful Page Statistics tool on All Facebook. Only 2 of the top 30 pages are “Healthy”, Subway and Sushi. Oh, and Pizza appears 3 times in the top 10.
Top Food and Beverage Facebook Pages
These pages all are in the millions of fans(or likers)…some, like this Pizza Page, aren’t being updated and have a Fan Wall Page filled with spam. No one will proclaim to not like being healthy…so I did a search on Health and Beauty. More disappointment
I love Facebook for keeping up with brands and companies I love. At one point I recommended that brands should have a Facebook page only if they’re cool enough to be on a Tee-Shirt. I no longer agree with everything I wrote there as long as you’re using Facebook to execute smart Social Media Business Objectives.
Facebook Privacy Concerns? Who cares??? Did you guys hear we’re getting free donuts?
The movement to quit Facebook on May 31 received about 36,000 fans. Dunkin Donuts Free Donut Day, received over 90,000 fans.
Quit Facebook Day - 36,000 People
Free Donut Day - 90,000 people
Despite some media reports claiming Quit Facebook Day was a success because it raised awareness, I feel like Facebook is going to feel emboldened to stretch the limits even more. There is now a public validation that privacy isn’t as important as staying connected to your friends. Facebook now has public validation through hard numbers that what they are doing is right….and they’re going to do more.
