With social media being an important facet of many people’s lives, it makes sense for a business owner to appreciate and integrate the same in their interactions with clients. However, not many solopreneurs have been able to properly make use of social media, mainly because they understand little about it, or focus on the wrong aspects.
In his book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, bestselling author and social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk shares crucial and important advice on how businesses can constantly engage with its customers (the three jabs), before delivering the right hook (the sales campaign that will take the business to the next level). In interesting, humorous language, complete with illustrations, case studies, and examples, Gary shows how a business can take advantage of the various social media platforms, and which combination of jabs and hooks—boxing analogy—will win the day.
Two aspects that stand out when reading the book is Vaynerchuk’s insistence that investing quality time and adding value to your social content are the ways to capture a global audience that is “ready and waiting to emotionally accept your brand.” The jabs (delivering valuable content) give way to the right hook (asking clients to invest), and by keeping to this formula, a business is able to maximize its social media endeavors.
The book focuses on five social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram, while also touching a little on LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Vine.
Inside the chapters
In line with the boxing-themed book title, each chapter of the book is aptly titled “Round.” In each round, Vaynerchuk delves into each social media site, beginning with Facebook. Through vivid examples, he shows readers the challenges marketers go through, while giving his thorough analysis of the platform. For example, with regards to Facebook, Vaynerchuk notes there are a lot of misconceptions that lead marketers to blindly integrate strategies that aren’t suited to their line of business, simply because everyone else on Facebook is doing it.
Right off the bat, for every social media site, Vaynerchuk gives the list of challenges, then goes on to tell you how to deal with these potential pitfalls the way a storyteller guides his audience through a narrative.
Storytelling is key
That’s another thing that Vaynerchuk stresses throughout the book: storytelling. For a business, social media is the avenue to “get across their story about their services, around their product… and the value they bring.” Storytelling enables the business to tell its customers the value it brings to the table, thus keeping customers interested enough to want to “buy your stuff.”
For each of the five main social media platforms, Vaynerchuk gives readers a unique insight into their key aspects. You will get to know how Facebook’s algorithms (EdgeRank) work, the psychology behind Pinterest, Promoted Tweets on Twitter, Tumblr gifs, and Instagram’s visual appeal and reach. Every platform has been well researched on, thus ensuring you have the necessary knowledge to successfully operate a particular platform. This is where the book becomes a study manual for you to understand and learn from.
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is a very practical book and Gary knock’s out solid action items. [tweet this]
Conclusion
What you will take away from the deep insights into the social media platforms; the good, bad and ugly examples of social media engagement; and the lessons on what you can do better is that it takes time, a plan, and teamwork to effectively engage in social media. Each chapter gives you an idea on what works and what doesn’t, so you don’t go around implementing strategies that sometimes don’t make sense (like how Twitter’s short-posts format may not be effective on Facebook).
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is a must-read for any business that utilizes social media for its marketing efforts. As hard as the work required to run an effective social media campaign may be, you have to remember one thing: “Give (jab), give (jab), give (jab), before asking (right hook).”
