Learn How to Be a Social Media Guru
Welcome to #AJsBookClub, where we review on a recently read “success focused” book outlining some of the key topics and any of our major takeaways. If you enjoy these types of books make sure to join the facebook group where we talk about these and other books!
INTRO
For those of you who have never heard of Gary Vee (Vaynerchuk) before, I recommend you go do a quick google search. Learn a little bit about who he is, what he’s done, and get a feel for his presence on social media. I say this because I want you to understand why he is the right person to write a book like this. It should be understandable and agreeable when I refer to him as a social media guru. He is an intense advocate for frequent posting and engaging with your audience. Trust me when I say he practices what he preaches. He is Austin Kleon’s “Show Your Work” in real life.
Here’s some links to get you started:
Many see social media as a way to escape daily life and keep in touch with friends. What it really is, though, is the best set of marketing tools a business could ask for. Advertising on some platforms is still incredibly cheap comapred to traditional television or print markerting. On top of that, there is an analytics backing to it that allows you to ensure you target your advertisements to the exact demo you’re trying to reach.
Social media platforms allow you to create ads specific for a region, gender, age group, etc that will help you to really hit your target demo and get the eyes on your message.
The real question then becomes what is your message and how are you conveying it? More importantly, how are you ENGAGING with your target audience to build that relationship that leads to a sale, or in this case a knockout right hook?
As Gary says in his book,
“That the real reason to do any of this - because social media sells shit”
GRIPES & COMPLAINTS…
Before I jump in to the meat of this review, there is one thing that really stuck out to me as I was reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook”…
It’s old
I don’t mean that in a negative way, I just mean that while it was a great insightful book, it’s a bit dated.
Published in 2013, it’s been almost a decade since this book came out, and the landscape of social media has changed SIGNIFICANTLY. Good news is that the book primarily focuses on social media platforms that are still heavy hitters today: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr (which I forgot was still a thing). It also references “emerging” social media platforms LinkedIn, Snapchat, vine, and google+. The first two being current powerhouses and the second 2 being dead now.
As someone who avidly follows Gary Vee (and plans to read all his books), I know he is a HUGE proponent of TikTok and LinkedIn. On top of that, in response to TikTok, instagram has been significantly pushing “REELS” on both Instagram and cross promoting to Facebook. Unfortunately, none of that is covered.
HOWEVER, there is still some amazing & evergreen content in this book that still holds true today!
Is this about social media or boxing?
The title of the book comes from the comparisons that Gary Vee makes between how to engage on social media and a boxing match.
In boxing, you can’t just throw right hooks and hope for knockout punches all day long. It just doesn’t work that way.
Same idea in social media. You have to make short, constant jabs that connect, then when you have them on the ropes, deliver that crushing blow.
In this case, those jabs are entertaining and engaging without asking for anything in return. Free & fun. They build a relationship with your base so they are involved and participating in what you post. Not everything should be trying to make a sale. It should be trying to build a friendship and tell a great story.
How To Tell A Great Story
Engagement in social media today is all about the stories we tell and how we tell them. Depending on who we’re talking to or the platforms we use, even the WAY we tells stories is important. Another great quote from #JJJRH
“Content is King, but Context is God”
So how do we make sure we' have both, few key tips on what a good story is:
It’s Native
Each platform has it’s own style and personality. Make sure the content you’re posting matches the platform. For example Instagram is geared toward beautiful or fun and filtered photos typically with few to no words. Twitter on the other hand is made for posting text and thoughts, but not so much photos and videos. It’s made for public engagement where you can have a public debate that the entire world can see and comment on as you go back and forth.
It Doesn’t Interrupt
Commercial breaks on TV are obvious. They break our focus and usually the thing that reminds us we should go to the bathroom or grab a water before our show comes back on. They interrupt our entertainment. Social media doesn’t work that way. What we post online should be a continuation of the entertainment. Engaging content should BE the entertainment
It Doesn’t Make Demands - Often
Be generous, informative, funny, & inspiring. Essentially, your business should be someone you’d want to hang out with at a bar and have a beer with. Someone you look forward to talking to. Someone who shares without asking for anything in return. But when they do ask, you’re excited to listen and help
It Leverages Pop Culture
You want to show your target audience that you understand them because you like the same things they do. BUT, in my opinion, there’s a fine line here. You don’t want to be the weird uncle who does the #IceBucketChallenge because he thinks it will make him cool. It should be natural because it’s who you are
It’s Micro
Not everything needs to be a full on promotion of your business or a long video/write up about a product. Be the friend who texts or sends a funny video every day. You don’t need ground breakng content to build a relationship, you just need to show that you’re there and are participating. Never underestimate the value of a funny, well timed quip on social media.
It’s Consistent & Self Aware
Your daily & micro content will vary from post to post, but the core of your message and your brand identity should remain the same. People like to have a general idea of who someone is and what they’re going to get.
Delivering a Good Right Hook
When you’ve made the connection and the time has come, Gary Vee outlines 3 characteristics of a good right hook:
Simple Call to Action
Perfectly crafted for mobile, desktop, and other digital devices
Respect nuances of the social network you’re making content for
A majority of the book is spent diving in to each social media and giving advice on how to properly use and connect on each platform. The detail and insight on how to deliver both a solid jab and right hook is invaluable.
These sections on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr each include a series of case studies on posts from different popular or well known brands. This book does an incredible job of not only describing what to do in words, but giving good examples of the good and bad on a social media post.
Part of me feels like I’m doing a disservice by not spending more time talking about this, but if you are interested you should really buy “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” and read them for yourself.
Effort & Consistency
Whether we like it or not, if you want your company to have a presence in the marketplace, it needs to have a presence on social media. The percetange of the global population on social media sites continues to grow with more time spent on our devices every year.
Once you realize that social media is the new norm, it cannot be ignored. Quite the opposite. It needs to be embraced and requires effort and consistency to ensure that you stay relative and keep your audience engaged. This will continue to drive sales.
More and more companies are hiring social media consultants to help grow their businesses. These are not just people who have a lot of followers, but people who know how to integrate a businesses personality and message on to each unique social media landscape.
Put in the time, money, and effort. The ROI is there and better than it ever was with traditional media marketing.
Conclusion
Gary Vee has talked about this book more recently and one thing I hear him reference a lot is how he wishes he could change the title. Instead of Jab x3, Right Hook; he says it’s more like Jab x20, or Jab x100, then right hook.
You should spend your time providing good FREE content to educate or entertain. Then much later worry about driving traffic for sales.
He often advocates for posting something daily, if not up to 10 times per week. Not always something about your business, but sometimes something about you. Let people know who you are and what you’re about.
Essentially be that good friend, or person you’d want to have a drink with.
When the time comes to promote a product or service of yours they will be all ears and ready to buy.
Even with this being a little bit dated, the content in this book is timeless. If you are someone trying to build your social media following and promote your business, I would HIGHLY recommend reading & re-reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook”!
Follow Gary Vee Online!
Until Next Time!
AJ Zampella