As a wise soul once said, “you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy books, and that’s kind of the same thing.”

The Science of Social Media over at Buffer rounded up 9 books that they think are absolute must-reads for social media marketers. Plus, what makes them so dang useful and awesome. They even read aloud some of their favorite quotes from the books. :’)

Major inspiration ahead:

• (01:12) #1: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuck. Love him or hate him (or extra hate him), this book is super popular. It highlights how social media marketers must embrace the nuances and languages of each social media platforms.
• (02:45) #2: Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers by Jay Baer. After all, they always say: bad reactions are better than zero reactions.
• (05:00) #3: Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger outlines 6 principles that you can apply to marketing efforts to create free word-of-mouth marketing, which he argues is more effective than advertising. 
• (06:40) #4: Permission Marketing by Seth Godin. Wise Godin raises this hard-hitting question: Marketers want to get their messages in front of you — they must get their message in front of you just to survive. The only problem is, do you really want more marketing messages? 
• (08:00) #5: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie reminds us it’s more effective to talk about your audience, not yourself. 
• (09:19) #6: Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley. This one covers everything from grammar and organizing ideas to how to create a compelling story. She also uncovers perhaps the truest definition of quality: Utility + inspiration + empathy…BRB buying this book right now.
• (10:50) #7: Pre-Suasion: Channeling Attention for Change by Robert Cialdini. Hey we talked about this idea last month!
• (12:26) #8: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
• (14:23) #9: They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan

Get the scoop about each book in today’s Listen. 

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You get it — the key to content marketing is creating quality content. You’ve probably heard that so many times you’re about to scream (Jordyn is currently sing-screaming about it. Someone make her stop?).

Don’t worry, we’re not going to preach that old news today. What we are serving up is the next step, or next 5 steps, to actually creating quality content. You can say “create quality content” all you want, but if you aren’t using these 5 ingredients…you probably aren’t actually creating quality content.

1. Accuracy. With all the #fakenews out there, citing actual experts and actual research will build a ton of trust between you and your audience. Your opinions are not always facts.
2. Accessibility. Make sure your content is published on a site that’s  mobile-friendly, fast, and delivers a great user experience. This also means that you need to use other formats than just text.
3. Application. Your content always needs to answer the question: Does it meet them where they are, with clear guidance to get them where they want to go?
4. Action Steps. You can talk for days about how great Facebook ads are and how they help you get business, but if you don’t help your audience use those tactics, then your content is subpar.
5. Authority. This is kind of an abstract, but your content should answer the question: how am I uniquely qualified to answer this question? Basically, what makes you different?

Bonus: Sonia Simone wrote another blog post that is the “6th Magical Ingredient” to creating quality content.

Advertising Week is in full swing right now, and we truly cannot get enough. This week’s Watch’s might be nothing but videos from Advertising Week. Totally not mad about it.

Tuesday night was the D&AD Impact Awards, which puts a spotlight on the most creative ideas that have contributed toward a better and more sustainable future. Today, we’re featuring the top 15 ads/ideas that received awards.

Plenty of crazy creative things here. Some of them you’ve likely seen, like Fearless Girl. Others, you might’ve missed. Either way, they’re all inspiring and powerful. One of the ads was shared by Jamie Linn Mueller (what up, Jamie!?) in our Facebook group. Seems like our group members know a good ad when they see one.