Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook

by Dave Kerpen

THE NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER! The secret to successful word-of-mouth marketing on the social web is BE LIKEABLE. A friend's recommendation is more powerful than any advertisement. In the world of Facebook, Twitter, and beyond, that recommendation can travel farther and faster than ever before. Likeable Social Media helps you harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing to transform your business. Listen to your customers and prospects. Deliver value, excitement, and surprise. And most important, learn how to truly engage your customers and help them spread the word. Praise for Likeable Social Media : Dave Kerpen's insights and clear, how-to instructions on building brand popularity by truly engaging with customers on Facebook, Twitter, and the many other social media platforms are nothing short of brilliant.
Jim McCann, founder of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM and Celebrations.com Alas, common sense is not so common. Dave takes you on a (sadly, much needed) guided tour of how to be human in a digital world.
Seth Godin, author of Poke the Box Likeable Social Media cuts through the marketing jargon and technical detail to give you what you really need to make sense of this rapidly changing world of digital marketing and communications. Being human — being likeable — will get you far.
Scott Monty, Global Digital Communications, Ford Motor Company Dave gives you what you Practical, specific how-to advice to get people talking about you.
Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth How Smart Companies Get People Talking

Genres: Business, Social Media, Nonfiction, Reference, Web, Buisness, Self Help

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2011

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a social media professional, I didn't get a lot of new information from this book. But I did get some. It suffers a bit from the short lifespan of Facebook functionalities, but anything written about specific Facebook features will meet the same fate. This offers some great big-picture strategic thinking, which makes it recommended reading for any current or aspiring business owner who wants to board the ride that is the social web. If you're "kind of doing" social media, read this to find out why it's an all-or-nothing game.

As a marketing professional, I'm easily annoyed by shameless plugs for the author's business. I know that some that content is for legitimacy's sake. I just couldn't resist the subliminal message that, "I'm an expert at comprehensive multimedia marketing, and as such, this is my offering in the printed-book format." Perhaps doing this with grace is something that still needs to be worked out in the industry.

[Tylor Paucek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dave Kerpen is an expert in the field of social media and word of mouth marketing. He is not someone sitting on the outside and looking in telling you how it should be done. He is actually in the trenches, doing this kind of work every day. He uses examples from his own business, Likeable Media, to illustrate his points.

This book is about social media strategies and uses examples from many of the major social sites. This book is not going to teach you how to use each of the social media sites, but it will give you a bit of an overview of each of the major players. What Mr. Kerpen is trying to do in this book is teach you how to use social media to build relationships and be likeable. The book starts off by talking about how to define your target audience and moves into how to communicate with them. While you are communicating with your friends/fans/followers, common situations come up that may give people pause. Mr. Kerpen does a great job of addressing these issues such as comments (both good and bad), questions, and authenticity. He then wraps things up by talking about incorporating social media into the whole customer experience. In a way, the titles of the last two chapters do a good job of summing up the book. Consistently Deliver Excitement, Surprise, and Delight and Don't Sell! Just Make It Easy and Compelling for Customers to Buy.

This book was a quick and easy read. This doesn't mean it doesn't have depth though. It is so interesting and enjoyable, it would not be surprising for someone to sit down and crank it out in an afternoon. The information is fresh, yet it is also timeless. If in 15 years Facebook and Twitter have been replaced by something else, this book will still be able to be used as a road map to getting and keeping fans. In addition to being relevant information, the book was also enjoyable to read. The examples were interesting because I knew that each one was taken right from Mr. Kerpen's actual business experience.

The bottom line for me is that this book is a must read for anyone in social media. Everyone from rookies to veterans will find something of value in this book. I give it a solid 5 star rating!

[Anita Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Is social media a waste of time for businesses?" This question gets asked and debated a lot.

If the jury is still out on social media in your mind, then I recommend you read Likeable Social Media. Author Dave Kerpen answers the question about social media's business value on the very first page.

