Building a Business Online

Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (& Other Social Medias)

Dave Kerpen

260 pages

McGraw Hill Professional

$28 – hardback/ $22 – paperback

 

(Photo source: http://coolinsights.blogspot.com/2012/03/likeable-social-media-book-review.html)

Building a Business Online

By Kristina Luetkemeyer

Social Media experts are far and few between. Of all the people you follow on Twitter or are friends with on Facebook, how many do you actually take interest in what they say or post? Successfully using social media is not nearly as simple as it sounds, and most of our friends haven’t mastered it yet. But for businesses, it is a skill they cannot pass up.

Author of Likeable Social Media, David Kerpen, is co-founder and CEO of Likeable Media, an award-winning social media and word-of-mouth marketing firm. Working with social media on a daily basis, Kerpen certainly has the credentials to back up the 18 principles he discusses in his book.

David Kerpen, author of Likeable Social Media

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The overall theme of the book is stop talking and listen. You first must listen to your fan base and customers before you can ever start talking. Otherwise you will never say anything likeable. You must understand their interests and what they are looking for.

In his book, Kerpen also hits on the topics of authenticity, honesty, and transparency. These three words probably do not come to mind when we think of companies, but to build a trusted online reputation, they are essential. Corporations try to let their social media present them in a light that may be an exaggeration of reality. In an effort to keep a clean image, negative comments can be deleted from their social media. Kerpen advises against such an idea, and instead teaches business how to manage criticism in a way that they could potentially benefit from.

Social media is so simple. Who needs a book to learn how to use Twitter or post on Facebook? Well, no one - if it is for personal use. If you plan to grow your online business, you need the book Likeable Social Media.