Weekly Reading Analysis of "Social Media Marketing Workbook" and "Measure What Matters"

As per usual, I did some reading on social media optimization this week. I finished Chapter 6 of "Social Media Marketing Workbook" and jumped right into the first six chapters of Katie Delahaye Paine's "Measure What Matters." First, I'll talk about "Social Media Marketing Workbook."

In Chapter 6, McDonald goes into detail about optimizing Pinterest. He explains that Pinterest is focused on retail and do it yourself projects making female users its primary demographic. This is obvious if you avidly use Pinterest. As I did with previous chapters of the book, I will list below five things I found most interesting or useful from Chapter 6 as a recap.

1. You can create collaborative boards
2. Pinterest is a "visual bookmarking" platform making it a great marketing opportunity
3. Companies can "promote" pins
4. Both hard selling and soft selling work on Pinterest
5. Planning boards is essential

"Measure What Matters" has proved to be an interesting read thus far. Paine gives very insightful information on how to measure and understand company "publics" and relationships with "publics", however, I don't feel it's as entertaining as “Social Media Marketing Workbook” or “The Art of Social Media.” It's almost solely information which makes the book a harder and drier read. If you don't know much about public relations there are some concepts and terms you may not understand at first. Below I have listed my top three takeaways from each of the first six chapters.

Chapter 1

1. Measurement is different than counting in that it is taking the totals from counting, finding out what they mean and enhancing processes with that meaning
2. Good relationships are key to increasing profit
3. Data driven decisions cut time and costs in the long run

Chapter 2

1. There are 10 essential questions you must know about your company
2. Defining measurable objectives is necessary but difficult
3. Your data must be accurate, therefore you must eliminate causes of inaccuracy

Chapter 3

1. You need to set goals and a time frame for those goals
2. Measurement is a "continuous improvement" process
3. Selecting the right measurement tool is vital

Chapter 4

1. Technology is constantly changing and you must continually educate yourself to stay updated
2. Media content analysis measures exposure and communication of important messages
3. You can only measure awareness through surveys

Chapter 5

1. Listening and measuring engagement is crucial
2. It's sometimes better to be negatively talked about than not at all
3. Advertising Value Equivalency cannot be compared to social media posts

Chapter 6

1. In the marketplace, getting more of what matters to your company is better than quantity of posts about your company
2. Set up alerts for competing companies
3. Pay more attention to channels, outlets and writers who mention you and get the most comments

The book goes into much further detail about these topics and more. If you haven't read "Social Media Marketing Workbook" or "Measure What Matters" I would highly recommend doing so!

If you've read either of the books, what are your thoughts? Comment below!

See you next post,

Casey