He begins the book by telling the story of waiting in the check-in line at the trendiest hotel in Las Vegas. Frustrated, he pulled out his BlackBerry and tweeted about the unpleasantness of waiting for an hour. He got a return tweet — from a competitor of that hotel. Dave then writes, "Guess where I ended up staying the next time I went to Las Vegas." He points out that a single tweet resulted in a $600 sale for the competitor.

That opening story is an example of the kind of practical insights you will get from Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (& Other Social Networks).

As the title indicates, the book is primarily about Facebook, with a healthy dose of Twitter for good measure. There are references, for sure, to other social sites such as LinkedIn. But mostly those are in passing or lumped in at the end. What you'll learn from this book are nuts and bolts about how to harness Facebook and Twitter for marketing purposes, to build a brand and deepen customer loyalty.

I liked this book because of the many practical marketing examples and how-tos. The book always starts with strategic objectives -- but doesn't stop there. It tells you what you need to do to accomplish your objectives.

Above review excerpted from my original review at Small Business Trends.

[Joan Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book from Goodreads. Since I don't own a business one might ask why I would be interested in winning and reading it.
I must admit the title intrigued me. I thought it showed imagination and a sense of humor on the part of the author and I now I know my initial reaction was correct. From the first words in the first chapter to the very end of the book I was entertained by Dave Kerpen's ideas and his way with words.
I learned some interesting facts about marketing a business ( and maybe even yourself) and specifically doing it using the social media online. which could be helpful if I ever decide to start a business (doubtful) . Even better, I think anyone who uses the social networks like Face Book and Twitter just on a personal level can learn a lot about how to be "delightful" to others and "generally amazing" as well.
As Seth Godin said on the back cover of this book, "Dave takes you on a (sadly much needed) guided tour of how to be human in a digital world". That is needed in general today I think. It's important to treat people courteously and to listen to what they say and Dave does that in a place one wouldn't necessarily expect to find it.
This is a great book, an interesting read and I really enjoyed it.

[Ryan Manganiello · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read numerous social media books, and this one is by far the absolute best!!! It’s extremely reader friendly, and connects with you in ways most books pertaining to this subject can never do. I highly recommend this book to entrepreneurs and small business owners who are contemplating on taking their ideas and products into the new viral world of social media.

[Michael Carnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book for those looking to get started in social media, gain a better understanding of it, or understand why it is important. The examples that Kerpen gives are spot on as to the value that lies in the new, but oh so old, form of interaction.

At its base, social media is not much different than all the communication that we have all been doing for years; that the human race and consumers have been doing forever. What is different about it is the immediacy, the permanence, and the reach. Kerpen illustrates this very well with examples of how social media has been used to help companies and causes, or ignored to the peril of those on the wrong end.

As one saying goes about social media, "your customers are already talking about you, don't you want to be part of that conversation?" Likeable Social Media helps you to understand how to be part of that conversation without being a pushy salesperson or an overpowering know-it-all. You want to be liked. You want to be the person that others gather around at the cocktail party instead of the one they all avoid.

You don't have to read this book cover to cover, in fact your don't even have to read the chapters in order. In that way it is a great desk or bedside reference to just pick up from time to time to get a quick bit of inspiration.

If social media bewilders you at all, this book is highly recommended.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a useful book for introducing to a practicing marketeer the benefits and pitfalls of social media. The book tells many stories on the effective use of mainly facebook and twitter. Unfortunately the book lacks focus on the important aspect of social media, your industry and marketing segments. You can leverage network effects with facebook, but at the same time, it is difficult to control whom you are reaching. For example, if you are selling enterprise solutions and your entire customer base is 2000 firms and you really need to reach 15 executives per firm, facebook is not the answer (maybe Linkedin). The book also trivializes the difficulties in pivoting a marketing organization to orientation around social media (the book is by the founder of a PR firm). The author is little acquainted with the challenges of an entrenched bureaucracy.

With those negatives, I would say that there are still effective strategies using the tools and techniques in the book. The story around IBM's effective use of search on the social media sites to find sales opportunities is a strategy any firm could leverage.

