In the beginning there was MARKETING - that's how the beginning of the business bible would read.

According to the definition of the American Marketing Association (AMA), marketing is a set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offers that have value for customers, clients, partners and society as a whole. dr. Philip Kotler defines marketing as "the science and art of researching, creating and achieving value in order to meet the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unmet needs and wants. It defines, measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential. It specifies which business segments can serve the best and design and promote more relevant products and services."

Therefore, this book is a new step forward in the development of marketing and its significance.

Social Media Marketing Essentials You Always Wanted to Know, by Kavita Kamanth delivers on the authors titular promise. I found this book organized and easy to follow and highly recommend it to those looking to up their social media game!

I took a year off Social Media Marketing for health reasons and I really needed this book to get me back on track now that I am on the road to get back to the work forces

This was an outstanding book. Everyone tells businesspeople that they need to use social media to market themselves. Unfortunately, they seem to stop short of how to do that. This book provides all the answers to that problem.

I found this book to be especially informative and helpful as, among my other duties, I manage the social media for my library. Will definitely be ordering so our patrons can benefit as well

this book is very useful. i learned a lot from this book.

i would like to thank the author for the ARC.

I was surprised that I learnt anything from this book, I would recommend, not as bad as I was expecting.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I'm very much into SMM right now. I'm actually getting a graduate certificate in it, so when I see a title that offers to teach me more about it? I'm game.

Does this show anything too groundbreaking? Not really.

BUT, what it does do is break things down in a way that seems far less arbitrary than other books make SMM seem, so I'm giving big props to that.

I will be retuning to my highlights.

Solid 4.6, rounded!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book is a comprehensive textbook on social media marketing. It is definitely designed for a novice social media user, however, it is quite clinical. It covers the history, the importance, the types, ethics and more. If I had to guess it was written by someone from a research or clinical background as it is quite dry reading for the average reader. I could see how this could be a useful resource in a classroom. It has potential use for someone starting a social media presence. For someone who has been on social media for any length of time, most of the information is already known and the book is just an excessive recap of knowledge.

This reads like a textbook and it is not what I was expecting at all. I was looking for something that would give me tips on how to be better with social media marketing but it's more along the lines of explaining what it is. I just couldn't get past the textbook feels to delve into this one at the moment.

Thank you NetGalley and Vibrant Publishers for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I'm writing this review based on the author's disclaimer that it's a proof copy that hasn't been through the editing process. Without Googling the author, I'm guessing from the style of writing that they came from an academic background. If I were to simply read the book as is, it is indeed rather dry. However, I definitely see its potential, given some serious re-organisation of how the content is presented. So, rather than strictly sticking to what I like or dislike, I'd like to offer my feedback and suggestions for the author's consideration.

First of all, perhaps the author can consider taking their own advice, which is to define their target audience for this book. Is it aimed at supporting people who are new to social media? New to marketing? Or new to both? Whichever it may be, most people who would be driven to get a book like this are only interested in one thing: Learn how to drive revenue in the shortest time possible. Therefore, the author may want to consider seriously trimming down on the history of different social media platforms. Perhaps starting the book with helping readers to define their target audience would be a great starting point, and using something akin to a flowchart, help them learn why certain social media platforms would give them the best chance at driving sales, and how to tackle advertising on those platforms. Readers can be given the option to either skip the rest of the book, or to finish it, if they're curious and interested about other platforms. For example, if the readers' target audience is a more mature market, have them go to Chapters X and Y on Facebook and Tiktok. If the readers' target audience are educators, crafters and decorators, have them go to Chapter Z on Pinterest. Et cetera.

