If you want to get the most out of your business’ online assets, such as your website, social media channels and email marketing campaigns, then you’re going to need at least a working knowledge of digital marketing.

If you’re a beginner to this discipline, or you’d like to find out more about certain areas, then check out this list of nine books that you really should have on your shelf.

Content Marketing

Joe Pulizzi — Content Inc.

As one of the foremost pioneers in the practice of content marketing, Joe Pulizzi is always a guy you should pay attention to.

I’d suggest that his books should be the first port-of-call for anyone looking to expand their knowledge of content marketing, and in ‘Content Inc.’ Joe takes the business-startup process and breaks it down into six steps.

The book contains examples of success stories from other businesses that have utilised this model, as well as his own success.

Andy Crestodina — Content Chemistry

Off the back of thousands of conversations with different companies operating in different industries over a 15 year period, ‘Content Chemistry’ is one of the best books on content marketing around.

Andy Crestodina is the co-founder of Orbit Media Studios, an award winning web design agency based in Chicago, and in this book Andy looks at the theory behind digital marketing as well as digital marketing in practice. By reading ‘Content Chemistry’ you’ll gain a great understanding of all the most important aspects of content marketing as well as what you need to do to become a success in this challenging, competitive discipline.

Michael Brenner — The Content Formula

One of the biggest challenges for digital marketers is measuring the ROI of their content marketing efforts. After all, retweets and Facebook likes might make us feel great, but how do they actually impact on our bottom line?

In Michael Brenner’s book ‘The Content Formula’, the author goes into detail about how to calculate your content’s ROI and make sure you’re not wasting money — essential if you want to secure a bigger budget at some point in the future — and is broken down into three sections:

  • How to build a business case for content marketing;
  • How to find the budget to establish new campaigns;
  • How to measure the success of your content in relation to the business.

Social Media

Dave Kerpen — Likeable Social Media

Unless you’re a digital native, the thought of trying to navigate the world of social media might seem daunting. In ‘Likeable Social Media’, Dave Kerpen looks to make things much less scary, including clear instructions on what to do and explaining which tools you’ll need to engage with your customers.

If you’re looking to make the most of social media, this book is a fantastic starting point.

Gary Vaynerchuk — Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

‘How to succeed on social media’ is not an easy question to address — after all, there are many different social media platforms whose audiences differ, and on which you need to deploy varying tactics and strategies.

Marketing is all about telling a story, and in ‘Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook’ Gary Vaynerchuk explains how you need to adapt this story on each social media platform.

Jeffrey Rohrs — Audience: Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans & Followers

Before you can market your business on social media you need to have an audience. So how do you go about building and cultivating a loyal following on social?

In this excellent book, Jeffrey Rohrs explores how focussing your marketing efforts can help to grow the size of your audience, improve engagement rates and develop long term, loyal fans.

SEO

Eric Enge et al — The Art of SEO

Despite being originally published back in 2012, The Art of SEO is still one of the most popular SEO books on the market.

Eric Enge collaborated with some of the industry’s leading lights on this book, including Rand Fishkin, Stephen Spencer and Jessica Stricchiolia, providing a range of different opinions on the most important aspects of SEO.

If you want to learn more about this complex and often misunderstood discipline, make sure this book is on your shelf.

Jason McDonald — SEO Fitness Workbook: 2016 Edition

The best way to learn SEO is to do SEO, which is why this book is so perfect for anyone looking to enhance their knowledge base.

Jason McDonald’s ‘SEO Fitness Workbook’ offers worksheets and tool books that will help you to find free online SEO tools that you can actually put to use.

Peter Kent — Search Engine Optimization for Dummies

The ‘... for Dummies’ series is well known, but what you might not realise is that there is also ‘Search Engine Optimization for Dummies’, full of easy-to-understand information.

As with Jason McDonald’s ‘SEO Fitness Workbook’, new editions of SEO for Dummies is constantly being published, so make sure that you pick up the latest version!