At UnderDesign, we avidly devour books, podcasts, videos, magazines, audio tapes, seminars and workshops about web design, business, networking, social media, search engine marketing, optimisation and just about everything to do with our industry.

Earlier this month, Esther suggested that we start a "recommended book of the month" feature on our website; after all, if we get benefit from reading a book, why not tell our clients, customers and website visitors about it?

So, here we are - our first book of the month recommendation. We hope you enjoy, we hope you like the book and we'd love to hear from you about any questions or comments you have about the book or suggestions you might have for future book recommendations.

At the foot of this page is an affiliate link which will take you to Amazon where you can buy a copy of the book. If you follow this link and buy a copy of the book, we get approximately 70 pence in commission - which keeps Esther in herbal teas for a day or so, or at least helps towards the cost of keeping this column going! If, however, you're not comfortable with clicking an affiliate link and making us rich (!), there's a "non-affiliate" link just below that.

Either way, we hope you find our recommendation useful, and enjoy your copy of...

The Social Media Bible

The blurb for this book claims that it is the "ultimate comprehensive social media reference book for any business looking to transform its marketing and operational strategies" and, in an industry where books are notoriously out-of-date within days of hitting the shelves of bookstores up and down the country, they actually deliver quite well on their claim.

With over 700 pages, it dedicates plenty of print to worthy social media subjects such as blogs, vlogs (video blogs), and podcasts, microblogging, livecasting and virtual gaming as well as photo, video and audio.

The book is divided into three parts and Parts II and III admirably cover social media tools and social media strategy respectively - if you're the type that values and even enjoys planning, you'll love the section on The Four Pillars of Social Media Strategy as much as you'll enjoy delving into Your Social Media SWOT Analysis in the following chapter.

Most of all though, the reason we're recommending this book is not just it's breadth of information, but it's depth. Authors Lon Safko and David Brake not only know their subject well, but understand it intimately. They bring to life the various aspects of social media that are most important to a business; those aspects that will help them, in these troubled times, to increase sales, improve profitability and remain relevant and competitive. Well done!

As the book itself claims, it is part reference, part how–to manual, and part business strategy, and all very very good. Grab your copy as soon as you can; you won't regret it.

Visit the Amazon page for the Social Media Bible

Visit the Amazon page for The Social Media Bible (non-affiliate link)