From my experience as a social media manager, I’ve learned that social media for individuals and small organizations boils down to two things: trust and how we communicate with our community.
While I think one of the best ways to work in social media is to dive in and get to know your community, there are many techniques to learn from books and websites on communicating with your audience.
To stay relevant I research communication technologies, design of tools and graphics, why people share, and storytelling so that I continue to strengthen my skills.
Here’s my recommended summer reading list:
These historical comparisons of social media and blogs to past technologies and eras has given me a deeper understanding of social media trends
“The Victorian Internet” by Tom Standage
“Writing on the Wall: Social Media the First 2,000 years” by Tom Standage
“Trust Me I’m Lying – Confessions of a Media Manipulator” by Ryan Holiday
Understanding design helped me to think about how our communities interact with our content
“The Design of Everyday Things” by Donald Norman
“Picture This” by Molly Bang
“Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug
Marketers do TONS of studies into why we share, these two books dig into that psychology
“Made to Stick” by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
“Contagious” by Jonah Berger
Social media is a visual media, so I have both these books in my library as a reminder
“Blah Blah Blah What to do When Words Don’t Work” by Dan Roam
“Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative” by Will Eisner
To better understand the intersection of visual with written I read books about writing for visual mediums
“Writing for Story” by Jon Franklin
“Wired for Story” by Lisa Cron
“Winning the Story Wars” by Jonah Sachs
Practice – these books help me to come up with ideas and exercises to test with our community on social media
“Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills” by David Sherwin
