Summer is a time for me not only to work on research projects or go to conferences, but it also a time for me to review books to possibly incorporate into my classes.
I had a chance to review a new book by Bryan Kramer called Shareology, and not only do I think it is a timely book for me as I prepare for my fellowship at GM, but it is one I think professors who are teaching social media and PR classes should consider reviewing and adding to their library.
Why do I say this? Overall, the main theme from this book I was able to take away was about paying it forward. We are seeing a lot of messages, research, posts, and people on social media wanting the spotlight when it comes to social media – but this is not the case here with Bryan. He’s willing to not only share his personal experiences, but also best tips and practices from other professionals while building a proactive and positive social media community at the same time.
There are some things I felt Shareology did very well and I have to give Bryan Kramer a lot of props for what he has done. Here are some of the highlights I found from reading the book:
- Very personalized: I have never had the pleasure of meeting in Bryan in person (virtually yes, but hopefully we will be able to meet at a conference in the future), but you get a sense of his own personality, voice, and presence throughout the book. This is good – and ties into the concept of shareology not only by connecting with people, but connecting and sharing a bit of yourself with the world. Also, in the chapter about what is worth sharing – this was great because you got to see what Bryan actually does on social media as examples. Very personalized and shows all of us as readers he walks the walk and embraces this concept as well.
- Great content and promotion of the shareology concept, especially context chapter: Lots of good content here, but the context chapter really struck out at me because we sometimes forget about why we are sharing information and when it is appropriate to share and when not to share information. I also have to give Bryan credit for the promotion and marketing campaign attached to this book – he has incorporated all of the principles together from the book into his own promotional campaign for the book. Great branded hashtag and digital presence.
- Integration of insights, best practices, along with practitioner experiences: I always like cases and stories from practitioners working in the field in books, and it was refreshing to see so many listed and integrated throughout the book here. I really liked the analytics and influence section as well – these are two areas of particular interest to me so it was great to see both best practices and insightful commentary from professionals in this area. Awesome to see here, Bryan!
- Humor along with the focus on quality+quantity+consistency: This was a huge point for me here. I think it’s so important to have quality engagements and posts throughout your social media channels, and be consistent about it and be active listeners. One of the main things I try to communicate with my students about.
- Walk the walk, and sharing lessons learned: Another great point about what Bryan has done with this book is share his personal experiences and what he’s done by embracing the shareology mentality and community. That’s so important in social media – you have to practice what you preach, and be willing to share and pay it forward to others. Great message and point here, Bryan.
However, like all books, there are some things I think Bryan may want to consider looking at for his future books. Here are some of my thoughts:
- Hard to read graphics/image: It was hard for me at times to review the graphs shown in the book (maybe it’s just my eyes), but it would have been great to have seen these in color (they were black and white in the electronic copy I got), and a bit bigger. I know students are very visual and would appreciate this a lot.
- References and citations for resources: I think this was one thing I thought was missing to some degree in the book. While Bryan had a lot of insights from professionals and leaders in the business, there was a missing part of the equation. You have to include the practitioner experiences, best practices, and research. When it comes to social media, there has been a TON of research done and I am sure many of my colleagues who are active in this area would be more than happy not only to share what they have found in their studies, but talk to Bryan about it. Personally, I’d love to talk to Bryan about the work I have done exploring social media influence, reputation management, and PR sometime.
- Great interviews, but there are some other professionals to consider reaching out to as well: I think Bryan did a great job with this throughout the book, but there were a few places where I felt having some additional commentary and insights on certain topics would have been great. For example, there was a section on crisis communications and I think Melissa Agnes would have been great to have talked to about this or when real-time marketing came up, Chris Kerns would be a great person to talk to about this.
- Great case studies, but what are some ways to extend the conversation?: I loved seeing the examples in the book and I do agree with your Bryan, Virgin America is a great brand also for their social media and active listening engagement. As a professor, I wished there was a resource (maybe at the end of the chapter) with takeaway questions to summarize the chapter and test your learning (especially key for professors if assigning book to classes).
Overall, I think Shareology is a great book to include in your social media library. I have to say, I have seen many authors promote their book, but Bryan has really taken the promotion of the book to another level and really embraced all of the concepts of this book in what he is doing on a day-to-day basis. I think this would be an appropriate book for not just a social media class, but really any PR related course (especially ones that deal with PR management or even campaigns) as well.
You can get the book here on Amazon and follow the book updates here. Thank you again Bryan for the opportunity to review your book and I wish you all the best as you share these great insights with the social media community!
I hope you all are having a great day and Happy 4th of July!
Best Wishes,
