VMware obviously works with a lot of partners. Channel partners drive much of our business, and they range from two guys in a garage to the largest systems integrators, resellers, and OEMs on the planet.
I’m working on a project with VMware’s channel partner team to figure out how we can help our partners get up to speed on social media marketing. Given that social media is an extremely broad topic, and that we’re talking about everybody from Two Guys, Inc. to IBM, I don’t think we can put some pdfs together and call it a completed project.
So as a first start, we’re working on gathering goals and requirements within VMware and in our partner community, and also on assembling a set of Social Media Marketing 101 tools. I think there will be both general social media material that will be relevant, as well as some resources tuned specifically for IT consulting and VARs.
To start us off, I asked for recommendations on Twitter today about this, and these are some of what my network on Twitter suggested:
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@jtroyer Seth Godin : Tribes (not that I am an expert, but changed my perception)less than a minute ago via TweetDeck 
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Nicholas Weaver ✔
lynxbat
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@jtroyer Sounds funny, but the pop economics book Moneyball is something I apply to social media marketing e’ry day.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply
andy
thesethings
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RT @jtroyer: IT Consultant/VAR suggestions for links/books on Social Media Marketing 101? < @eileenb ‘s book? http://amzn.to/mPXDn1less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Reply
Simon Gallagher
vinf_net
.bbpBox73448134948298754 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/3362358/tb8.jpg) #EBEBEB;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}
@jtroyer @HeatherMargolis is the VAR Social Media guru.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Reply
bschwartz
bschwartz
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@jtroyer: IT Consultant/VAR suggestions for links/books on Social Media Marketing 101? <Anything by Godin, @GuyKawasaki, or Garr Reynolds.less than a minute ago via HootSuite Favorite Retweet Reply
Matthew Yeager
mpyeager
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@jtroyer Less abstractly, the @timoreilly @sarahm Twitter Book addresses the fragile topic of best practices. http://amzn.to/jERbKnless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Replyandy
thesethings
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@jtroyer I would recommend @thebrandbuilder‘s new book Social Media ROI as a great starting point. He’s even from our industry.less than a minute ago via HootSuite Favorite Retweet Reply
Joe Hackman
hackmanj
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@jtroyer “Engage!” by Brian Solis an excellent read…less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply
Clint Greenwood
cloudclint
But I don’t think the conversation stops here! Put your two cents into the comments: what tools, books, links, blog posts should we be looking at as we try to help our resellers and channel partners better utilize social media to connect with customers and bring people along the journey to the cloud?
