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Social Media Strategy

A Practical Guide to Social Media Marketing and Customer Engagement

Julie Atherton

Unlock the winning formula for implementing effective social media campaign strategies and enhancing ROI across digital channels with this bestselling book, complete with comprehensive updates and latest developments.

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EAN: 9781398629455

Edition: 3

Published: 03 Oct 2026

Format: 234 x 156

312 pages

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About the book

Learn how to optimize your social media strategy for sustainable, scalable and performance-led business growth.

Social Media Strategy by Julie Atherton is a best-selling guide for senior marketing professionals who need to align social media investment with commercial outcomes and long-term brand value. As digital channels fragment and search behaviour increasingly shifts toward AI-powered tools and social platforms, many organizations struggle to translate activity into consistent results.

This book provides a clear, structured framework for planning, executing and measuring social media strategy in complex, multi-channel environments. It includes new insight into the role of social platforms such as Reddit as discovery engines, the strategic value of brand communities and the evolving skillsets required across modern marketing teams.

You'll learn how to:
- Select and optimize channels across organic, paid and emerging platforms
- Measure and interpret social media activity into actionable data insights
- Build and manage diversified influencer and community ecosystems
- Generate brand visibility across social and search platforms, including AI and Reddit
- Acquire and develop skillsets needed across marketing teams

With practical frameworks, downloadable resources and real-world examples, Social Media Strategy gives senior leaders the clarity, confidence and structure needed to maximize social media's contribution to sustainable business growth.

Themes include: social media strategy, digital marketing leadership, AI and social search, influencer management, brand communities, performance measurement

About the authors

Julie Atherton, MBA is the founder of the social media advisory and marketing consultancy Small Wonder. As a public speaker, consultant and strategist, she has 30 years' experience working with global brands including Nissan, ITV, Deloitte Digital, Asos and St John Ambulance. She lectures in social media on university MBA programmes at the University of Exeter and the University of Bath, and trains marketing professionals in digital, brand, social media and content marketing. Her book B2B Social Selling Strategy, is also published by Kogan Page.

Julie Atherton

- Chapter - 00: Introduction – How to use this book;
- Chapter - 01: Understand how social media is utilized in business, marketing and interpreting customer expectations;
- Chapter - 02: Integrated customer engagement - How to ensure your social media strategy integrates across the customer journey with your wider marketing and business development;
- Chapter - 03: Getting started – Aligning social media goals and KPIs with your wider business objectives;
- Chapter - 04: Audience – Using social listening to profile your networked audience and generate customer insights for a global social media strategy;
- Chapter - 05: Brand presence – How to maximize visibility and drive action and engagement through integrated content marketing on social media;
- Chapter - 06: Campaigns and communities – A step-by-step guide to organic and paid social media channel selection for your objectives and audiences;
- Chapter - 07: Measuring and benchmarking success – How and when do you know your social media strategy is working?;
- Chapter - 08: From customers to celebrities – Identifying and attracting a range of influencers to advocate for your brand;
- Chapter - 09: Crisis and reputation management for social media and PR – A clear guide for the unpredictable;
- Chapter - 10: Thoughts on the future of social - what will happen next?

Reviews

Rodrigo Simonsen, Founder & Publisher, 1337

I had the privilege of publishing the first edition of Social Media Strategy in Brazil, and what impressed me then feels even more valuable today: Julie Atherton has a remarkable ability to bring clarity and structure to a field that never stops changing. This new edition goes far beyond platforms, trends and tactics. It shows how social media connects to customer insight, brand building, business objectives, content, communities and measurable action. In an industry often obsessed with what is new, Julie keeps her focus on what actually matters. Social Media Strategy is the kind of book that remains useful precisely because it teaches you not only what to do, but how to think.