One detail that post-dates the book is that the SEC has determined that the Like button on Facebook constitutes a testimonial which is illegal. All financial advisers were directed to take down their Facebook pages two weeks ago.

[Violeta Chinni · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE IT! I refer to it as my Social Media Bible and have even found the way to use it in my Social Media 101 for Artists class. I especially love the part of the book where David Kerpen talks about the difference between value offer and marketing offer and how to make a promotion more appealing to customers on social media platforms. I have this book in both print and eBook formats and will continue to refer to it in my upcoming speaking engagements. I highly recommend it and cannot wait to start reading Dave's next book called 'Likable Social Business.'

[Dmitry · Rating 1 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath Russian one)

Книга напоминает одновременно и журнальную статью и рекламу. Увы, но автор не смог удержаться от рекламы самого себя и своего агентства, из-за чего возникло ощущение, что автор написал книгу не тогда, как говорил Жванецкий, «когда терпеть уже не можешь», а тогда, когда «финансы поджимают», т.е. это в некоторой степени вымученная книга. К сожалению, такие книги редко когда бывают полезными и чаще всего в них присутствует три широко распространённых компонента: вода, очевидные истины и немного здравых, но не оригинальных, идей. Всё так и получилось.
Итак, автор начинает издалека, и первые главы посвящаются такому чудесному помощнику всех маркетологов как социальные сети. В общем, в нынешнее время этот вопрос не нуждается в подробном объяснении (достаточно будет и обычных статей из профильных журналов). Далее автор так же не предлагает ничего оригинального, а именно, что социальные сети необходимо использовать как инструмент общения с клиентом и не в форме монолога (как это происходит в классической рекламе), а в форме диалога. Далее идёт много текста о важности общения с клиентом и о решении его проблем и пр.
В качестве одного из вариантов, как можно использовать социальные сети, автор предлагает главу о Storytelling. Это нынче модная тема. Написание не рекламы как таковой, а истории. Ну, лично я, скептически отношусь к этому. Это может и будет кому интересно, но скорее, только ярым фанатам. Остальные потребители могут приобретать товар компании, но быть полностью индифферентными к тем рекламным и PR материалам, что предлагает компания.
Второй момент, это бесплатный контент, который можно разместить на своей страничке, чтобы им, как бы подцепить клиентов, т.е. это некий крючок. Не зря сегодня постоянно видишь, как странички разных брендов в социальных медиа превращаются в глянцевые журналы, предлагая клиентам различные советы типа «Это должен знать каждый…» или «10 советов, чтобы не быть обманутым» и так далее. Тоже весьма спорно, т.к. люди могут посчитать, что это только засоряет их ленту, да и зачем дублировать подобные новости. Плюс, люди решаются на покупку не потому, что бренд разместил у себя интересную статью.
И последнее что я бы отметил, это то, что в принципе, всё написанное в книге можно заменить двумя вещами: здравый смысл и бенчмаркинг. Всё.
Самый большой минус книги, это то, что предлагает автор, т.е. социальные медиа как некий ключевой фактор. Например, он приводит историю некого ресторана, который что-то там написал у себя в facebook и добился некого успеха. Не знаю, какого успеха он добился, но вот рестораны люди выбирают не потому, что они пишут у себя что-то в facebook, а потому, что пишут те, кто их посещали в Google Maps и TripAdvisor, т.е. 1. Какой рейтинг имеет ресторан и 2. Что о нём говорят люди посетившие его. Учитывая, что это касается не только ресторанов, но и многого другого, т.е. есть огромная тема, которая называется «как потребители совершают покупки» и что на эту тему было написано много книг, что целые главы посвящены этому вопросу в учебниках по MBA и что этот вопрос не сводится к одним лишь социальным медиа (а в некоторых случаях вообще не касается), приходится признать неоднозначность книги. Автор слишком увлёкся темой и не заметил, как ушёл слишком далеко от цели.
Второй большущий минус: отсутствие фактов, цифр, т.е. как на практике это повлияло на прибыль. Где цифры? Где доказательства, что акции были реально успешны? Всё на словах у автора.

