“Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World” is the latest book from New York Times bestselling author and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk. Packed with over 80 carefully chosen case studies across all the major social media platforms, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” offers some excellent advice for marketers wanting to get ahead of the competition by successfully connecting with their customers online through social media.
To achieve this he suggests producing a series of platform appropriate “jabs”, in order to provide valuable, timely and contextual micro content that will help to encourage engagement and build a community. When the “jabs” are well managed and received, this allows for some almighty “right hooks” to be applied in-between that will successfully convert traffic into sales.
His examples of compelling and effective “jabs” follow the 6 rules below:
1. They’re native – Put the right form of content on the right platform. Social media posts should not follow a “one fits all” approach. Your posts should be tailor-made for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr or LinkedIn to play to their different strengths for maximum impact.
2. They don’t interrupt – If we want to talk to people while they consume their entertainment, we should want to BE their entertainment.
3. They don’t make demands, often – Make the content simple, make it memorable, make it inviting to look at, make it fun to read and make it for the target audience, not for yourself. Content should be generous, informative, funny and inspiring. It’s about what is valuable to your consumer: Give, give, give, give and then ask. Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab and then Hook.
4. They leverage pop culture – Would you rather engage with someone talking about the same great film you saw last month, or someone telling you to buy a product you’ve never heard about? Talk about what your target market is talking about, because that’s what they’ll want to talk about! When they start discussing something different, focus your content on that instead…
5. They’re micro – Make content tiny & nuggety. People don’t have the attention, time or willingness to read an essay.
6. They’re consistent and self-aware – Consider how each and every post will confirm your business identity.
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook (HarperBusiness, 2013) by Gary Vaynerchuk is available to buy on Amazon.co.uk and is well worth a read before defining your social media strategy.