Does your business or brand use social media? In the last few years, social media has become a must for most businesses and professionals to expand their presence. However, with the continuing popularity of social media, businesses (or individuals) new to the game may have trouble gaining not just an audience, but potential consumers to view their content.
Tweet Naked: A Bare-All Social Media Strategy for Boosting Your Brand and Your Business by Scott Levy hopes to shed light on how a business or individual can use social media to gain and grow their business or brand. Once they gain the following/exposure, the book shows tips and tricks of how to maintain this and use social media correctly and efficiently.
The book's author, Scott Levy, is the President and CEO of Fuel Online, a social media and Internet marketing firm. He has specialized in Internet marketing for over 15 years with writing/expertise appearing inForbes and Entrepreneur magazine (among others). Each of the eight chapters explores ideas of how to better manage one's brand with social media. The chapters are further broken down into sections which highlight specific points in the chapter (and I feel it makes it easier to read). Levy has stated (on social media, of course) that he would love his book to be used in the classroom.
The whole concept of Tweet Naked, is to not actually take off ones clothes, but to become more personable and transparent. Gone are the days of the long distance between the corporations and customers. Customer satisfaction can make or break a business. Now with social media, this has become very apparent. Levy showcases the idea that one must be approachable (likable) no matter how big a company is. He stresses that no consumer is too small, and sometimes going the extra mile can really pay off. He uses examples like Zappos' amazing customer service (on page 47) to drive home the importance of this.
Throughout the book, Levy gives real-life examples of companies using social media correctly and incorrectly, as well as what he does personally. He covers Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube and, of course, Twitter. Twitter, followed by Facebook are the major focuses (with Twitter being his personal favorite) but all mentioned are touched upon in some form.
I was surprised how much I learned from this book. As a person in my 20s, I thought I had most concepts in the bag. While there were some things I already was aware of, there were many other things that I either didn't know or didn't realize would make a difference on social media. For example, a user on Twitter should not always use all 140 characters when composing a tweet. In fact, they should use under 100 characters, to give room for not only others to retweet, but this also gives the follower the ability to engage with the user while still spreading the original tweet to their followers (therefore building the original user's brand).
There is also something to be said about how this book is written. I have never read a book on social media, and it has been a while since I read a book about any sort of business or marketing (it is not a book I would typically pick up). Frankly, some of these books can be very dry and boring. They can come off very textbook-like. With Tweet Naked, Levy writes in a conversational and knowledgeable manner. He doesn't just spit out facts or plaster images. Instead, he takes the time to explain different aspects of social media and other branding techniques in a personable way without "dumbing down" the reader or coming off like a robot.
Levy also practices what he preaches. While I doubt he actually "tweets naked" he does take the time to update his Twitter on a regular basis (I have been following him for a while now). His tweets range from breaking news (I credit his one retweet in letting me know that the Boston Bombing just occurred even before it was tweeted by the major news outlets). He also is transparent by tweeting his love of the NFL and engaging with followers by asking/answering questions (it does not matter the "status" of the user). Likes the brands that he mentions (that use social media correctly), he knows the line of transparency (meaning not being too transparent).
Businesses, brands, or even individuals would benefit from reading Tweet Naked: A Bare-All Social Media Strategy for Boosting Your Brand and Your Business. It does not matter how big of a presence you (or your brand) already has, we can all learn a thing or two about how to make it better. While some tips may reconfirm what you already know, others might be new, and therefore become useful in future social media endeavors. Face it, social media is here to stay. If a brand (personally or professionally) does not know how to properly use social media, it could severely impact their company (it is that powerful). Plus, with technology every-changing, no one wants to be left out into the cold "naked." Do they?
You can find this book on Amazon or your local bookstore.