Social Media Playbook for Business, a video book review:

The ideal companion for managers

Tom Funk’s Social Media Playbook for Business Reaching Your Online Community with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and More is an all-encompassing social media book that covers various aspects of social media: From strategy to platforms to “next level” steps, successes, failures, and future predictions.

Managers who are not directly involved with day-to-day social media may find Funk’s explanations most helpful. He covers social media platforms, competitive analysis, setting up profiles on platforms, and monitoring blogs, etc… Unfortunately, Funk is not very in-depth when discussing what to expect when hiring consultants.

Funk’s book covers everything from

• Listening
• Ownership
• Customer service
• Legal rights
• Establishing mission
• Publishing a plan
• Goals
• Tracking
• ROI
• & Deciding if your company is right for social media

Funk succeeds in discussing the importance of writing a sound social media business plan.  He explains how to formulate a social media plan like a business plan by translating how social media can benefit businesses in a language more oriented to MBAs than marketing-communications specialists.

A social media business plan, like a business plan, should include

• Competitive analysis
• Operations plan
• Goals
• Objectives
• ROI
• Knowing the difference between earned vs paid media.

The chapter on the future of social media was highly engaging and scientific, covering the topics of

• Social shopping
• Neuro-linguistic programming
• How social media is likely to integrate with our everyday expectations
• How social becomes the new “normal”

Tom Funk’s Social Media Playbook for Business Reaching Your Online Community with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and More combines the creative and analytical aspects of using social media to succeed in your campaigns.

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Social Media Playbook for Business Reaching Your Online Community with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and More

By Tom Funk

Published February 2011

Best for:  Managers or business owners interested in learning more about how to combine social media into their businesses, or people who are generally curious about creating a successful social media campaign.