Social Media Marketing Handbook

I've added reading notes on Social Media Marketing Handbook to my site. It's a topic I approached with some trepidation, as it's a very trendy idea (in both the sense of being largely untried and possibly faddish) and it seems an ill-conceived notion to me: the marketers who haunt social media sites tend to behave like a salesman at a cocktail party, approaching people with disingenuous charm in order to catch them off-guard with a sales pitch, and I figure it's a matter of time before they do for social media what they did for e-mail - spam until they've putrified it.

For what it's worth, the authors of the book seem to acknowledge the potential problem, and the advice they provide seems fairly well-reasoned toward the side of leveraging social media for brand marketing and public relations rather than sales promotion. In some instances, they cross the line between establishing a relationship with the customer and abusing their attention at a time when they aren't interested in being marketed, but I suppose it's a matter of opinion where that line is to be drawn.

And so, it's probably a good read for marketers who are willing to take a softer approach to building reputation, for developers who maintain social media sites and need to recognize and prevent predatory tactics, and for the individuals who use social media and should be clear on what to expect as commercial interests attempt to invade yet another facet of private life.