According to Publishers Weekly, unit sales for eBooks of all kinds exploded in 2012. In fact, numbers are in the hundreds of millions. And while consumers are steadily getting more comfortable with the inevitable transition from paper to digital content, so much so that they’re increasingly willing to pay handsomely for it, there’s still nothing quite as satisfactory as a great read that costs nothing at all!

Here’s the challenge…with literally hundreds if not thousands of free eBooks to choose from, where does a business opportunity or other small business owner begin?

Well, we thought we’d start out by narrowing the field with two key criteria in mind.

First, we wanted to choose a subject that many of you might find helpful and of considerable interest. Given that social media marketing is all the rage, especially among small business owners, and that it is anticipated to grow exponentially in the next few years, we figured this hot topic was a good place to start.

And second, we didn’t want to blindly recommend just any downloads. Rather, we wanted input from an expert.

Thankfully, it just so happens we have a number of them in-house, one of whom is Stephanie Nissen, BusinessOpportunity.com’s Director of Marketing.

A confessed fan and connoisseur of free e-books, with a considerable personal library to boot, Steph is especially interested in those that concern her most preferred area of expertise, social media. As she’ll be the first to tell you, it’s her true passion. So, we recently asked her to take careful inventory of and review some of her favorite FREE e-books for business opportunity and other small business owners on the subject she loves most, and here they are:

How to Optimize Your Social Channels for Lead Generation—by Marketo

What Steph has to say: This eBook is one of my favorites. Why? Because it talks not just about the basics, but also about some tips and tricks you don’t hear about all the time. Using social media to increase brand awareness and excel in customer service is not new, but finding an eBook that explains it well is! This eBook tells you why you need to “be there,” the best practices overall and also breaks down the major social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, SlideShare, YouTube and Google+. Not only does Marketo explain why and how to use each network, but it also explains why things work. For instance, Edge Rank is Facebook’s system for ordering which posts will be seen in your timeline, and Marketo has broken down the algorithm in understandable terms that any business owner can and will appreciate.

How to Master Facebook Marketing in 10 Days—by Hubspot

What Steph has to say: If you have yet to start marketing your business opportunity or other small business on Facebook, this eBook gets you off to a smarter start than you would by going it on your own. By following its 10 easy steps set up over 10 days, this eBook enables you, in less than two weeks, to create a Facebook business page that is smart, will be successful and creates more engagement than you ever thought possible. This guide provides a plan of action for all new social media business strategists. It’s one that you really can’t afford NOT to read. I’m a frequent social media user, and even I learned something new from this eBook!

Six Principles of Social Media Marketing—by Salesforce

What Steph has to say: There’s more to social media than simply talking at your fan base. This eBook breaks it down into six understandable principles, including social listening, social content, engagement, social ads, measurement, and workflow and automation. Especially at the start of implementing any social media strategy, it’s important to remember that the whole platform is breathing and ever-changing…so you have to keep up. Once the page is set up you can’t just leave it alone and expect the work to do itself. You have to listen actively to what your followers are saying, share quality content, engage with them using comments and messages, create ads to reach potential new clients, and measure what works and what doesn’t. This eBook breaks down the principles to success in social media marketing as well as I’ve seen.

The Simple Twitter Book—by Brent Ozar

What Steph has to say: Twitter is the second largest social network behind Facebook and the second most popular network for businesses. Facebook tends to get most of the attention from social media marketers of all stripes, but many of them may be missing the boat because having an optimized Twitter profile makes you an unstoppable force in my view. Ozar’s Simple Twitter eBook shows you the language of Twitter and how to use it best. It also talks about how to do these very important things: follow the right people, make retweeting work for you, get more followers and implement best practices for your business. While this book also covers your personal Twitter profile, the section that pertains to business specifically is not to be missed.