Win A Social Media Library! (Plus One More Book From Me - Twitterville)

Steve over at Polar Limited like me, loves book.  Also like me, he's doing a networked social media book giveaway.

Steve has convinced these seven authors Mitch Joel, Tamar Weinberg, Tara Hunt, Chris Brogan + Julien Smith, Gary Vaynerchuk, Avinash Kaushik and John Jantsch to offer up free copies of their books.

You can win a this set of books, signed and personalized by the authors that will teach you how to be human through your computer, generate tons of social capital, and be a social media virtuoso - plus have some great books to curl up with during the holidays.  

Here’s how you win:

1.  Leave a comment below telling me your social media plans for 2010, and why you think these 7 books will help you achieve what you want to accomplish.  Best comment in within the next week wins the set.

2. Visit one of the following blogs who have the same set of books to give away.  If you really want to increase your chances of winning, you’ll probably want to visit each of them and leave a comment there as well.  Here’s where to go (if the blog post is not up yet, check back later in the day):

www.kaushik.net/avinash:  this is the amazing blog of Web 2.0 Analytics author Avinash Kaushik.  He’s simply the smartest guy in the world when it comes to analytics and what it means for your business.

Tara Hunt

www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog: this is the blog of John Jantsch, THE expert on small business marketing.  He’s also writes probably the most practical, hands-on marketing blog on the planet.  It’s a must-read.

Steve's Blog

I think there is one important book missing from the library, so if you leave a comment here - you'll get a copy of Shel Israel's Twitterville.

Comments

[twitter.com/toriwoods]

@toriwoods: My 2010 SM plans: foster two-way communication b/t clients, friends and fellow web heads; make a contribution; make discoveries; innovate...

[twitter.com/KKienast]

In 2010, I plan to launch my organizations social media effort. I was just hired at a non-profit organization that has no social media. I will be working hard to interact with clients and the general public, as well as marketing our organization. These books will help me to get a better understanding of social media and how to use it to help my organization grow. I am in desperate need of information on social media and would love to have those 7 books to use as references!

[JennTex]

We got pretty far this year so in 2010 my goal is to push the technology. I hope to start doing some live video/twitter chat type events that give our audience greater access to the experts in the organization. I think this also might be the year where we move from message boards to developing actual communities.

[Craig]

My social media plans for 2010? I can barely tell you my social media plans for next month! I do know that the social media landscape a year from now will be far different than it is today. (Indeed, my personal social media landscape is different today than it was a week ago: I just co-launched BuxMont digital -- www.buxmontdigital.com -- a communications company with a strong social media component to it.) Bottom line: I don't know where I'll be in 2010, but being a business book junkie, I do know these books will help me get there in style!

[Betsy Woods]

We, The Children's Medical Center of Dayton, plan to continue to build our following on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and our blog but really tap in to, and find, the "influencers" (moms, mommy bloggers/groups, community leaders, political leaders, health-related organizations and other non-profits) that will verbally support us and help us create those "conversations" about why Dayton Children's is such an assett to our community in caring for children and teens. Ohio has 6 children's hospitals (which is a lot - most states only have 1 or 2) so many people don't realize how crucial it is for children's hospitals to stay strong and thrive despite the economy and low reimbursement from Medicaid. We would like to incorporate "Tweet ups" and live video/twitter chats on a variety of topics to increase fundraising, support and two-way communication.

[Sean Kleefeld]

I have recently finished writing my first book and, as a self-publisher, obviously have more than a fair amount of work ahead of me with regards to actually selling it. I have long established myself as a blogger within the particular community my book is aimed at, and have been posting entries about the book's development process (blog posts there are naturally duplicated on my Facebook account). The book itself will be published on/around Thanksgiving, at which time I'll begin serializing the bulk of it on it's own web site, ComicBookFanthropology.com. (Note the gratuitous plug.) I'll also be trying to engage the target community more readily via their existing venues, and drum up support that way. My main blog will continue as it has, with periodic sales/marketing updates. I'm also looking to set up a Facebook fan page.

