Top 5 Community-Led Marketing Books You Need to Read Today
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In the world of marketing, communities play an essential role in driving brand awareness, customer engagement, and long-term loyalty. That's why it's vital for marketers to understand and harness the power of community-led marketing strategies. In this blog, we will explore five must-read books that will help you master community-led marketing, including both classic favorites and upcoming releases.
1. People Powered - Jono Bacon
As a leading community strategist, Jono Bacon shares his extensive knowledge and experience in "People Powered." This book focuses on the importance of building and nurturing strong communities to create long-lasting, meaningful relationships with your audience. Bacon offers valuable tips, strategies, and real-life examples that will help you develop and maintain a thriving community around your brand.
2. The Accidental Community Manager - Adrain Speyer
"The Accidental Community Manager" is an essential guide for building successful B2B communities. This book covers the fundamentals of community management, providing practical advice on creating, growing, and maintaining a healthy community. He also covers mistakes, failures, and lessons learned so that you don't have to repeat mistakes he had made managing communities.
3. The Business Value of Developer Relations - Mary Thengvall
Understanding and engaging with developers is crucial for technology companies. "The Business Value of Developer Relations" delves into the world of developer advocacy and demonstrates how nurturing relationships with developers can contribute to a company's success. This book offers a comprehensive overview of developer relations, including strategies for building trust, driving adoption, and fostering loyalty among developers.
4. The Business of Belonging - David Spinks
This is a highly recommended book for community-building professionals and business leaders who want to position their company for long-term success and competitiveness in their industry. The author, David Spinks, provides a modern approach to community design through his SPACES framework, which helps teams align their goals and expectations. The book also covers how to become a valuable member of an existing community, an often overlooked aspect. It contains practical advice, stories, frameworks, research, tips from other community professionals, and mini-case studies that can benefit both new and seasoned community builders. Overall, the book provides a step-by-step model for strategically planning, creating, facilitating, and measuring communities that drive business growth.
5. Unfair Mindshare - Derek Weeks (release in Summer 2023)
This is a shameless plug. :) Unfair Mindshare is a comprehensive guide to integrating three essential marketing orbits (product, brand, and community) to build thriving communities and generate exponential business growth. Inspired by real-world examples and case studies, I explain the three orbits of marketing and provide sample playbooks to guide readers through implementing community-led marketing programs. My book also offers practical advice on organizing, investing, staffing, measuring, and assessing the health of community-led marketing efforts.
But that's not all. To ensure the long-term success of your community, the author provides ground rules for engaging and empowering your members, enabling participation to thrive and maintaining the momentum you've built.
Whether you're a CMO looking to transform your marketing strategy or a business owner seeking to build a loyal customer base, these books provide the tools and insights you need to succeed. Order them, read them, and recommend them to your team.
Bonus: These aren't specifically about community-led marketing, but as a marketing leader, I would recommend buying a copy:
- Obviously Awesome - April Dunford
- Influence - Robert Caldini
- Everyone Writes - Ann Handley
- Forty Chances - Howard Buffet
- Purpple Cow -Seth Godin
