Book Review: Jim Tobin’s Earn It. Don’t Buy It.

Thought-provoking Challenge to Standard Social Media Marketing Practices from Jim Tobin, a Proven Industry Doer

Jim has provided a solid background and game plan for integrating social media marketing into your overall business plan in his second social media marketing book, Earn It. Don’t Buy It. The CMO's Guide To Social Media Marketing In A Post Facebook World. It is truly a refreshing and realistic social media marketing guide on a subject that typically gets a lot of echo chamber love especially when it comes to platforms.

He provides solid use cases on why earned media – not paid - has to be the underlying foundation for your online initiatives. Jim’s quote which is woven through every page - “We can’t buy trust, we need to earn it” – is crystallized in Chapter 3 which is aptly named "Organic Impressions Drive Better Business Results." In this chapter, Jim talks about the Momentum Effect which is the joy of discovery pared up with the strong compelling feeling to share your discovery with others. In the past week, I know we have all gotten our Momentum Effect on with the urge to share something we have come across online -  2014 trend nugget,  a funny holiday video, or the coolest 2013 recap infographic - with our social networks. It's just how we are wired. 

And Jim isn't a paid ad hater, no, no, no how can he be? - he runs a social media agency after all! In all seriousness,  Jim does provide rationale that shows that the collective we (those doing social media marketing) are focused too much on paid advertising. He thinks our paid, earned and owned mix needs a re-mix. So what's the re-mix recipe?

He explains the why and the how through – my fave - ROI modules in Chapter 6 including formulas (there's a handy downloadable spreadsheet) and sprinkles in large and small brand case studies to illustrate his key points. Here's the six models Jim has identified:

The Six Models of Social Media Marketing:

1. The Amplification Model: how much would it cost to buy these impressions/social actions through paid media?
2. Value of Social Traffic versus Display: how much does it cost to get a visitor to your site via social promotions versus display advertising?
3. Quality of Visitors from Social Media: how well do the visitors being driven to a site via social media perform?
4. Revenue from Facebook Fans Model: how much incremental revenue do Facebook fans generate?
5. Revenue from Social Media Marketing: how many sales can be attributed to your social media marketing programs?
6. Social Promotions Sales ROI: how many sales can be attributed to a special social media marketing promotion?

I think choosing a model above, which aligns with the brand's business goals, is a great start for any organization looking to begin measuring bottom line impacts of their social media marketing initiatives.

Heads up on Earn It – it isn’t a quick read, it’s more of a workbook. Think Harvard Business Journal case study not Mashable trending story. This is a get-out-your-highlighter-and-keep-this book-within-reach social media marketing resource!

 

 

Disclosure: Ignite Social Media is a partner of Expion and Jim Tobin gave me a copy of his book to review.

This article originally posted on Expion blog.