As for plans through 2010, I have clearly not addressed Twitter at all, and would be interested to see what these books might be able to do to suggest options there.

[Mercedes Millberry]

The past year I have been exploring social media tools, testing them out, seeing what has worked and what has not worked for groups that I represent. For 2010, I am committed to creating more strategic plans for utilizing the tools to best benefit my groups. These books, along with the social media planner I downloaded today from MarketingProfs, will be useful and informative to give me the bigger picture of social media and help with case studies beyond my own experiences.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1128912214]

Wow! This is such a great giveaway...plus you're adding Twitterville!

I think that there are standards that any social plan should have, not necessarily details, but a broad angle of approach...that's what all of these books have in common (well, Avinash's book is probably very detailed, but that may be the exception).

Each of these books encompasses how our world (online and offline) is changing and how to embrace those changes as a person and/or as a business. Reading these books will not lay a plan out for you, but it will allow the reader to see the big picture and help them understand how that big picture can relate to their business.

My broad plan for 2010 is to continue building and engaging communities in the travel industry and to listen and react to how and why they are engaging. The plan will be dynamic and will flex based on what the community is doing.

Specific tools that are referenced in these books may or may not be relevant in 5-10 years, but the general ideas of trust, passion, connectivity, change and community will surely be very relevant for a long long time.

Eric

[Teresa Shaver]

I work for a Chamber of Commerce and we have about 100 or so members that are not for profit organizations - I would like to use the knowledge I gain from these books to enhance our social media marketing message as well as help our not for profits in fundraising and gaining those important community partners that they need for their businesses to survive. We work tirelessly to get our message out to our audience - it would be great to have access to this knowledge as our budgets are so limited - we can learn and spread the knowledge thereby creating a win/win for all of us.
Thank you for your consideration
Teresa

[kath]

I work at a public school where 88% of our students live below the poverty line, and where there is a firm belief that poverty should not be a barrier to student success. My plan for 2010 for the 1/3 of my time that is devoted to communications is to launch a blog that will share the work and voices of students and teachers as well as offer insights from a real school on current policies effecting urban education. I haven't seen a forum like that hosted by a real urban school and it is so often clear that the public and the policymakers know little about how schools really work (and don't work). This blog will force us to make some smarter choices about feeding channels of content (more videos) to our FB page, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube accounts as well as our email blasts. For me, nothing is more important for our democracy than the future of public education, yet most schools don't have the time or resources to share what they are doing and invite people in. Social media can really help educate folks and get some public will going in the right direction. blog + media integration plan = justice

[Mary]

I work for the Alumni Department of a university that has very little internet activity with our alums throughout the world. They didn't even have a Facebook page until I started almost two years ago. I would use these books to help make them understand the necessity of being online in order to reach out to our alums in the easiest way possible.

[Adam Platzer]

I get the biggest return for my business using social media when I listen.

[Sandy Dempsey]

social media plans for 2010, and why you think these 7 books will help you achieve what you want to accomplish...

My social media plans include a Facebook page and interacting with like minded bloggers and readers online. I honestly believe that Twitter and other social networking sites like Facebook can play a huge role in developing relationships and communities that transcend traditional cultural, geographical and political boundaries. The opportunity to reach out and learn from one another in a supportive, open environments like these is unlike anything we have ever seen.

I have been online for less than a year. Books like these by authors who walk their talk would accelerate my learning curve.

[Carrie Raines]

My husband and I have a website development company that has worked with small businesses and non-profits for many years. We have found that these organizations would LOVE to be able to navigate social media but have no idea where to start not to mention how to do it. In 2010 we are expanding our business to include social marketing plans for these organizations. So far it has been a big success and our clients are happy and feel much better about their social media beginnings. I'm so excited about the book giveaway. I hope to win to expand my knowledge in social media!!! Also will be following your feed! Thanks!

[twitter.com/bradtid]

Ever since I was a kid playing on my dad's MS-DOS computer, I've been fascinated and intrigued by the power of computers and technology to change the world we live in. When I started with social media in 2005 as a high school student, I was immediately impressed by the potential social networking had to change interpersonal communication and social dynamics. Since that time, I've been constantly working to merge this passion with my other great love- politics.

