Why call the book
Social Media Marketing for Dummies versus
Social Influence Marketing for Dummies and is there any difference? I've been asked this a few times so I thought I'd answer it here. First some definitions - social media marketing is about using the social media platforms to market to customers or in other words to participate in the conversations wherever they maybe taking place in an authentic, trusted and human manner while achieving your marketing objectives too. Social Influence Marketing is about harness social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business objectives of an organization.
The book actually covers both and my publishers and I were torn over which title to use. While the book covers the social platforms, it puts a lot of emphasis on social influencers - who they are, how to identify them and ways to market to them. The reality is that social media marketing is the more understood and recognized term so that's why the "Social Media Marketing for Dummies" title was chosen.
However, as you progress through the book, you'll notice that the language quickly moves to being about influence more than just about the platforms. Social Influence Marketing is truly a new dimension of marketing of which social media is one piece. The influence and influencers dimensions and how they impact business is all explained in the book. And it is worth noting, that's a dimension that I believe doesn't get anywhere enough attention in all the conversations about social media.
Let me know if you have any further questions or thoughts on this.
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