“Wow! Amazingly clear. Great writing. Invaluable insight.”
That is what I found myself thinking, again and again, as I read Radically Transparent, Andy Beal and Judy Strauss’s 368 page guide to monitoring and managing your reputation online.
I have mixed feelings about a lot of marketing books. They are either too breezy and conversational – like Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae (it’s enjoyable and has great insights but you can read it and “get it” in about two hours.) Or else they are too dense and nearly impossible to sit down in a chair and savor (like Eugene Schwartz’s seminal Breakthrough Advertising).
And at least half the time, books on Web stuff and technology are out of date by the time they are published.
“Radically Transparent: A Guide to Managing and Monitoring Your Reputation Online” is one of those rare, comprehensive texts that is also inimitably readable and enjoyable.
I respect this book because:
- It is well-researched. Lots of statistics, research and authority quotes are used to support the book’s arguments.
- It’s smoothly organized. Smooth idea flow, and “Thought Byte” and “Defining Moment” clarifications of key concepts.
- It’s very up-to-date (as of March 2008). The examples are all respectable and relevant.
- It’s comprehensive. Even if you know a lot about SEO and blogging, you might not know a lot about online photo and video best practices. And it all gets covered.
- It’s lucid. Even if you understand some of the concepts covered, you probably can’t explain them half as clearly as this book does.
- It’s humble. Difficult and controversial subjects (like reputation attacks, fake blogs and paid links) are discussed in a neutral and unassuming fashion.
If you are a public relations professional, marketing director or a business owner, I can’t think of a better introduction of blogging and social media with an emphasis on reputation management.
If you are an SEO, social media marketer or reputation management professional, I can recommend it just as highly. Here’s why: Even if you know quite a bit about online reputation management, you most likely don’t have the breadth of experience that Beal and Strauss have explaining it to clients. They take complex concepts and make them elegantly simple. This book will pay you back at least 10 times the cover price when helps you verbally straighten out a client’s misunderstanding, or when it helps you land a new contract.
I didn’t know about several of the social sites and services it recommends, and reading it would have saved me hours on previous campaigns. It also has dozens of tips about branding, tagging, naming domains, writing for engagement, images, video, and reputation management theory that are ace.
This book might not give up any deep inside secrets about Google’s algorithm or advanced profile hacking tactics. But it’s just as well, because those will be history by the time the year is finished – and they probably aren’t fit to “print” in a paper book.
Radically Transparent is a substantial, informative work and I predict it will be a respected resource on online reputation management for years to come.
