Book publishing and social media are not always good bedfellows. When I’m teaching I specifically choose not to have a textbook for my course. The main reason for this is because it’s a challenge to find a book that’s actually up-to-date. Even if it’s super current by the time it goes to print, in the ensuing 6 months or so until it hits the shelves, the world of social media can change so dramatically.

That’s why I do a lot of my online research by subscribing to thought leaders on Twitter, and blogs.
However, I do like to read, and I like to recommend further reading to my students, so I enjoy checking out the latest by fave social media peeps online.

If you aren’t familiar with Gary Vaynerchuck, it’s probably because you don’t do a lot of work in the social media space. Gary Vee is one of the big leaders right now in social media, and he has an interesting back story.

He started out selling wine. He had a family wine business, and in an effort to market it, he started making vlogs. He became so successful at what he did that he changed careers entirely, and now owns one of the most successful digital agencies in the world.

To know Gary is to love him. Or not. You might actually hate him. But he’s that kind of guy–he’s real. He has that effect on people–you ether love him or hate him.

Either way, he has some good advice, and Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy, Social World is his fourth book. Both Crush It! and The Thank You Economy
have done very well, and I’m sure he hopes to see similar success for this new book.

The whole idea of JJJRH hinges on a boxing metaphor. The idea is to lull your opponent into a false sense of calm–that they are in control–before you land the big knock-out punch.

Gary Vee uses a similar analogy for social media: give value, give value, give value, then hit your clients with your ask. Your call to action will be much more successful if

• your followers trust you and see that you are trying to add value (and are not talking about yourself all the time …zzzz…)
• you try to get to know your clients, and post what they are interested in
• you create posts on Facebook that are engaging, and therefore will be seen by more people.

I love this! I wish more people would advocate this! It feels to me that there are so many businesses out there that are doing nothing but talking about themselves… without attempting to care about their audiences, or find out more about them.

The greatest right hooks have to have three things to make them really successful:

1. they make the CTA simple and easy to understand
2. they are crafted to look good on mobile
3. they respect the etiquette of the social network for which you are making the post for.

In the second part of the book, he breaks down each of the major social media, and gives some best practices for them.

The real value of this book, however, is at the end of each section, when Gary Vee randomly chooses a bunch of posts and critiques them (it’s called Colour Commentary). This is where you can really learn something. It’s a bit like hiring him to look at your facebook page, and the advice in these sections is invaluable.

It’s worth picking up.

Have you read any of Gary Vee’s books? Let me know what your favourite was in the comments section below.