Jack Covert Selects - Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk, HarperBusiness, 195 pages, $29.99, Hardcover, December 2013, ISBN 9780062273062

Reading a recent New York Times article about Gary Vaynerchuk, I found a great story that epitomizes who Gary is, and why he’s written Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.

About once a week, Gary Vaynerchuk posts a twitter message that reads, “Is there anything I can do for you?” He means it literally. He is inviting his one million plus followers to send requests for any kind of help or favor. If you respond he will try to punch you in the face.

This will not be a conventional punch in the face, but a Vaynerchukian punch, which turns out to be the opposite of violent. … A jab, in Mr. Vaynerchuk’s lexicon, is anything of value—a joke, an idea, an introduction. Or a meal. Not long ago, a follower in Minnesota joshingly responded to one of his can-I-help tweets with a request for a cheeseburger. The next day, a cheeseburger was delivered to the guy’s home. This kind of mentality and effort has made it hard to ignore the force that Gary has become over the past ten years. He is a marketing machine, and is now one of the most powerful forces in modern day media.

In Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, Gary brings his “How Can I Help You” mantra to the printed page, taking an in-depth look at specific pieces of micro-content and breaking them down to explain the right way to create a brand identity online. Because of the massive change in social media platforms over the last four years, the winning combination of “punches” is different now. Communication is still crucial, but context matters more than ever. It's not just about developing great content, but about tailoring it to specific social media platforms and mobile devices (what works on Facebook won’t work on Twitter, for example), so Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook breaks down each of the major platforms and provides a blueprint for how to use each to make sure your message is heard. Providing thought-provoking case studies on what companies are doing right, and what companies have done terribly wrong, the book takes on the noisy, chaotic world of social media marketing and makes the task a little clearer and a lot easier.

In the same passionate, in-your-face style his followers have come to expect, Vaynerchuk is on a mission to strengthen marketers' right hooks and improve the way they fight to make their customers happy. Most importantly, he shows us, it's about honestly interacting with people, not just shouting at them on the internet. Vaynerchuk will show you the right combination to do the former and avoid the latter.