In my junior year at college, I wrote a paper about the use of new media in presidential elections since 1996 with a focus on the 2008 race- this paper won a Gold Pollie award at the American Association of Political Consultants for best use of social media research. Ultimately the biggest award to come from that paper was the job I have now- working with new media consulting at a brand-new company in Northern Virginia- RaiseDigital. My current boss found me through that paper, and used LinkedIn to get in touch with me.

While I feel I have a pretty strong understanding of social networking and its background and functionality, I truly feel I have a lot to learn still. I was very fortunate to get a job right out of college- I literally finished my last few classes this summer. I believe these books will help round out my understanding of the best uses of social media and help me be most effective for my company's clients. Moreover, it will help me shape my understanding of how to merge my understanding of the political world with the benefits a successful online strategy can bring to our clients. Ultimately, the more candidates and organizations leverage this critical medium, the more competition and growth there will be, and the better experience we will all have online.

[Account Deleted]

Why would these books help my company/career in 2010? Certainly the knowledge gained from these books would personally help me improve my own social networking/marketing skills. However, the real reason I would like copies of these books is so that I can teach others these skills.

1. The Downtown Women's Club (my company - http://www.downtownwomensclub.com) provides 12,000+ women (and men) with a platform to learn and practice both online and in-person networking skills. We've always had a huge emphasis on social networking/social media and will continue to do so in 2010.

2. I'm a huge advocate of pushing businesswomen to learn more about social networking because there is no "virtual glass ceiling," and it's a way for women to immediately have a voice and use their collective majority to make changes.

3. My audiences like to read, and when I review books like Twitterville and Trust Agents on my blogs http://www.womensDISH.com or http://topshelf.entrepreneur.com, people buy them and learn. I am usually on top of the latest social media books, but I seemed to have missed a few on your list!

[Corey Dragge]

I am father of three that started a small grassroots Darfur awareness group almost 3 years ago. Though I have utilized Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger to some degree I have definitely not maximized their potential. These books would be help solve that problem.

It is my goal to host at least 6 Darfur awareness/fundraiser event in 2010 and these books would provide me with the tools to drastically increase our outreach efforts.

[Susan East]

I'm new to Social Media, and I could use all the help I can get. I think it's a great idea and I'd like to work with small businesses and not for profits on how to use this media to promote and build their businesses. For 2010, I'd like to be working with at least 3 businesses by the start of the new year and go from there.

[Ari Herzog]

I established a sole proprietorship in January 2009 performing consulting, speaking, and writing on online media strategies. But the bulk of my income this year has involved online community management. For 2010, my plan is to concentrate on speaking to overview social media as well as focus on different tools from a strategic, not tactical, perspective. For instance, it's great that an organization wants to blog -- but why and who will maintain it after the first six months? Strategies.

I've met two of those seven authors, and never heard of one of them. I haven't read any of those books. I want to read them, add my signature below the authors' with my own note, and then give them away to colleagues or clients for a continuous circle of signing, note writing, and sharing.

Thanks!

[Brian Reich]

My plan for 2010 is to help convene the appropriate discussions so that organizations of all kinds -- nonprofit, corporate, media, educational, and others - can focus, share ideas, develop new approaches, and begin to move together towards collaboration and impact. We can't continue to have a conversation in the nonprofit space, a separate one for marketers, the media off on its own, and similar. We are all facing the same challenges, both as a society and in terms of communications. The audience doesn't care about our background or our different operational structures. We need to get our act together and start to fix things. I plan to bring the smart people together, to listen and help frame the discussions differently, better. I plan to write, and talk to people, share idea and stories I have heard, help people improve on what they are doing, and ask for help to improve what I am thinking.

I would love the books - because the authors are all incredibly smart, their expertise is all important, and if we are going to merge conversations, mash up ideas, and really have impact, we have to bring as many people into the tent as possible. I read a lot, I have a lot of books, I track a lot of information - but I don't have any of these books yet. Amazing. So, more voices and experts to try and bring together.

