Here are a few free e-books from HubSpot and Who’s Blogging What that are definitely useful when it comes to learning more about social media marketing and lead generation.  All files are PDFs and will open in a new window.

Social Media Lead Generation

Using LinkedIn for Business (great tips in here)

Who’s Blogging What 2010: Collective Wisdom From Social Media Experts

Does anyone else have any free e-books, webinars, or other resources to share? If so, email The Social Robot using the Contact tab to the left or leave a comment with the URL below.

The web’s best stories on SEM, Social Media, and more, for the first week in March.

Build your integrated marketing team
Engaging a web partner- before the “I Do’s”
Microsoft and Yahoo deal cleared
Carnival, Travelocity say SEO and social media behind traffic surge
SEO recommendations don’t implement themselves!
5 ways to maximize social media marketing productivity in the workplace
Do’s and dont’s of social media marketing
Time for companies to embrace social media marketing

Here’s what I’ve found this week for our weekly link round-up!

How to use social media to acquire staff
There’s no right way to blog
Google blurs the link between paid and un-paid results again (opinion)
3 ways to optimize your bidding strategies
5 social media marketing stats that will blow your mind
How e.l.f. became a social media giant
Why you need a strategy for social media
Bubble Motion launches Twitter-Like voice blogging service for mobile phones (TechCrunch)

Wall Street Journal: Services combine social media, marketing

Impact Media: Google’s MySpace acquisition poses challenges for SEO

Clickthrough Marketing: AdWords Certification can boost SEM

CNN Money: Social Media use increases 82%

ClickZ: 9 insights to help guide your SMM program

Search Engine Land: The 5 rings of conversion optimization

BONUS:

How to use LinkedIn for Business, a (very helpful) free PDF e-book by HubSpot

Google Continues to Take Search Budgets from Rivals
Kids Pack in Nearly 11 Hours of Media Use Daily
More Attacks Expected on Twitter, Facebook in 2010
iPhone App Helped Man Survive Haiti Earthquake
Will the New York Times Meter Kill Traffic From Social Media?

If you like getting a regular ‘link round-up’ on here and want it in your email inbox, sign up for Google Alerts. Choose keywords you’re interested in and receive digests of news stories daily, as-it-happens, or weekly.

Here’s your weekly dish of top search engine marketing and social media links for the week of January 18, 2010:

Can Search Engine Optimization survive google?

Search engine marketing on the rise, survey shows

Coakley v Brown: the social media divide may decide the election

Social media websites strengthened holiday season for retailers

Haitian relief dominates social media
NOTE: If you’re looking for a way to donate to Haiti relief, you can simply text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts. The $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill. If you have Sprint, they are waiving any text message fees for users who are using text to donate to Haiti. The damage done to Haiti is going to cost billions of dollars, and they have little water, clean medical supplies, and are having to use mass graves in order to bury the dead because there are no other alternatives. Please help!

30 tips for using social media

7 questions key to social networking success

Microsoft has a plan to improve Bing’s poor indexing

‘Old school’ SEO can address google’s ‘new school’ real-time search

SEO Vital in Content Marketing: http://www.directnews.co.uk/news/search-engine/seo-development/seo-vital-in-content-marketing–$1351812.htm

SEO Tips for Smarter Social Media: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/25497.asp

Why Social Media is Still a Redheaded Stepchild: http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/01/06/why-social-media-marketing-is-still-a-red-headed-stepchild/

Social Media Permeate the Employment Life Cycle: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202437746082&Social_media_permeate_the_employment_life_cycle&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1

Facebook, Twitter Become Business Tools, but CIOs Remain Wary: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/01/07/urnidgns852573C400693880002576A40062146B.DTL

How to Say Stupid Things About Social Media: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/05/social-media-cory-doctorow (header image from this article)

I’m please to note that I just donated $45 to Wayside Waifs this morning! That will pay for more than one round of vaccines for a rescued dog or cat! Thanks to everyone who donated. -Kelsey

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Three Best Ways to Use Social Media

Health Insurance 2.0 — Social Media Resurrects Old-School Values

Charity Begins on the Internet Now

What’s the Sales Potential in Social Networking?

5 Sure-Fire Ways to Operationalize Social Media

Is Social Media Privacy an Oxymoron?

Social Media Conference Features AT&T on January 28-29, 2010 at the Miami Beach Convention Center

Isn’t the Value of Social Media What Business Is All About?

Social Media Is the New Mass Media

How Real-Time Search and Personalization Influence PPC And SEO Campaigns

Google Personalized Results Could Be Bad for Search

Twitter-equipped bathroom scale tells the world how much you weigh