The book reminds me of both a magazine article and an advertisement. Alas, but the author could not refrain from advertising himself and his agency, which gave the impression that the author wrote the book not when, as Zhvanetsky said, "when you can no longer endure", but when "personal finances cannot endure", i.e., it is to some extent a tormented book. Unfortunately, such books are seldom useful and most often have three common components: empty talk, common sense and a little bit sensible, but not original, ideas.
So, the author begins from afar, and the first chapters are devoted to such a wonderful assistant to all marketers as social networks. In general, nowadays this issue does not need a detailed explanation (ordinary articles from specialized journals will be enough). Further, the author also does not offer anything original, namely that social networks should be used as a tool to communicate with the client and not in the form of a monologue (as it happens in classical advertising), but in the form of dialogue. Next comes a lot of text about the importance of communication with the client and the solution to their problems.
As one of the options, how to use social networks, the author proposes a chapter on Storytelling. This is a trendy topic nowadays. Writing stories, not advertisements per se. Well, I am skeptical about it. Perhaps this will be of interest to some of the buyers, but most likely, only the ardent fans of the brand. Other consumers can buy the company's products, but be completely indifferent to the advertising and PR materials that the company offers.
The second point is free content, which can be placed on your page to attract customers, i.e. it is a hook. It is not in vain that today you constantly see how the pages of different brands in social media turn into glossy magazines, offering customers various tips such as "Everyone should know this ..." or "10 tips not to be deceived" and so on. It is also very controversial, as people may think that this only clogs their news feed, and why duplicate such news. Plus, people decide to buy not only because the brand has posted an interesting article.
And the last thing I would say is that, in principle, everything written in the book can be replaced by two things: common sense and benchmarking. Everything.
The biggest drawback of the book is what the author offers, i.e. social media as a key factor. For example, he cites the story of a restaurant that wrote something on its Facebook page and achieved success. I don't know what kind of success he has achieved, but people choose restaurants not because they (restaurants) write something on their Facebook, but because those who have visited them write about them on Google Maps and TripAdvisor, i.e. 1. What is the rating of this restaurant and 2. What do the people who visited it say about this restaurant? Considering that this is not only about restaurants, but also about many other things, i.e. there is a huge topic called "how consumers shop" and that many books have been written on this topic, that entire chapters are devoted to this issue in MBA textbooks, and that this issue is not just about social media (or in some cases, not at all), we have to admit the ambiguity of the book. The author was too keen on the subject and did not notice how far he had gone from his goal.
The second major drawback is the lack of facts, figures, i.e. how this has affected the profit in practice. Where are the numbers? Where is the evidence that this marketing activity was effective?

[Jin Kok · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Simplify]
I love how Dave Kerpen makes the reading to be easy.
He definitely strike a point about being the importance of simple.
People are more likely to purchase something that's very easy to be use or to choose.
Because when there are too much to choose, there would a mental block for the customer to choose from.
To make things easy and likeable it's good to see how the idea of the best selling products are often the grand ones: design in sleek simplicity.

And people then to choose those also because it makes decision making much easier.
And when they want to promote to others it is much easier to describe the function and also use.

The author also gave very real life examples with Unilever and also Blackberry that when the products have too much selections. This would pose many problems:

Unilever case:
They had too much inventory of 12,000 over products.
And this caused logisctic to be sluggish and controlling of inventory become problematic.
So, when they decided to boldly to cut down on their portfolio on the slow moving stocks.
And they saw that they were earning again.
Sometimes to lose is better, in order to gain.

Blackberry Case:
With smartphones are aggressively competing each other.
Blackberry was all the while branded to be a business phone.
And when they decided to branch out to be an all user type.
They suddenly found themselves competing and being compared to multiple phone brands.
As what Steve Jobs once said: "Innovation means to say no to 1,000 over things.
Being single minded, being simple, should be the key for Blackberry to be a niche.

