Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook - How to Tell Your Story In A Noisy Social World, by Gary Vaynerchuk, Harper Collins

                   Forget mad men and fuck Don Draper.  He lived in an easy world where nothing changed for thirty years, where you could spend your whole career working to figure out how the print and  television markets worked.  This world, the one you and I live in, evolves every second, every day.  The skill sets it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, a successful marketer, or a relevant  celebrity today is a different skill set than you needed ten years ago, even though that was the skill set that mattered for decades.  Gary Vaynerchuk

Social media - dangerous tool or precious mind-changer?  Hard to tell when the postings build and politics seeps in.  But Gary Vaynerchuk, the author of Jab, Jab, has written a powerful tool to match his equally powerful book title.  For marketing professionals the author's stories are most convincing and expected, but for others who touch but don't live in the media world, this book is an essential because its too easy to make a big mistake and in nano-seconds reverse every good image and message you may be trying to convey.  Its that fast and dangerous.  Short of erasing one's name and email address, down in the bunker, it makes more sense to learn the basics, avoid the pain, and grow the business.

                     There's a reason why boxing is called ' the sweet science.' Critics dismiss the sport as mindlessly barbaric, but where they see violence, those of us who understand and respect it see strategy...in fact, boxing is often compared to chess for the amount of strategic thinking it requires.  The right hook gets all the credit for the win, but its the ring movements and the series of  well planned jabs that come before it that set you up for success. Gary Vaynerchuk

The social media choices are out there - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and others, some still emerging networks - and depending on the strategic objectives or needs, your message, or your video or simple posting will reach big, worldwide audiences.  Look at his advice on winning with Instagram, for example - "Right hooks are harder to land on Instagram because you can't link out, but hey are possible.  The key is including some really provocative storytelling in your copy to get people to respond to your call to action..  The Meatball Shop understood this and made it happen.    Here is how it played out. "

*  start with a clever business idea:  gourmet meatballs

*  get famous for said gourmet meatballs

*  take advantage of a crazy but true holiday  national meatball day

*  post an appropriately instagrammy picture..  

Do it again.  Hey, if it works for political campaigns, it will work for your business.

Patricia E. Moody

FORTUNE magazine  "Pioneering Woman in Mfg" 

IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert

A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers,  patriciaemoody@gmail.com