I just finished reading the book Inbound Marketing, subtitled Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs. I've read and heard a lot about using social media for marketing, but authors Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah are like football coaches for new techniques of social marketing -- they break it all down into digestible chunks.
Since I got interested in professional writing and related marketing techniques several years back, I've been hearing speakers exhort authors to "build a platform" and use social media to connect with your audiences. However, often the details have been scarce. No more. Inbound Marketing is the textbook that takes a pulse of the tools that are out there -- websites, blogs, social media sites and analytics -- then offers step by step approaches to enable execution.
So, if you're interested in how to use blogs and other social media to build a following, or have a business that you need to get off the ground, Inbound Marketing is chock full of tips that will help jump start your efforts. If you're interested in learning more about Inbound Marketing, there's also a related group out on LinkedIn.
Are you a writer who wants to build a platform and connect better with prospective readers? Have you found helpful resources that will help you get there? As a reader or as a customer for products marketing over the web, how do you feel about social media?