There's one more chapter I very much like.
The theme of the chapter is about the importance of being transparent and open.
Because, there's some truth to this old addage, "The truth will set you free."

Which happened that Domino had some hiccups when customers were complaining about the quality of the pizza. When that happened. Instead of ignoring it. They listened. And took action, admited their mistakes, improved on their crust and took consideration of customer feedback. And showed to the world that they were serious in improving things. And made a video called: "Pizza Turnaround Documentary" to prove it!

An Excellent book. I would read it again.

[Heidi The Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the more specific information in this is outdated, but the general outlines are solid. Kerpen teaches how to be "likeable" on social media for businesses mainly but his lessons are also applicable to non-profits and individuals. The most valuable part of this book is the appendix where he breaks down the different platforms and explains the strengths of each and how to utilize them. Even if you knew absolutely nothing about social media, you would understand the basics after reading this book.

If you liked this, I would also recommend Platform by Michael Hyatt which is another social media instruction book. After that, make sure to read Terms of Service by Jacob Silverman to educate yourself about the potential perils and pitfalls of social media.

[Kathleen Garber · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book, I feel as though I know more than some companies about how best to approach and work with social media. As a blogger, it doesn't all apply to me but what doesn't, I still found interesting.

You know those people who follow you on twitter and when you look at their stream to see if you want to follow them back their stream is FULL of self-promotion. It's all "buy from me" and "check out my website." Do you follow them back? I don't.

It's things like this that I learned in Likeable Social Media.

Read the rest here: http://smsbookreviews.blogspot.ca/201...

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an English major graduate working in marketing, I found this book informative, useful, and entertaining. It finally started to come clear to me why marketers do some of the things they do. I like the strategy Dave Kerpen uses, and I can see how being likeable can transfer to loyal fans and increased sales. Social media provides valuable marketing opportunities, but, most importantly, allows us to truly engage with and connect to our customers. Marketing doesn't have to be about the company--it can and should be about the customer, and when a company follows that strategy, everybody wins.

[Luciano Palma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. It clarifies about the positive changes a company should go through to take advantage of digital social media.
Although some technical details are mentioned, the book focus on the most important issue: the conceptual and behavioral changes needed in order to embrace social media in an effective way.
Indeed, technology is an enabler, but technological products come and go. It's important to know them, but they're not the center of the change.
I wish many marketers read this book and get this idea, so we can have a great professional scenario for digital social media from now on ;)

[Samantha Shu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book aims at simplifying marketing specifically on social media. Unlike traditional marketing tactics, Kerpen aims at making genuine connections with customers through social networks. He also covers key concepts for a successful marketing plan. After just following a few of his tips and tricks, I have noticed an increase in engagement from my target audience. I definitely say this is a must read for those trying to build a meaningful audience on social media platforms!

[Jurgen Appelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of social media marketing, with examples and concrete action items.

[Shaylee · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star

I wish I could give this zero stars.

This book is supposed to be about helping you build a likeable social media brand and connect with your audiences, but it majorly misses the mark.

For starters, the author finds every possible way to plug his own brand and talk about himself, which is not helpful. In addition to that, while some of the practices are generally somewhat valid, it's really just basic knowledge. This book seems to be intended for people who have been living under a rock the past two decades and have never heard of Facebook or any other social media. It's outdated and effectively obsolete.

I kept searching and searching for applicable strategies, but I was constantly met with an aged perspective on social media that is only useful if you really really stretch some of the "techniques" the author suggests.

This book is a waste of time. I would not recommend it to anyone, especially those looking to get into social media management.

[Antonija · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its outdated, but covers some topics that are still relevant today.

[Anwar Mahbob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes you want to test out his theories on the various social media apps.

[Dennis Deery · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Full disclosure: I got a free copy of this e-book from the publisher via the wonderful NetGalley service.)

