"An old Chinese proverb teaches that to give a man a fish is to feed him for a day, but to teach him how to fish is to feed him for a lifetime. Kent Huffman and the 8 Mandates for Social Media Marketing Success ensure you won't go hungry anytime soon."

Dr. William J. Ward
Social Media Professor
at Syracuse University


8 Mandates for Social Media Marketing Success

Much has been written about social media marketing. But a few years ago, when I was searching for information related to the behavioral traits of brands and individuals who have been successful in marketing their companies or themselves using social media, I couldn't find much quality content.

So I decided to publish a book about it.

Instead of writing it by myself, I thought I could add a lot more value to the book by including the perspectives from a number of other leaders and innovators in the social media marketing world—not just from marketing practitioners like me, but also from marketing book authors and marketing professors as well. That's the same basic model I used when developing Social Media Marketing Magazine, the digital publication that I and Chuck Martin have been publishing for the social media marketing community since mid-2010.

8 Mandates for Social Media Marketing Success features insights and quotes from 154 marketing pros from around the world who I have interacted with on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn over the past few years. This process of creating content is a form of crowdsourcing called "friendsourcing" that my friend Jeffrey Hayzlett and a few others have used successfully when developing their books.

The core of the book details eight mandates that I think are crucial for social media marketing success, including:

  • Mandate #1: "Start Listening"
  • Mandate #2: "Plan Carefully"
  • Mandate #3: "Develop Relationships"
  • Mandate #4: "Establish Trust"
  • Mandate #5: "Demonstrate Leadership"
  • Mandate #6: "Build Community"
  • Mandate #7: "Ensure Value"

Mandate #8—"Continue Listening"—was penned by my colleague and good friend, Eric Fletcher, Chief Marketing Officer at Liskow & Lewis.

8 Mandates for Social Media Marketing Success also features 28 social media marketing success stories from a variety of industries—including large and small B2C and B2B organizations. Here are a few of the more recognizable brands:

  • AT&T
  • Gatorade
  • Motorola Solutions
  • Frontier Airlines
  • IBM
  • Kimberly-Clark
  • Wounded Warrior Project
  • Cisco
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Emerson

The foreword was written by Dr. William J. Ward, Social Media Professor at Syracuse University, and the afterword was written by Liz K. Miller, Vice President of Programs & Operations at the CMO Council.

Finally—and most importantly—a portion of the proceeds from the sale of 8 Mandates for Social Media Marketing Success are donated to Wounded Warrior Project, one of my favorite charities and a favorite of some of the participants in the book, including Motorola Solutions.