The Social Media Strategist: Build a Successful Program from the Inside Out

Build a powerful social media strategy to increase buzz--and the bottom line

"Whether you're Fortune 500 or a small business owner, if you're looking for success in this field, you owe it to yourself to read this book."
--George G. Smith Jr., Social Strategist, PepsiCo

"After working with hundreds of organizations in their efforts to adopt social technologies, I can safely say The Social Media Strategist is the best guide available. Christopher Barger elevates the social media conversation with an experienced pragmatic insider's discussion about real adoption. This book should be on every corporate and agency practitioner's shelf."
--Geoff Livingston, author of Welcome to the Fifth Estate and Now Is Gone

"This book is an absolute must-read for anyone seeking to better understand how to plug social media into their business from both a strategic and an operational standpoint, and should be required reading for communications and business management students around the world."
--Olivier A. Blanchard, author of Social Media ROI

"The Social Media Strategist is refreshing because it has substance amidst a sea of social media superficiality. It will help you think strategically and realistically so you can act efficiently and creatively. If you're serious about business and committed about leveraging social media, you need to read this book."
--Esteban Contreras, Social Media Marketing Manager, Samsung USA

"Christopher offers a refreshing point of view as a seasoned practitioner and leader in the earliest days of the social media evolution. He describes the challenges of large-scale internal change and the rewards of integrating social media business planning, and he shares real-world examples of successful campaigns."
--Shauna Causey, Head of Social Media, Nordstrom

About the Book:

In today's fast-paced professional climate, large companies are learning that launching a website and taking a wait-and-see approach to engaging customers is not enough. Competition is fierce, and those who master the social media space are the ones who come out on top. There is greater urgency than ever before to establish a vibrant social media program--and it all starts with a key strategist who can best organize and leverage all of the organization's resources to cut through the bureaucracy and get real-time results.

This is where The Social Media Strategist comes in. Before tackling specific social media programs, you first have to get your own organization--and everyone in it--on board with making social media a business strategy priority.

Christopher Barger, the award-winning former social media director at General Motors and IBM's former "blogger-in-chief," describes all the challenges particular to getting a comprehensive social media program off the ground in a large firm. The Social Media Strategist teaches you how to:

• Manage internal office politics, from your legal team to the policy makers to the human resource department
• Present new ideas to lawyers and executives in a compelling, convincing way
• Teach your employees the guidelines and protocols they'll need to represent your company
• Turn your organization into a true media outlet, publishing content that is generated by in-house employees and is truly engaging to an outside audience

"Telling a company from the outside what it should do is one thing," writes Barger. "Actually making it happen from the inside is quite another." Here, he takes the bold step of starting where all successful endeavors begin: by planning well, by putting all the moving parts in the right place, by constructing a solid foundation.

Consult The Social Media Strategist and build the best-suited social media infrastructure for your company. Then, and only then, can you begin to raise your profile, connect with customers, and increase your profits using the most powerful new business tool.

Christopher Barger is senior vice president of global programs at Voce Connect, a division of Porter Novelli, which assists clients around the world in developing social media programs and strategies. He spent four years as director of global social media at General Motors, and he served as IBM's "blogger-in-chief," playing a crucial role in developing IBM's online presence.