Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day

Defines Precise Ways to Measure and Explain Social Media Effectiveness

This is one of the best books on social media (I've read 8 so far). It explains the types of social media channels such as social networks (personal and business), video (e.g. YouTube), tagging (Digg, Stumble Upon), messaging (twitter), and others. It has good diagrams and explanations of how the social feedback cycle extends the traditional sales funnel (awareness, consideration, and purchase) to include an inverted social media funnel (use, opinion forming, and sharing -talk). It defines precise ways to measure the effectiveness of social media including # of mentions, # of comments, pos/neg ratios (sentiment), and many more. This can be very important when communicating the social media process to your boss or investors. The book identifies ways that it is possible to influence social media such as sponsoring discussion groups, hosting trips for influencers, paying for reviews (full disclosure recommended), and other influences. In each section of the book, it describes and lists tools that can help to monitor, create, and analyze social media campaigns. The beginning of the books is a little fluffy - why is social media important and how has it changed marketing. Get to chapter 3 quickly, it is worth it!

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Social Media Marketing & Then Some!

I love Liana! She's a smart cookie. Her approach to Social Media Marketing is practical and powerful. Whether you're a seasoned Social Media practitioner or just learning the Social Media ropes, I suggest you do yourself a favor and pick this book up.

Highly Recommended!

This book is an amazing find and worth every penny. Most def an easy read, but invaluable to everyone; from small business owners to mega corporations. This book is a must for every bookshelf as a reference guide.

Struck Gold!

I am a full-time consultant within the search and social marketing landscape, and needless to say I am someone who is very familiar with the idea of using social networking sites as vehicles for driving conversation, engagement, and ultimately revenue for business purposes. I found this book to be an amazing read; one that everyone, novice or expert, should have on their bookshelf for education and reference. I believe readers will find great value in learning how to develop strategies and goals, to find conversations that are happening around their company, products, and services, to engage, and to define and measure success. My favorite chapter in the book came pretty early. Chapter 3, "Goals need to Be Defined", features valuable insights on ways companies can measure the success of their social marketing efforts. In my opinion, setting predefined goals and measuring success according to those goals is the most important detail when running a social marketing campaign. However, it is also the one detail that I believe is most overlooked. In this chapter, the author does a superb job breaking down what seemed like an unlimited number of metrics a company could use to measure social media - several of which were even new to me. I 100% endorse this book, and recommend it to anyone in, or looking to get into, the social media space. I was personally able to attain several "golden nuggets" during the couple of hours it took me to read this book. I have altered my ongoing personal and professional social media efforts because of it.

Stay ahead in the social media game

I have taken numerous classes related to social media, and none could wrap up everything this book gave me. This book is useful for large corporations to small businesses and even individuals who may just be looking to market themselves through a blog. When I first got this book, I went straight to the chapter, "Bloggers Have No Boundaries." It seems that everybody has a blog these days, and this chapter was most insightful for me.

This book gives you all of the tips you need to get started, and to stay ahead in the social media marketing game. It will help you determine who your social media expert should be within your company, and explain how every employee plays a part in a company's social media strategy. There are great real-life examples of what to do - and what not to do - when it comes to social media and your business. The chapters are quick, easy reads and well organized.

The final chapter sums up the book nicely and gives clear explanations on what you should do next. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in marketing.

Excellent Foundation Book on Social Media Marketing

Excellent Book for people who know absolutely nothing about Social Media Marketing. Dave Evans provides quite a comprehensive overview of what Social Media really is all about.


The book provides a detailed history of the origin of Social Media. It covers social media marketing best practices,giving excellent examples of businesses that successfully implemented different platforms (Home Depot & Starbucks),and some unsuccessful ones too (Walmart).


The book gave me a good understanding of what the various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg and Linkedin focus on and the advantages of each of them.



Evans explains basic social media concepts and techniques in a simple and organized way. His step-by-step approach has helped me in building a business case for my social enterprise (NEEV Soaps), by using practical examples, and also in measuring success with various metric tools. Evans provides a good foundation for understanding both the differences and challenges of measuring response to a social media campaign - and why it is important for marketers to measure both sales and the conversations around their product and company.



For me personally the only regret I had while reading this book is that Evans does not mention many nonprofit models in these examples, nor in the book in general. The lessons revolved around building social media marketing campaigns for businesses selling products, not for charities providing services. I had a difficult time applying some of Evans' theories--such as those behind his Profit Funnel model--to my own non-profit organization (NEEV USA) which I am in the process of registering. It also didn't give me much information on community engagement tools that could have helped me better understand the power of sharing information about my mission. It doesn't explain how my organization could adapt the main concepts to promote causes or raise awareness. However, its sales funnel will help my Social enterprise (NEEV Soaps) which is going to be profit-driven organization. On the positive side I would say that this book has introduced me to Social Media channels likes social networking sites (Facebook), blogging,social news, podcasting and videos that could provide relatively inexpensive ways for my organization to build a community and further its cause.


Overall i think the book is a good choice for a first book on Social Media, and a good reference tool for people who want to sharpen their skills as they implement a social media campaign.

Just Buy the Book!

I made the mistake of checking Evan's book out of the library. If you want to make the most of his step-by-step guide, purchase it and treat it like one of your old college textbooks - jot down notes, underline passages and fill-out the worksheets in the appendix (also available online).

