El gran libro del Community Manager (“The Big Book of the Community Manager”) is a book I simply had to read, not only because it is written by a great friend, Manuel Moreno, aka @trecebits, but because it is an essential book for those of us who spend all day getting “tangled up” in social media.
It is not just a book for those who see the Community Manager role as a profession, whether self-employed or as an employee. For me it is an essential book for any professional who wants to use social media with common sense.
Community management is a new professional role you need to be prepared for, and it can be learnt on a course, by studying, but above all by practising, observing and also getting things wrong.
Social media is a frantic channel of information that we need to know and master to get the most out of it personally, as our “personal brand”, so that people get to know us and as a source of information and interaction with everything we like, and professionally, to give our business greater prominence and to understand the market.
If you run an SME or a startup, you clearly won’t have a big budget to hire someone; perhaps a small agency or a freelancer to help you design your social media communication strategy.
I’m one of those do-it-yourself people – “I cook it myself, I eat it myself”, as the Spanish saying goes. I like to know and master the different marketing tools, all the more so in this case, since nobody can speak on behalf of a company better than someone from the company itself.
I was lucky enough to spend more than a year working at a professional social network, Xing.com, so in the companies I worked for afterwards, such as Affirma Business Centers and AJE Madrid, I was in charge of moving from offline to online and designing the whole social media presence strategy.
I wish Manuel had written the book earlier, because it would have saved me a lot of work. The book is simply perfect: there’s no padding, it gets straight to the point and gives an X-ray of the main tools and how best to use them. It brings the main concepts down to earth brilliantly, along with why we need to be there and what consumers will value in companies that are present on social media.
It will guide you simply through building the Social Media Plan for your company: analysis, setting objectives, the target audience, which networks to be on, positioning and approach, strategy and, of course, monitoring and measuring actions.
You will learn the main qualities a Community Manager needs and how to start generating content, because as you know, “content is king”. I don’t think he leaves anything out, since you also have to plan the content you are going to use, curate it and look for content that is relevant and that hooks users.
What I liked most about his book is the constant focus on using common sense and planning. I filled a good number of pages with notes, so I definitely recommend you read it.
He’s a great guy: he is touring all over Spain and his sales are going through the roof – I think it’s already in its 3rd edition. Hurry, it’s flying off the shelves!
Oh, and I almost forgot: Manuel also recommends practising something I absolutely love, networking, because every now and then you have to get out of the office, be seen, meet people, share knowledge… thank you, Manuel.
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