Got Social Mediology? By Jay Izso
**Disclosure: I received this book from Strategies PR to review. All opinions are my own. **
The world of social media can be daunting. Especially for those who have not yet delved into it.
It’s big. It’s scary. And, it’s very powerful and very necessary for businesses.
Did you know that the same part of the brain light up when people use social media as when they have sex?
No wonder people are addicted to social media!
In his book Got Social Mediology? author Jay Izso, also known as the Internet Doctor, delves into the world of social media. In it, he uses psychology to master social media for businesses without spending a dime.
What is social mediology?
Izso describes it as the study of social media from the perspective of psychology.
Do I really need to be on social media?
What is the best way to create business through social media?
Which form of social media is best for my business?
What should I post? When should I post it?
These are all topics and questions covered in Got Social Mediology.
Book Layout
Got Social Mediology? Is laid out in clear chapters – each one focusing on a different form of social media including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and YouTube. Other chapters focus on the Return of Investment of social media and social media myths.
Each chapter is well laid out with a summary at the end, text boxes of things to try, and highlighted information.
You can skip to the chapters that interest you, or, do as I did, and read the entire book with a pencil in hand to underline the key points that you will want to remember.
What I learned
I consider myself to be well versed in social media. I am on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
Even though I frequently use these social media platforms, and have taken a few workshops on how to effectively use them, I still learned a lot from this book.
As I was reading the sections, I found myself sitting at my computer making changes to my various accounts based on the suggestions in the book. I updated my headline in LinkedIn, changed some settings on Pinterest, and started tracking when and how much I use Facebook.
Izso does a great job of explaining the different social media platforms, and the best way to communicate on each one – whether it is professionally on LinkedIn or like a friend on Facebook.
What I found reassuring was Izso’s chapter on Twitter, and how it is the least interactive social media platform. I thought I was alone in feeling this way! No wonder I feel frustrated when so many blogging contracts are based upon number of Twitter followers rather than a really engaged group of followers and readers in other platforms.
The one platform that I would have been interested in reading more about is Instagram, which was not covered in the book.
When I emailed the author, he promptly responded to explain why Instagram was not included.
“There were several reasons. First, we really did and still do not have any empirical data on the effectiveness of Instagram for business. The data is just starting to come in, but it is sparse in terms of how it is truly effective.
Second, the identity of the culture was at first a bit of a mystery. It is the only platform where someone else’s posts cannot be shared so the only validation one gets is from “likes” and “comments”…it truly is about them not others.
Finally, Instagram is owned by Facebook…so it was very difficult at the time to truly separate the two. My plan is when we get to the revised addition to add Instagram, but we really need more data before I can definitively say it has value for business.”
~ Jay Izso
If you belong to a business book club, I would highly recommend picking up this book. There are many great topics of conversation to be had over a cup of coffee.
What works for your business?
Where do you get the most engagement?
Do you agree that there are a lot of people who read posts but choose not to “like” or “retweet” them?
Got Social Mediology is a great book for people who live in the world of social media, just as much as it is for people who are just starting out. You can always learn a new way to look at things, to better understand your clientele.
Good luck! And if you do read it, make sure you tweet or post about it, and tag me in it!
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