Introduction

You’ve probably heard that “business as usual” is no more. The way that people communicate, market, and sell has changed dramatically since the advent of social media marketing. We’re here to tell you that even though the tools are new and different — and seem to change regularly — you can definitely find out how to master them.

Every step of the way, we coauthors emphasize the best practices of online marketing, customer service, and genuine human communication. As a business owner, you benefit from knowing not only how Internet tools work but also how people use them and how you can leverage them to better reach the customers and prospects who matter the most to you and your business.

About This Book

Social Media Engagement For Dummies starts by shedding light on the fundamental principles of social media engagement — the ingredients that put the social in social media marketing. Effective social media engagement (or SME, as we often refer to it throughout this book) should provide tangible and measurable results for your business and boost your bottom line.

By mastering the techniques in this book, you strengthen your connections with potential customers. But don’t stop there: Convert potential customers to actual customers, and then use SME tactics to turn customers into active and passionate evangelists for your company.

This book is a practical, hands-on guide to social media engagement, and we speak from experience. We don’t only consult and teach others to engage well via social media — we also benefit daily as business owners ourselves, by avidly using social networks and social media tools and platforms. We use these tools to communicate our messages to our respective audiences and to connect with the people who read, listen to, and watch what we publish online.

We build relationships with our audiences and truly care about them. In turn, we are humbled to see that our audiences trust us and respond positively to what we say and do online. We are confident that you, too, can benefit from social media engagement.

Here are some of the things you can do with the information in this book:

Understand and apply the elements of social media engagement.

Find out how to plan ahead for engagement.

Determine which social media tools are right for you.

Effectively incorporate engagement into your social media campaigns.

Measure your social media engagement efforts.

Social Media Engagement For Dummies isn’t meant to sound technical or geeky. We take a down-to-earth approach to the technology and provide a lot of explanations and examples so that you can immediately incorporate SME strategies and tactics into your online marketing efforts. We’re results-oriented, and we know you are, too.

Foolish Assumptions

We do our best to be clear and detailed in our explanations of suggested tools and tactics. We assume, however, that you have a basic understanding of several ingredients:

You have more than entry-level knowledge of the Internet.

You have a website and you know what a blog is, even if you don’t personally blog.

You’re aware of, and familiar with, some of the most popular social networks.

You have at least one social networking account for your business.

You’re engaging in forms of online marketing and even social media marketing, and you’re looking to increase the effectiveness of those efforts.

You know that your participation is the key to successful social media engagement.

More than anything, you value your customers — you want to bring more customers to your business, and you want to turn all your customers into enthusiasts.

Conventions Used in This Book

To be consistent, we use these common For Dummies conventions:

The first time we use a new term, we define it and italicize it.

When we tell you to type something (in a box or a field, for example), we put it in bold.

When we mention a website, a network, a platform, or an online application, we provide the URL for your convenience.

When we provide a URL, it looks like this: www.dummies.com.

What You Don’t Have to Read

You don’t have to read this book sequentially, and you don’t even have to read all its sections in any particular chapter. You can skip sidebars and read only the material that helps you complete the task at hand, or you can start by reading only the sidebars, to access information that you can apply immediately to your social media engagement efforts.

How This Book Is Organized

Social Media Engagement For Dummies is split into six parts. Think of the earlier parts of the book as introductions to theories, concepts, and tools; think of the latter parts as plans for turning concepts into actions. In this section, we briefly describe what you’ll find in each part.

Part I: The Basics of Social Media Engagement

We start this book with an overview of social media engagement, from understanding the concepts to using the tools. Part I begins by justifying your investment in social media engagement and explaining the concepts. We explain measurement and the value of engaging, and we introduce a variety of online tools for implementing social media engagement tactics.

Part II: Exploring the Elements of Social Media Engagement

Moving beyond the basics, Part II delves more deeply into the concepts of social media engagement, including building trust and credibility, creating connections, and understanding the importance of being present in social networking. We explain how to start, and participate in, online conversations and drive interactions that help you achieve your business goals.

Part III: Examining the Basic Engagement Tools

In Part III, we review online communications tools that you may already use and others that you may not be using yet. We outline how to use these tools — from the more traditional e-mail, forums, blogs, and websites to Facebook and Twitter — specifically for social media engagement.

Part IV: Engaging Through Additional Social Channels

We don’t stop with the popular social networks covered in Part III; in Part IV, we look at a few up-and-coming networks that are changing the way people engage online. We break down the ways that Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and location-based networks (such as Foursquare and Instagram) provide opportunities for engagement in more ways that drive results.

Part V: Leveraging Audio and Video for Engagement

We’d be remiss not to mention multimedia options for social media engagement. In Part V, we cover ways to use audio and video to capture your audience’s attention and encourage interactions. We cap this part with a close look at YouTube features that facilitate engagement.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

In typical For Dummies fashion, this book includes The Part of Tens to give you quick-reference guides to social media engagement. First, we fill you in on common social media engagement mistakes that you definitely want to avoid. We finish this part with the stories of ten businesses that use social media engagement tactics successfully.

Icons Used in This Book

What’s a For Dummies book without icons to point you to helpful information that’s sure to help you along your way? In this section, we briefly describe each icon we use in this book.

The Tip icon points out helpful information that’s likely to make your job easier.

This icon marks an interesting, useful fact that you may want to remember for later use.

The Warning icon highlights pitfalls you should avoid. With this icon, we’re telling you to pay attention and proceed with caution.

When you see this icon, you know that there’s technical information nearby. If you’re not feeling technically minded, you can skip it.

Where to Go from Here

Like any For Dummies book, this one is written to ensure that you can dive into any section at any time and find useful information. Parts I and II offer an introduction to theories, concepts, and tools; Parts III, IV, and V lay out distinct road maps for turning concepts into actions. Don’t hesitate to skip around this book and refer to it often as a step-by-step guide to completing a task or simply as a refresher. Use the table of contents to find the chapters that can serve you immediately, such as a specific social network, or check the index to key in on a particular concept or task.

Occasionally, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., has updates to its technology books. If this book has technical updates, they'll be posted at www.dummies.com/go/socialmediaengagementfdupdates.