I like to poke fun at social marketing, but I do respect those who can do it well.
I’ve been reading Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk. The premise of the book is that social marketing is like boxing, where you loosen up your target with jabs, then deliver a strong hook to close the proverbial deal. While he makes a lot of great points, my favorite advice covers the three characteristics of a great “right hook” social network post.
From his book:
1) They make the call to action simple, and easy to understand.
2) They are perfectly crafted for mobile, as well as all digital devices.
3) They respect the nuances of the social network for which you are making the content.
You’ll have to buy the book to dig into the meat of it, but he is onto something. I’ve found that a simple message always works best, especially if you know exactly who you’re trying to reach. It’s not new advice, but it’s tightly packaged in a list that I can put on a sticky note. Vaynerchuk also gives us his take on what exactly the nuances of each social network are, so the particulars of #3 are covered. Actually, the examples of good and bad social posts is the best part of the book. We get to see some hilarious near-misses, dead-on copy with complete photo failures, and so on.
You’ll close the cover with a new sense of what’s possible, which is what the author is going for. His frustration with how business is done is palpable throughout the tome. I get his irritation, having worked at Sony, Viacom and Aol over the years, it was rare that something nimble and new was crafted. Hopefully JJJRH will sit on the desks of managers throughout the mondoweb.
I recommend the book to anyone who’s ready to take social marketing seriously. One caveat (where I risk sounding stuck-up, but I’d rather sound stuck up than recommend a book that’s not a good fit!): The book is written clearly, but it does assume readers have struggled with the ins-and-outs and ups-and-downs of social marketing. If you’re new to this world then you’ll probably end up reading sentences a couple of times to get the gist. But when you do get it, you’ll be ahead of the game.