Going social : excite customers, generate buzz, and energize your brand with the power of social media /

Terrified by Twitter? Fearful of Facebook? Goldman, social media expert and assistant v-p of Interactive Communications for iluminage inc., rides to the rescue with this comprehensive guide to social media strategy, execution, and engagement for newbies. Though many business owners are aware that they need to crack the social media code to move forward, if they don't know what they're doing, they generally don't get the results they expected. With social media, businesses can appeal to the inherently social nature of their customers with an approach that focuses more on the "social" rather than the "marketing." With humor and a friendly tone, Goldman walks his audience through getting buy-in for a program, the proper care and feeding of customers, balancing "likes" vs. engagement and quantity vs. quality, avoiding common missteps, customer retention, building strong relationships with bloggers, working with online personalities, and bringing your efforts into the physical world. The trick is to take advantage of the fact that the cost of marketing directly to a consumer has gone down-but there's a lot more noise to break through. Goldman urges readers to keep the focus on ROI and to spend time developing an effective strategy. This funny, friendly book is an excellent primer for the social media-averse. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.