This morning’s Network World offers a list (also published in Computerworld) of five “must-read” social media marketing books and suggests it’s “time to get smart with these 5 essential books.” I’m very pleased my book, SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate, is on the list, and Computerworld writer Todd R. Weiss says this “well laid-out book is full of great references.”

The book is in good company indeed. The other four recommended books are:

• Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo
• The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, Second Edition by David Meerman Scott
• The Social Factor: Innovate, Ignite, and Win through Mass Collaboration and Social Networking by Maria Azua
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web by Tamar Weinberg

SocialCorp is available through Amazon and elsewhere.

Tags: SocialCorp, social media marketing, recommended book, review

Today I went into Border’s and practically talked a guy into buying my book. I was with my wife and daughter, and as we generally do when we visit a book store, we went to the business and marketing section to make sure my book was in stock. My wife found it, took it down from the shelf, and turned it facing out to make it easier to locate for knowledge-hungry book buyers. (After we left, I explained that Borders doesn’t like people doing this.)

A gentleman was browsing the section, so I explained what we were doing and that I had written the book. He took it from the shelf and asked me, “What should I expect to learn if I buy this book?” I gave him a synopsis and said “I was only making conversation. I’m not trying to sell you the book.” He told me he was from Deloitte and that he was looking into social media. He wanted to know if I could recommend a book on personal branding. He asked me what large companies are using social media for, and then he said something about the difficulty of measuring the effect of social media on things like revenue and market capitalization.

It was an interesting experience. I had to leave, so I don’t know whether he bought my book. And I’m not sure hanging around in bookstores and selling the book one-on-one scales very well. There has to be a better way.

Tags: SocialCorp, Borders, Deloitte, word of mouth

Congratulations to Rob Cottingham, winner of the drawing for two copies of SocialCorp!

Would you like to win TWO free copies of my book SocialCorp, one for yourself and one for a friend? How about two for friends and none for yourself? Or two for you and none for friends? We live in a world of infinite possibility, or, barring that, several possibilities.

Entering takes just a few clicks. I am experimenting with ways of increasing the number of people who subscribe to this blog via Google Reader, Yahoo Reader, Bloglines, etc. I haven’t been thrilled with Feedburner, so I am now trying Wikio. To enter the contest, just click on the universal “Subscribe” button in the sidebar and subscribe to this blog using your favorite reader. Then either leave a comment below or email me and let me know you subscribed. I’ll pick a winner at random on July 15. Thank you!

Update June 18: In response to requests from several loyal readers of my blog, I decided to make one change to the rules for this contest. If you already subscribe through an RSS reader, and you refer someone else, you will both be entered in the contest. Sound fair? And in the meantime, I better get some interesting blog posts up soon, which is the best way to attract new readers.

Tags: Google Reader, Yahoo Reader, Bloglines, Netvibes, Feedburner, Socialized, Wikio

I had the pleasure of speaking with Joanne Kisling and a group of Sun people this morning about my book SocialCorp. Joanne asked me about the barriers to corporate social media adoption and how communicators can help overcome resistance from company gatekeepers. Give it a listen over on Sun.com or download the MP3!

Tags: SocialCorp, social media adoption

Now that SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate has been published, I am looking for a Community Manager to help with ongoing promotion via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other social media sites and services. If you love social media and want the experience and the visibility of a role promoting one of the most popular books on the subject, you should consider this opportunity.

You could commit to any amount of time per week, and use your creativity in promoting the book, speaking engagements, etc. (And I would love to hear your ideas on how to do this.) This is an unpaid position, but this is real world experience you can put on your resume. At the very least I’ll send you a t-shirt, and a copy of the book, and I’ll tell everyone how awesome you are.

Please email me me or DM me on Twitter if you’re interested. I could not have written the book without the amazing help I received from friends on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you’d like to help me get to the next stage, get in touch, and please let friends know about this as well. Thanks!

Tags: career opportunity, internship, community manager,, social media,, socialcorp