That said, I also recognize that there are organizations, individuals who may need the books more, who may use them in a more direct way. So if I win the books, get the nod, I'll commit to one other thing in 2010 -- to reading the books and sharing the insights, so others can benefit. And when I am done with the books, I will lend them out to others who commented, or others who need it -- creating a little 'book club' of our own to make sure the knowledge is shared as well.

Great giveaway Beth, but mostly just a fun excuse to think ahead. Thanks.

[Brian Reich]

Oh, and Beth, if you want to give away a copy of my book- Media Rules! (http://www.amazon.com/Media-Rules-Mastering-Technology-Audience/dp/0470108886) I am happy to contribute a copy to the cause. Its not new, a couple years old now, but I think still helpful in framing this whole conversation.

[Brett Byrd]

Hi Beth, Thank you for such a great opportunity. I started Give Your Sole, www.giveyoursole.com, this past May and we have had a great response up to this point, however, I know that by incorporating social media avenues the growth has potential to be incredible. We seek to provide less fortunate men, women and children with moderately worn athletic shoes collected at race events nationwide, such as marathons and half marathons. We then take the collected shoes and donate them to local rescue missions and shelters within the city that the race event is being held. By having these books and implementing the many great ideas/concepts from these books it will help grow Give Your Sole to the point that our goals of helping the homeless can be reached and hopefully surpassed. From following many great non-profits such as charity: water I see the importance of social media and am inspired by what they have created. To be able to do a quarter of what they have accomplished would be a blessing. I plan on using social media in 2010 to grow Give Your Sole and reach people that I might not normally come in contact with that will not only support Give Your Sole but also possibly come to work for us to help further the cause.
Thank you again for the opportunity and I look forward to reading many more of your posts.
Brett Byrd
Founder
Give Your Sole

[Mike Winger]

Our social media plan for 2010 is to take the foundational shell that we established in 2009, and develop it into more of a community.

We have a tiny presence on Facebook, Twitter, and a brand new blog which of course needs to grow significantly. We hope that fan based interactions, recognitions, and giveaways will help us address this need.

Many in our industry are 'miss-using' social media with poorly planned marketing messages ("Visit my site - AND BUY SOMETHING!) Our plan is to combat this trend by blending our sales pitch with an extremely generous dose of: helpful hints, news you can use, and other value added content. Something to give them a reason to look forward to our communications.

[Noxhanti Piliso]

Have been working with the big issue in the north homeless charity for just over a month on their Twitter account and hope to explore further uses of social media to expand their reach and promote their message. The organisation has been boweled over by the results of this short foray into social media with increased sales/donations/interest moreover they have been able to make valuable contacts. However, for me the most important element is the change in the way they view themselves. Financial clout unfortunately places a heavy burden on many non profits unable to compete and defines their overall influence in their field. Social media has offered BIITN a way to overcome these limitations, reasses their relative importance in a more positive light and become even more energised and creative as regards developing consciousness raising activities. I hope to be a part of that. Exciting times. Noxi

[Avil Beckford]

Everyone seem to have advice on what to do to succeed in social media, and many are marketing their get rich quick social marketing scheme, letting others know what they have done.

The authors of the books for the most part have staying power and have been living their advice. They have also been very generous in sharing. As a small business, for my 2010 social media strategy, I will continue to do what I am doing now, which is to get my name out there, engage others and be helpful. I will do this by:

Listening to my readers and clients and responding to their needs
Posting rich and actionable information on my blog
Respond to questions
Working the niche that I am developing and providing fresh information and not what others are providing

And, to get my name out there, I will interview unique leaders in the area who are willing to share information, which I will pass on to my readers. I will participate in group writing projects, to shake things up, continue to be a guest blogger and continue to write for Technorati.

The set of books will help me, by showing me different ways of doing things as well as adding to what I am presently doing.

Thank you for providing this opportunity. I am trying to be intentional every day to say thank you.

Avil Beckford