Author Dave Kerpen runs a social media marketing firm and has previously written Likeable Social Media. In his latest effort, he applies the principles of social media behavior to business life in general.

I appreciate the message in this book as it's one I often share with clients when discussing social media. There's really no difference between social media and real life in how a businesses should behave. They need to be genuine, be likeable, honest, etc. Kerpen lays out 11 different values that businesses should try to live, both via social media and in real life. I agree wholeheartedly with the values he identifies, and he illuminates them all with some good real-life examples of company behavior.

My one small quibble with the book is that too many of Kerpen's examples are introduced as just a thumbnail sketch. I suspect this is because a number of the examples are taken from the media rather than Kerpen's own direct experience with clients, perhaps due to Kerpen's own youth and the youth of his business. As a result though, since the examples are only skin deep, at times Kerpen's advice leans perilously close to being shallow and cynical. For example, in discussing engaging with customers on social media, Kerpen suggests that you might consider putting more effort into engaging someone with a high Klout score. Such an approach, if not done carefully, could be construed to only value customers that can truly show you online value.

Quibble notwithstanding, there are still a lot of good examples in the book, and in the end Kerpen does come across as someone who does business while truly trying to value people. He identifies most of the values that I treasure in my own business, and I appreciate anyone that can evangelize those values.

[Lexi Koerselman]

I rate this book a 3 out of 5. Not that it wasn’t very beneficial in improving my social skills and the way I interact, it just wasn’t the most interesting. It did however, give me many tips on how to be likeable (when it comes to technology). One idea that really stuck out to me as being helpful was that you should integrate your social media messages- meaning you should advertise in many different places (twitter, instagram, emails, and more). This tip is used many times throughout the book. Another common theme throughout the book is the idea that in order to have successful interactions and business relationships you should find what messaging works best with your audience and connect through that; build relationships around it. Nano-targeting is also a successful strategy in winning over customers. The book gives specific examples that appeal to pathos. One last big idea is that if you don’t want to be invisible, be likeable. Meaning one thing every person likes is someone that is sociable and easy to connect with. I can use the information in this book to help me write my persuasive paper. In the example where it tells about Mark Zuckerberg’s dad and his success in using email to promote his dental business, I am appealing to ethos because many people have heard of Mark Zuckerberg-meaning he is very successful. When people hear that emails worked for someone well known they are more likely to try it. I will also use the idea of nano-targeting because of the story that went along with it. Dave uses facebook to target one person: his wife. He uses a very romantic ad to get her attention and it was a hit. This appeals to pathos because people want this kind of thing to happen to them as well. It makes their relationship look successful and people wonder what that couple has. Overall this book was helpful in many ways but the specific examples will give me the most success in writing my paper.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find books about social media and marketing interesting ... and this one is excellent. It was written in a comfortable manner ... I felt like I was sitting and having a chat with the author.

Leaders in any organization set the tone for the people who work for them, who eventually set the tone for the products and services and customers' experiences. In today's world, every customer's experience matters more than ever before. Alas, I find customer service lacking these days and those providing customer service aren't "present" and it's obvious they hate their job. I fault their managers in letting them get away with it.

This book explores 11 principles of likeable business that together make for more likeable leaders and better, more customer-centric organizations. It then applies each principle to the use of social media both internally and externally:

* Listening - to what customers and prospects need and the challenges they face
* Storytelling - needed to sell their products and ideas
* Authenticity - have integrity beyond compare
* Transparency - openness and honesty
* Team playing - letting others shine and encouraging innovative ideas
* Responsiveness - shows you care
* Adaptability - must be flexible in managing changing opportunities
* Passion - contagious to customers and colleagues
* Surprise and delight - underpromise and overdeliver
* Simplicity - take complex projects and challenges and distill them to their simplest components
* Gratefulness - being grateful keeps leaders humble, appreciated and well-received

I like that not only was a chapter devoted to each principle but many many real examples were given of companies we all know. At the end of each chapter are action items to help you put the principles into practice.

I recommend this book!

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2013/02...

