Book Review: “The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users”

Now I know all of you already have Build Your Author Platform: The New Rules and gotten copies for all your friends and family who want to be successful writers. Perhaps you’re thinking “Mike, that book is seven months old! Isn’t there something more recent?” Yes, we’re all still on Internet time. Maybe you’re not a writer, but still want to master social media to build awareness of your business, your cause…maybe even your thirst for celebrity. I’ve got an idea for you.

The team of Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick have mastered social media as well as, or better than, just about anyone. It doesn’t hurt that Kawasaki is a tech marketing legend (Apple, Motorola and the like), but the 123 tips included in The Art of Social Media will be useful to anyone who wants to gather a following on the Internet.

Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick, authors of The Art of Social Media — Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick, authors of “The Art of Social Media”

This easy read (I think I knocked it out in 3-4 sessions) is less focused on services, but the principles shared will help you develop an overall social media strategy. When the Next Big Buzz social platform makes its appearance, you should be able to master it quickly.

This is not to say that you don’t learn a lot about Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, SlideShare, Google+ and Pinterest. You’ll pick up stuff about optimizing posts for each of these platforms, mastering the use of hashtags across services, and trying to understand how each platform adds stuff to your newsfeed.

Among the truths unlocked:

“There are only two kinds of people on social media: those who want more followers and those who are lying.”
The key to getting more followers? “Share Good Stuff”
Using social media to popularize events
Don’t just slap your presentation slides on SlideShare; make sure the slides are self-explanatory.

I am happy to say that Kawasaki and Fitzpatrick don’t contradict anything Carole Jelen and I said in Build Your Author Platform. I’ll also say that I learned things from this book. As a result, you may see more of me on Pinterest. You’ll learn new things too, no matter how far along you are in your social media journey.