I read quite a few business books throughout the year in an effort to stay current with what social media and online marketing influencers are talking about.  From time to time I like to share reviews and recommendations of these books.

January’s Favorite Book

In January I read,  “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook – How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World” by Gary Vaynerchuk.   If you don’t know Gary yet, I encourage you to get on board and follow Gary’s social media sites especially on Twitter @garyvee because you will learn alot!   He is by far one of the most visionary and practical social media marketers  around.  In this book Gary provides great tips how to create great content, teaches us what and how we should communicate on every social platform and then gives specific examples of brands and companies doing it right as well as those who missed!

My Big Takeaways

1.  Story tell your value proposition

2. Don’t try to tell the same story on Facebook and Twitter! There are two different conversations like going out to dinner with your significant other vs. a girlfriend.

3. Show your own authentic photos on Instagram

4. Add text to the images you post to Pinterest, you want people to share your pins and the text such as your website

5. Choose hashtags carefully and watch trending hash tags on Twitter and trend jack if you can incorporate it into a relevant tweet

6. LinkedIn is becoming a media company and with the new business page format, LinkedIn will be a juggernaut  in B2B play in 2014

7. Use the platform you have the most traffic to drive followers to your other platforms

“Content is king, context is God, and then there’s effort”

I love what Gary says about effort – “It is the great equalizer”  because what really matters is the effort you put forth and the consistency in which you do it.  Focus on the quality of your communication and building a true and loyal community. If you focus is just communicating good stories, engaging with people who are interested in what you have to say then in time and with that consistency you have built something truly great!

GaryVeeSo what does Jab, Jab, Jab, right Hook mean?

It’s simple really…give, give, give then ask.
In other words your social communication should be about giving good content that educates and informs over and over and over and then slide in something you want to ask and then be direct with your followers what you want them to do.  If we all follow this simple, effective advice we can stand out from all the noise.  I encourage you to buy Gary’s book – it is an investment in the future direction of your social media marketing strategy!

In the February  issue of “Success Magazine” Gary said “If you ignore social media or spend little time with it in 2014, it will set you up for trouble later as proliferating social media platforms further disrupt the already massively changed advertising and media landscape. It’s time to learn to engage effectively with content tailored specifically to each platform.”

I learned a lot from this book and plan to apply the ideas into my own strategy to build my brand, engagement and community. Jab, Jab, Jab – thank you Gary!!

If you have read Gary’s book, please share in the comments below your BIG TAKEAWAYS!