The book is very well written and loaded with organized content, however, I suggest you skim through it first to see which chapters spark your interest (each chapter's main points are listed at the end of each chapter). I started reading it front-to-back and found the the first three chapters to be a bit boring -- early social networks and word-of-mouth marketing, the growth of the social web, elements of social media, etc. You might find find it interesting, especially if you are new to social media, but I was more interested in learning how to create a plan.

While this book seems to be written for marketers, I feel everyone can benefit from reading it. I do recommend you have a real life plan in mind to make the most of the exercises he presents. Also, I remind you that if you only dedicate an hour a day, it will take you more than 3 months to complete the exercises - something I hadn't initially thought about. So plan accordingly.

Excellent choice as a first book on social media -- or as a desk reference for more experienced marketers.

Social Media Marketing, An Hour a Day - good book? Yes, very good in fact. Recommend for everyone? Of course not. but what textbook is appropriate for everyone? For whom is it best suited? I'd say marketing managers/directors who work in a reasonably large firm, perhaps with a consumer product and need to learn quickly about implementing an effective social media campaign. It's geared toward a marketer who know anywhere from nothing about social media to people with basic skill who need to step up their game.

There. Read the book and you'll see that I've just hit two of Dave Evan's key points about the utility and benefits of social media - ratings and recommendations. You (reader) just got an opinion of quality and suitability, and perhaps I'll positively influence your purchase decision while you're passing through the Consideration phase of the purchase funnel.

But back to the book.. And it is a textbook, complete with daily homework assignments. Evans combines instruction with one-hour assignments that start with examining your current campaigns and creating a social media plan that you should be able to sell to your leadership and are supplemented with visits to perhaps as many as one hundred different web sites that are illustrative of the applications of social media. (There are lots or platforms, tools and resources cited. The exercises of visiting and evaluating the various sites that support social media help readers to decide which platforms and tools match their needs.)

Evans spends a reasonable amount of time addressing the change from interruptive marketing (traditional channels) to the "invitation" orientation of the participatory social media. Dharmesh Shah, co-author of Inbound Marketing (another great book) agrees that smart marketers must adapt to audiences who have become better at ignoring interruptive messages. Evans refers to "passive ad avoidance". The message for the marketer is that tradition channels - which now even include online banner advertising - are becoming less effective, and consequently more expensive than participation in the conversations that are already taking place about your company and product.

There is plenty of attention paid to metrics, which are very different from traditional measurements. Evans provides a good foundation for understanding both the differences and challenges of measuring response to a social media campaign - and why it is important for marketers to measure both sales and the conversations around their product and company.

There are also the cautionary, sometimes humorous, tales of campaigns gone wrong, and, more importantly, the success stories of when a campaign connects genuinely with the audience.

Evans does not suggest that social media will spell the end of interruptive marketing and advertising, but he certainly is a champion of the new ways marketers can engage with customers and successfully participate in conversations that can and will influence sales. His book is a good choice for a first book on social media - and a good reference tool for persons who want to sharpen their skills as they implement a social media campaign.

I recommend Dave Evans book on social media marketing

Dave Evans book: Social Media Marketing an hour a day is written for professionals who have at least some marketing experience. In addition, it is most useful for people who know a little about the web and social media but need to learn a lot more. The book was well written and divided into 14 digestible chapters. I happen to have a traditional marketing background, so I thought the historical context provided in the first two chapters was very helpful. I wanted to be sold on the value of social media and Dave did sell me. On page 41, he writes, "Recent studies have shown that of the estimated 3.5 billion word-of-mouth conversations that occur around the world each day, about 2.3 billion of them...make a reference to a brand, product, or service."

The author provides a good deal of context on the dramatic changes that are happening in the advertising world. Advertising has a history of being a one way dialog that interrupts the viewer's access to entertainment or information. For years consumers tolerated the interruption but according to Dave, dramatic changes are underway. Media consumption (especially TV) is becoming less of a passive excercise. DVR usage is increasing (HH penetration is predicted to reach 35% in 2010.) That means traditional marketers need to rethink how they approach their own dialogue with customers and prospects.

I liked the fact that the book gave me a new perspective on the purchase funnel. Dave points out that traditional advertising has always put great emphasis on the awareness phase. This is changing given the many-faceted conversations on the web. The web empowers the consideration phase of the funnel and keeps the conversation going all the way through to the post-purchase phase.

One caution for readers is that this is a very hands on book. The touchpoint analysis exercise was valuable and interesting but did require that readers have intimate knowledge of a company (most likely where they are currently employed.) I could see a small business owner surveying customers as a part of this exercise but I think this would be more challenging for someone who works for a large company.

This book was a great resource for me in getting my feet wet in the social media space. I recommend the book for someone who wants to learn more about social media.

Savvy guide to social media marketing

The "Social Web" - the weave of "Social Media" Internet sites - is the dominant environment favored by many young consumers, the place where they connect with one another. Contemporary marketing requires having a robust presence on the social Web, but its array of media choices can be confounding. The sites' obscure names - Ning, Ping, Pluck, Plurk, Bebo, Orkut, Plaxo, Minggl - reveal little, and they seem distinctly unwelcoming to overt marketing and advertising. That means your company must handle its online promotion according to the social Web's accepted customs and protocols. Plus, your program must have panache to engage network members. To promote effectively via the social Web, you need a knowledgeable guidebook. getAbstract recommends this hands-on manual by social media marketing whiz Dave Evans. He expertly deciphers the social Web, and explains how to plan and implement a social media marketing campaign with a practical one-hour-a-day schedule. He even details what social Web marketers must not do. That's a handy thing to know in the online jungle, where this insightful book can help you penetrate the social media marketing maze.

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