[Mohammad Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought provoking. With some obvious ideas and yet mostly left unpracticed by many.

I liked the insight on targeting your potential audience using Facebook Advertisement.
To all the praise and a knack to show Facebook Advertisement is better than other social media platform advertisement in this book I would like to add, based on my personal experience, that Facebook advertisement results are irrelevant, bogus and has low ROI when compared to other platforms. I run a library, Farad Books, so the kind of audience I expect are book readers and intellects and Facebook advertisement gave me leads of some hippies and gym worshippers.

This book feels more like Facebook sponsored text to encourage small business owners to increase their online presence on Facebook. I don't mind it as long as it is insightful and helping me in my domain.

[April Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best book I've read on the power of social media. What I like is the information geared both for non-profits as well as for-profits. Generally, books of this nature tend to be aimed at businesses. Sometimes it reads like an ad for Facebook, but given that this social media juggernaut has nearly a fifth of the planet's population using it, I guess that is to be expected. Kerpen's book is a quick, easy read, with a step-by-step processes in each chapter. There are plenty of anecdotes for situations handled well, and a few where things were handled poorly, and he explains the whys in both cases. This is a good read for anyone wanting to utilize social media to his or her utmost advantage.

[Michael Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A basic intro to social media, which I don't believe is a deep topic conceptually. Well written, great case studies! I also like how each chapter has some "action items". But that's part of my only beef with the book: a lot of them were actually the same things, repeated in different words - ditto the 18 steps. I thought that was a bit funny. In my opinion better editing would have carried the day here, and if organized in a sequential sort of way for applying/creating a social media strategy (it's written for novices, after all) it would have been much more powerful. All-in-all solid for its intended audience.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book on social media marketing I've read to date. The authors tips, strategies, and examples will certainly help those who haven't quite figured out social media for business. Although the book isn't revolutionary (I don't think there's much that an avid reader of this genre wouldn't have seen elsewhere), and some social media functions have probably changed since the book was published (that's just how fast the Internet changes), the real value of this book for me was the author's writing style and organization. I found him motivating and inspiring. The book got my juices flowing enough that I found myself finally working on my org's social media plan as I was reading.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts out with a great illustration of how companies can use social media: he is checking in at the "trendy" Vegas hotel at the time, and tweets that he's been in line for an hour and he was wondering if the hotel (he names it) was worth it. 2 minutes later he receives a tweet from a nearby hotel - not to say they had no line, but to say "sorry you're having a tough start, enjoy the rest of your time in Vegas." Of. Course, the next time he went to Vegas, he stayed there. He also "liked" it on Facebook, and others connected to him subsequently stayed there.

While I don't think I learned a ton, he uses great examples and the book is a good read.

[Chris Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was required reading for a social media class. While I haven't been super into Facebook since the early days when it was restricted to campus, this book was eye-opening. Whether I want to admit it or not, Facebook is a powerful tool for almost any type of business. Yes, the idea of liking things all day makes me cringe but this book simplifies things and gives you a blueprint for minimal effective dose to get the most from Facebook. Some of these tactics may be outdated by next week but the structure is still beneficial for any marketer. It's worth skimming through if you have any notions of connecting with customers on social media.

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're new to social media, Likeable Social Media is a good introduction. If you're been on social media for a while, this book may help you develop a more effective strategy. The book is heavily Facebook-oriented, although most of the other networks are at least mentioned in the appendix. Most of the "action items" at the end of each chapter are geared to larger organizations, e.g. determining whether your marketing department or customer service department should respond to negative comments posted on social networks. I'm a sole proprietor, so my business only contains one "department," but I still found the book to contain a lot of useful information.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone whose marketing training comes from the two or three books his boss made him read and whose social media know how is a result of more error than trial, Dave Kerpen's Likeable Social Media is an excellent introduction to the tools available and the philosophy(?) of social media. I count myself among those who "wanted one" without fully comprehending what "one" could do. I feel his points about listening and communicating with customers outside of social media tools were really on target.