[review] Strategic Social Marketing by Laura Childs

I don’t do a lot of reviews, as you’ve probably noticed. This is because I like to be able to get a sense of a person, not just their work, if at all possible. I have recently been lucky enough to get to know Laura as more than an admired colleague.

It’s true what they say, good people make good business people. And Laura, is both. The following is an evaluation of one of her most recent offerings.

If you’re confused about social media marketing, you’re not alone.

There’s a serious disconnect when it comes to the social aspects of marketing online. Four situations usually come up, and if you’re having trouble decoding the social marketing matrix, you’ve probably run into one of these.

1- You hear about a strategy you’d like to implement, but the level of the instruction starts after the basic knowledge you need to get started.

2- You know one element of a proper social marketing strategy very well, but aren’t well versed on the other pieces and how they fit together.

3- Your sense of how social media is changing the web is a bit off, so you attempt to attack in a traditional marketing or SEO style, not realizing that this will provide marginal results at best.

4- You “get it”, but you don’t know how the knowledge applies to sites that aren’t about technology, search or entertainment.

How do you overcome these issues and move forward into forming a strategy for your niche web site?

I found one way at the end of last week. Laura Childs has an electronic guide out called Strategic Social Marketing. In it, she unites the varied areas of Social Marketing and leaves you with the knowledge you need to put together an effective strategy.

She starts with a discussion of the terminology – there are so many arguments about what Web 2.0 is, who coined the term, whether or not the proper term is social media… when you’re looking for concrete instructions to follow it’s enough to make your head spin.

And yet we all want to make sure we’re on the same page, talking about the same thing. Laura makes wide swaths through all the BS, and gives you the bottom line about exactly what your time with her will be about. She goes on to give the background information that is often overlooked, ending any stray confusion about social marketing or how it will impact your business.

The guide is 100% meat and potatoes. She won’t waste your time with meaningless pie charts, though if a concept needs to be conveyed in a side blurb or with a diagram, you’ll find them clear and concise.

You’ll learn:

• Blogging as a Stage One Strategy in Web 2.0
• How and When to blend the old traffic strategies with the new
• The Role of RSS in the Web 2.0 World
• Why Social Marketing isn’t just for Small Business
• Dealing with Negative Public Feedback
• How to Use Social Bookmarking Sites Effectively

She pulls it all together with a 12 Point Action Plan that will guide you from beginning stages to success in strategic social marketing. It even comes with periodic updates, so you won’t be left behind.

My original plan was to say a few nice words about Laura’s creation — but then I re-read it.

And I realized that this is what many people need right now, an effective road map to navigating the Web 2.0 traffic waters that will work for everyone from the solo entrepreneur to the corporate marketing department.

This PDF guide, at 58 pages, is definitely for you if you are starting to realize that what you’ve been doing to get traffic isn’t enough anymore and what you need to do in order to change.

It’ll will help give you the needed clarification on why your company should be blogging, how social bookmarking figures into the picture, how web traffic is changing and where to start.

If you’re at the intermediate level, and you know some strategy, but aren’t sure how to put it into a plan, this will be money well spent.

On the other hand, if you’re writing guides for other people on Web 2.0 Traffic, this is what you should be suggesting to your audience as a place to start. You’ll want to pick up a copy mainly for research purposes.

Here’s the link to pick up a copy. I’m too lazy to set up an affiliate link, but I do want to know how much traffic I’m able to send to Laura, so I’m using a tracking link.

If you get a copy, please contact me directly via Facebook as I have a bonus for you.