If someone had warned me in college that being a social media manager would be as soul-sucking and unforgivable as it is—well, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. Obviously, creating content for a living is a creative outlet that most social media managers are grateful for, but the ever-changing and over-saturated game of running a brand on social media is often more stressful than you’d expect.
If there were any number of books that I would recommend reading to not only help you use social media better but assure you that you’re likely doing the best you can, it’s these several books.
No Filter by Sarah Frier
Where The Social Network told the dramatic story of Facebook’s early years through film, No Filter seeks to do the same for Instagram. But where Zuckerberg’s story is filled with legal issues and college parties, Instagram’s formation follows the story of an app that changed advertising as we know it today. The book will give you tons of insight into why Instagram has made the decisions that got it where it is today and reassure you that no one really knows what they’re doing.
The End of Marketing As We Know It: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and AI by Carlos Gil
This book skips over the information you already know about social media and goes into how you can humanize a brand to make it more approachable online. Gil discusses how you can use paid social media advertising strategies to your advantage as long as they’re approachable on a human level and stresses the importance of using social media as a powerful tool for customer contact, but only when approached in the right way.
Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in the Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson
Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and wrote Hit Makers about the science of what makes things popular. From classic French art to modern radio bangers, the book breaks down what makes things viral (and it’s not about the algorithm).
The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton
In this book, author Richard Shotton discusses the behavioral science that influences a purchase and demonstrates how any social media manager can use that to their advantage. In the digital age, marketing a product often matters more than the product itself and can influence when and how a customer makes a decision to purchase.
The Power of Visual Storytelling by Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio
Technically a textbook, this guide will teach you everything you need to know about incorporating visual storytelling into your marketing strategy to help bring it to a new level of interactivity on social media. On platforms like Instagram especially, a visual storyline is just as important as any other aspect of your branding when you’re a social media manager.
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