Top 10 social media books for building online engagement

Top 10 Books on Social Media and Engagement

What top 10 books would I recommend for you if you are getting started with social media or are currently using it and looking to get better at it and improve your engagement with fans and customers? Here are my top 10 social media books with an explanation as to why I believe they are important to you and how they can help you improve your online engagement on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and others.

Likeable Social Media

Think Before You Engage

UnMarketing

The Mesh

Groundswell

Steve Jobs

Ready Aim Fire

How We Decide

CrushIt! by Gary Vaynerchuk

Trust Agents

Top 10 books on social media and engagement

  1. Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen
    • Whether you’re a social media veteran or a beginner, you need to know why you’re doing something before you begin. Dave Kerpen gives you an in-depth look into how word-of-mouth marketing can help you improve your connections with customers and fans on social networks.
  2. Think Before You Engage by Dave Peck
    • BEFORE you engage, you have to have a plan. In Think Before You Engage, Dave Peck shares over 100+ ideas you should consider before you join a social network.
  3. UnMarketing: Stop Marketing, Start Engaging by Scott Stratten
    • I’ve had a chance to listen to Scott Stratten speak and have met him in person as well. Scott knows his stuff about marketing. In fact, Scott works to change how we market. What I love about UnMarketing is how Scott really makes you want to break the bad marketing that has plagued us for some time.
  4. The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing by Lisa Gansky
    • For anyone who is on a social network, you know the power that sharing can have (reaching more fans, growing your influence). Take that and apply it to car-sharing or pretty much any service. In The Mesh, Lisa Gansky shows us how we can build a single business and scale it into an entire ecosystem by incorporating sharing into our business model.
  5. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li
    • Groundswell shows you how to monitor your company’s products on social networks so that you can turn negative comments into opportunities for your business.
  6. Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson
    • Steve Jobs is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time. Steve Jobs gives readers insight into the creation of Apple and what goes into building a successful business and marketing machine, aimed at reaching customers and turning them into ardent fans.
  7. Ready Aim Fire by Michael Masterson
    • A lot of people are trying to use social media to expand their business. The first place I would start is to ask yourself what the priority of your business is. By knowing your business and what you hope to achieve with it, you can then learn, with the help of Michael Masterson, how to peel back the layers of your business to find out what you should be focusing on.
  8. How we Decide by Jonah Lehrer
    • Probably my favorite book, How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer, gets you to understand how to change your thinking when selling a product. While it mainly focuses on selling, knowing how someone thinks can help to influence what types of content you send out on social networks like FacebookTwitter and Pinterest when you’re trying to get your product in front of an audience.
  9. CrushIT! by Gary Vaynerchuk
    • Although CrushIt! is a rather quick read, it’s one that will help you separate what’s important in your life and to help you find your passion. A lot of people who try to use social media to sell online will find out that it’s not about selling everything; rather, it’s about selling your passion.
  10. Trust Agents: Using the web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan
    • Those who are successful with social media aren’t the ones who have joined every social network and are always posting meaningless content. Instead, it’s the person who is capable of engaging with their current customers and fans – regardless of how big or small their fan base may be. Trust Agents by Chris Brogan, shows you how online influence and reputation management are the cornerstones of building successful online relationships through social media.

Remember, these are just my top 10 books for social media. For a complete list of books that I recommend, click here.

Do you have any favorite social media books that you’ve read that has helped you get better with your social media engagement? Tell us in the comments below.