The free chapter (which is not in the book) includes daily tasks so you can get your social media presence up and running effectively and start moving toward reaching your goals in one month.

Just click the link (or the image) to read the free bonus chapter of 30-Minute Social Media Marketing right now.

If you have a copy of 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, you’ll find references to the chapters that correspond with each task throughout the 30-Day Social Media Marketing Challenge bonus chapter, so it’s easy to get details, tips, and help when you need it.

While this book is intended for LinkedIn beginners, it includes far more information about using LinkedIn as part of a career and business growth plan than typical “beginner” books offer. For example, you’ll learn how to establish a powerful LinkedIn presence, attract a following, promote yourself, your business, or your brand, and reach your goals.

I’m a marketer, so even the books that I write about technology always have a heavy focus on using technology to grow a business or personal brand. LinkedIn can be a powerful social media marketing tool, which is just one of the primary messages I tried to communicate in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to LinkedIn. The book is broken down into five main parts:

• Part 1: Carving out Your Space on LinkedIn
• Part 2: Building Your Reputation and Community
• Part 3: Marketing Yourself Through LinkedIn
• Part 4: Using LinkedIn for Job Searching and Hiring
• Part 5: Analyzing and Retooling Your LinkedIn Strategy

A lot of people have LinkedIn Profiles, but only a small percentage of LinkedIn members truly leverage all the features and opportunities that LinkedIn provides. My goal in writing The Complete Idiot’s Guide to LinkedIn was to show readers how useful the most popular professional social networking site can truly be in helping them reach their career and business goals.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to LinkedIn is on sale in paperback for just $13.63 right now on Amazon, and an ebook version is available for devices like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook.

First, what is social TV?

In simplest terms, social TV is the marriage of television and digital communications. Research shows that more and more people watch TV while simultaneously using their mobile devices. TV becomes social when people publish updates and discuss a program on Twitter, Facebook, and other social sites as they’re watching that program on television.

For example, have you watched television shows and noticed a Twitter hashtag in the lower right-hand corner of your TV screen? That hashtag invites people to tweet about the program as they’re watching it. People don’t have to be in the same room to communicate about what appears on their television screens anymore. They can follow hashtags on Twitter and converse with people around the world.

Social TV is most often found during live programming, but there is growing interest in integrating social elements into recorded programs as well. For example, Simon Dumenco of Advertising Age spoke with Zane Vella, CEO of Watchwith, who explained, “We’re creating a world where every frame of TV is rich in possibilities.”

Zane’s company creates data bubbles each second, which display what its backend database “knows” about each scene. For example, during “The Big Bang Theory” a character could walk into a room with a backpack and the Watchwith database instantly feeds information about that specific product to social TV apps. Consumers who like that backpack can search for it, get more information, discuss it, and purchase it as they’re watching the show.

Social TV is the next big opportunity for brands and marketers, but finding ways to integrate social TV without annoying consumers will be a challenging balancing act. I’ll be at Mashable Connect 2012 in May, and social TV is the hot ticket at this year’s conference. Everyone wants to learn more about it and strategize new ways to effectively integrate it into their marketing plans. If you’re not already thinking about social TV, then you’re missing a significant opportunity!

Image: Nicholas J. Briscoe

These lessons aren’t groundbreaking or earth-shattering, but they are easy to forget in our busy day-to-day lives, particularly for marketers who are constantly required to put numbers before customers. In a world of data analysis paralysis, marketers sometimes need to be reminded of the basic lessons The Hunger Games can teach, including:

1. Focus on your brand strengths.
2. Be flexible.
3. Build relationships.
4. Remember that your brand identity is essential.
5. Fancy imagery and messages without substance will lose in the end.

You can get all the details in my article on the Forbes website. The most important takeaway is this — survival depends on your ability to understand your environment (including your customers and competitors), adapt, and use your strengths to win. Those are lessons Katniss Everdeen applied in The Hunger Games, and marketers should apply them to business and brand building, too.

Have you read The Hunger Games? What lessons did you learn from the story? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: goodncrazy

This is a blog I began in 2007 as a place to give women in business a place to demonstrate their thought leadership and share their expertise related to all business topics. I was thrilled to accept the award on behalf of the volunteer contributors who help make the site the authoritative online community that it is. The full press release is here.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business recognize and honor women around the world in executive and entrepreneurial roles as well as the companies they lead. The Stevie Awards have been called the world’s premier business awards and referred to as the “Oscar Awards for business” by the New York Post. The 24 karat gold and crystal statues awarded to winners are crafted by the same company that makes the iconic Academy Award statues.

The 2011 Stevie Awards ceremony was attended by 300 finalists chosen from over 1,300 applications and benfitted Camfed (camfed.org), which fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change.

The complete 2011 award recipients list is available on the Stevie Awards website.