One of the best books I've read recently on social media is Gary Vaynerchuk's The Thank You Economy. Not only does Vaynerchuk have practical wisdom in this area, based on his own experience in using social media to grow his wine business, he's eminently quotable. He's the rare "social media expert" who really is an expert, because he's done it and lived it–and in the process, created compelling results for his own business. Photo by Eric Kastner.

If you don't "get" social media and why it's such a powerful tool for building relationships, read this book.  A few of my favorite quotes from the book:

On Customer Relationships

"[The customer] is not going to give me the chance unless the other guy slips up.  And even then they'd probably give him a second chance because forgiveness is the hallmark of a good relationship."

"Any company that gets so complacent it thinks everything is "fine" deserves to go out of business–it literally means its leaders have stopped caring. A competitive company is always on the offense.  Always. Always. Always."

"A successful social media campaign is one that plays close to the emotional center; the farther away you stand from that center, the farther away your customers are going to stand as well."

Photo by rachaelvorhees

 

On Quality Over Quantity

"It's not the number of followers you have or "likes" you get, it's the strength of your bond with your followers that indicates how much anyone cares about what you have to say. In this game, the one with the most real relationships wins."

 

On Messaging

 "You may not be able to control the message anymore, but you can absolutely control the tone in which the message gets played."

 

On Company Culture 

"We are a capitalist society, but the majority of businesses are taking a communist approach toward allowing their employees to use their voice on social media. They don't want the wrong message to get out, but if they create the right internal culture, it's unlikely there will be a wrong message."  

Photo by malias

 

On Social Media as the New Focus Group

"Social media gives us the opportunity to figure out what people want before they even know they want it.  Using social media to talk to customers is like getting access to the most honest focus group that's ever sat around a conference table and not paying a dime for their input."

 

The best part of book is at the end, in a section titled, "Sawdust".  Here, Vaynerchuk discusses everything from how fear blocks innovation to how Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, should have bought Woot several years before he actually did (in 2010) to hiring and firing.  In this section is Vaynerchuk's version of the Cracker Jack prize at the bottom of the box–small, intriguing, and a delight to find: 

Biggest Mistakes Companies Make With Social Media

1. Using tactics instead of strategy

2. Using it exclusively to put out fires

3. Using it to brag

4. Using it as a press release

5. Exclusively re-tweeting other people's material rather than creating your own original content.

6. Using it to push product

7. Expecting immediate results

Social media gives us back the ability to be personable, in a quiet way, in a world that can be too impersonal, too over the top, too reality-show-attention-getting.  That neighborly approach, even as it is applied one-to-many, can be the basis for a lasting and trusting relationship with your audience.