“Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a small business, or a Fortune 500 company, great marketing is all about telling your story in such a way that it compels people to buy what you are selling. That’s a constant. What’s always in flux, especially in this noisy, mobile world, is how, when, and where the story gets told, and even who gets to tell all of it.
This book will show you how to create the kind of shareable, relevant, value-driven content that ensures consumers always pay attention to your story, no matter where they go, and then that they pass on your content, creating the word of mouth critical to actually making the sale. Ultimately, that’s the real reason to do any of this—because social media sells shit.”
I discovered Gary Vaynerchuk a year or three ago via a talk he was giving about personal brand building and hustling in general and I became a fan of his delivery (Gary Rose to power by building his handed-down family wine business into a multi-million dollar company; he since has started his own media company -- thus his expertise in the media arena). I like Gary's speaking style because he tackles people's excuses and lays down the gauntlet for people who want to accomplish things simply: Do the work.
I'll admit that Gary's speaking is better than his writing; his debut book underwhelmed me and I have not read his second. This third book, though, I feel is his best so far.
Jab is a short book about how businesses and brands need to adapt and communicate in the ever-changing social media world of today. Gary, a boxing fan, relates the sharing we do just for the point of engaging with our audience -- asking them to do a anything, but just having conversation -- as the jabs, and the call-to-actions (including "buy this") as the right hooks. Vaynerchuk is an incredibly insightful person when it comes to selling ideas -- which is exactly what social media is. He does a great job in Jab of pulling real examples from companies' profiles on various platforms (he covers Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr in detail) for either praise or pointed criticism. All the examples make Jab for a relatively quick read, which is at the same time very informative and practical in its explanations of what works on each platform. I change some of my social media behaviors directly because of what I read in Jab. If you have a business or brand that is active in the social media space, Jab is worth the ~$10 for some new information.
#WorkOnYourGame