Personally, being the nerd that I am, I actually enjoy an occasional drop of 'fun facts' that the author provided - learning about the stats on what percentage of X demographic worldwide using Y platform. However, these should be sprinkled lightly across chapters, as a bit of a 'brain break' for the readers, rather than going into full detail. The author may also like to consider scrapping the pop quizzes at the end of each chapter, unless this is intended to be a textbook for marketing students. But if that's the case, there should probably be a lot more reference to relevant theoretical frameworks underlying different social media marketing strategies. Currently the book is somewhat "neither here nor there" in this regard, and I'm not certain who the book is intended to be for. Instead of pop quizzes, perhaps offering an 'ultimate takeaway' in the form of a single sentence may be more helpful. If there is one, most important thing that the reader could take away from this chapter (perhaps because they're a bit overloaded with information, or their brains are too tired to process all the info), what would that be?

Perhaps a bit strangely so, but I actually appreciate there was a chapter on ethics. However, once again, learning something new is an overwhelming process (if this wasn't new to the reader, they won't be getting this book), and let's be frank, ethics wouldn't usually be a top priority. Readers might feel like it's a huge feat if they could work out how to make a Reel. Perhaps reframing it by explaining why ethics is important for the readers' business, and how it will benefit them? I'm thinking, perhaps from the angle of building a healthy brand image and consumers' level of trust for the readers' businesses?

I also like the bits where the author explained the different types of content readers can make for the campaign, such as Reels, infographics etc. But these sections may need to be a lot more in depth. Depending on the book's target audience, if they needed this section at all, they most likely wouldn't know HOW to make many of these content types. Perhaps giving some step by step examples of how to make, say, an effective infographic on Canva? Finally, in my humble opinion, whenever the author makes a case on why their readers should use X strategy for their campaign if they're aiming for Y, it'll also be much more impactful if the author can provide a case study, explained in layman's terms.

To conclude, there are definitely things I appreciate about this book, but as the author's disclaimer suggests, it's currently still in a very unpolished state. The biggest issue for me is the lack of clarity on who the target audience of the book actually is.

Perhaps ten years ago, this book would have been helpful as part of an introductory series, but the information here is really basic and outdated. It's not even very well written.

I found this to be so incredibly rudimentary, I can only imagine that it was written for senior citizens. Reading this made me think of the ...For Dummies series of books, but this was written as if it was literally written for someone that is actually some sort of dummy. At many points it reads like an essay paper written by a high-schooler simply trying to hit their word count. Just... no. There's nothing of value here.

This was very dry. This is probably a good book if you know nothing about social media, want to learn more about it in general, but it didn't tell me anything I haven’t heard before. I thought it would give a better guide than essentially creating SMART goals and knowing your audience.

Social media marketing has become an essential tool for businesses, large or small, to authentically connect with their audience and boost brand visibility.
This book covers the key strategies for success across online platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter [X], and LinkedIn and clearly explains how to select the best platform based on where your ideal customer avatar will likely read your content. Traditional media is also mentioned.
Pinterest is often underestimated, and I found this chapter very useful. Paid ads on Pinterest can become very profitable.
For once, it is not all about creating short-form video content for video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and YouTube shorts, although video content can be part of the mix if it fits your unique business and product range.
You'll learn how to:
#Make interesting posts that people want to see, which is especially important for organic reach rather than paid promotions.
#Use popular topics (hashtags) to reach more people - but do not overdo it. Some readers hate hashtags.
#When to use paid ads to boost your posts to reach specific target audiences, especially when promoting a new product. Social media is increasingly a pay-to-play environment. I enjoyed this section, especially when the author discusses how a business can work out the ROI on ad spend on social media. It is not just about likes and clicks but building a long-term relationship with your audience.
The section on Reach and Impressions was very useful.
Ideally, social media content should lead the customer to your website and offers, where you can measure the number of incoming unique visitors to your site as part of your metrics.
Still, it is clear that SOCIAL media means just that - social, not selling 100% of the time.
I have no experience with influencer marketing, so Chapter 2.7 was really interesting.

Overall, this book is an in-depth summary of why any business should use social media marketing as part of its marketing strategy.

There is a ton of very useful and helpful information in this book. However, it does read like a textbook. But if you're a beginner or new to this field, it's definitely a great book to have!