James Sutton, Strategy and Commercial Director, Chartered Institute of Marketing, CFCIM, FRSA

A rare book that combines strategic rigour with hands-on practicality. Atherton demystifies social search, influencer portfolios and AI, and shows marketers how to prove social media's contribution to the bottom line. Essential professional development for any modern marketer.

David Blundell, Global Social Media Manager, Digital Marketing, Syngenta

I highly recommend Social Media Strategy whether you're new to social media marketing or an old hand like me. Don't be fooled by the book title because the excellent strategic advice is backed up with real-world ways to apply everything in the book. It's bursting with use-cases that will inspire and challenge your current ways of working, all grounded in Julie Atherton's years of hard-won experience. An invaluable resource for businesses and students alike.

Kathryn E. Strachan, Fractional B2B CMO, Kathryn Strachan Consulting

Social media is one of the quickest ways to reach your audience on a platform where they already spend their time. Julie's book breaks down everything you need to know to build a smart strategy, start creating content, and build online communities. Taking you through easy frameworks and ABCs, she breaks it down in a way that anyone can understand. If you're thinking about launching your online presence, don't miss this book.

Kate Mackie, Chair of Fellows, The Marketing Society

Julie has once again delivered the definitive guide to social media strategy. In a world transformed by AI, algorithms and ever-changing audience expectations, this edition is a guiding light for today's marketer, cutting through the noise with clarity, practicality and wisdom. Essential reading for marketers who want to turn a tactical channel into a strategic growth engine.

David Hearn, Digital Marketing Expert for Data & Marketing Association and Course Leader at University of Roehampton

I've been lucky enough to work with Julie Atherton on various projects over the last decade, and her deep understanding of the social media landscape and what it means for brands has been invaluable for me to develop strategic plans and deliver professional training and university teaching on the subject.
This book captures that expertise brilliantly, bringing together theory, practical guidance and real-world insight to help all us marketers develop more effective social media strategies.

Tamsin McLaren, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, School of Management, University of Bath

In this compelling and highly relevant third edition, timeless strategic thinking meets the proliferation of generative AI. Combining innovative marketing models with practical frameworks, tools and templates, the book provides a clear roadmap for creating impactful and successful social media strategies. Engaging real-world cases and exclusive insights from leading brands and practitioners make the content both accessible and inspiring, bridging the gap between theory and practice with refreshing clarity and honesty.
A must-read for anyone looking to harness the power of social media, from ambitious students and entrepreneurs to experienced business leaders and marketing professionals.

Prof. Donald Lancaster, Director of MBA Programmes, University of Exeter Business School

This third edition is more than a refresh - it inspires professionals, practitioners and students to see and manage the contemporary social media landscape as an integrated whole. Practical in approach and advice, accessible in language and content, and stimulating in both ideas and strategy, this book sets the standard for 21st century branding and marketing.

Jeremy Grainger, Director of Sales and Marketing, Rutgers University Press

Julie Atherton's Social Media Strategy is now fully-updated in a third edition, incorporating fast-moving changes of the last few years, including utilization of AI. It is an essential guide for any marketer seeking to lead with content, build brand identity, engage consumers on a variety of platforms, drive sales and increase customer loyalty. Whether you are a large enterprise or a small entrepreneur, there are many valuable lessons here. I cannot recommend it enough.

Pete Markey, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer, University of Nottingham

Smart, clear and refreshingly actionable. This is the book every marketing team should keep within reach - an essential guide to effective, results driven social media.

I had the privilege of publishing the first edition of Social Media Strategy in Brazil, and what impressed me then feels even more valuable today: Julie Atherton has a remarkable ability to bring clarity and structure to a field that never stops changing. This new edition goes far beyond platforms, trends and tactics. It shows how social media connects to customer insight, brand building, business objectives, content, communities and measurable action. In an industry often obsessed with what is new, Julie keeps her focus on what actually matters. Social Media Strategy is the kind of book that remains useful precisely because it teaches you not only what to do, but how to think.
Rodrigo Simonsen, Founder & Publisher, 1337

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