In his Social Media Analytics Book, Marshall Sponder takes you beyond the basics of why social media is important and how to best set up your business’s Facebook page. Instead, in the course of reading this book, you will learn what data you can extract from social media, how to measure that data and how to put those measurements to use no matter what business you are in.
This book isn’t specifically written for small business, but many of the ideas and tools covered can be adapted to business ventures of any size. The book explains how marketers and business owners need to understand what kind of information is available and how it can best help their business. Emphasis is placed on deciding what information you want to gain from data before committing to a platform or vendor.
The Social Media Analytics Book does a fantastic job of examining the dozens of social media analytic platforms out there and discussing why some of them are more useful than others. Sponder is able to clearly and concisely cover platforms and tools from the perspective of a business owner instead of a computer wonk, saving you hours of frustration and possibly thousands of dollars from poor vendor choices.
Chock full of interviews and fascinating case studies, Sponder’s book provides a clear roadmap for small business owners, executives and everyone in between. He takes the time to interview the developers of various analytic platforms about what their products are designed to do, and then breaks down those interviews into language that the average business person can understand. All of Sponder’s interviews, case studies and arguments are backed up by links to companies and articles that are easily accessed through the book’s digital version.
Throughout this easy-to-read book, the author comes back again and again to how important it is to craft a personal approach to social media for your business. So many vendors make “false claims” and try to lure in the unsuspecting with outlandish sales pitches and unattainable promises, but Sponder gives his readers a guide for separating the quality vendors from the “others”.
Anyone looking to up their digital strategy and get the most out of their investments in social media can benefit from this book. With its unblinking look at the state of social media monitoring today, Social Media Analytics is a strong tool for understanding the changing media around us and developing ideas for how to best utilize it going forward.
The book can be found at Amazon (print & digital), Barnes&Noble and most other (online) book shops.
