Training. It’s a part of an athlete’s life, but it’s also important to PR pros.
From newbies to veterans, we all need to train ourselves to be storytellers for our companies, our clients and even our personal brands, on all the right social networks.
Conferences are great for training, but if you’re on a tight budget, especially as a new PR pro, your best bet is to hit the books. Enter Gary Vaynerchuk and his third book, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” which will train you how to tell your story in a noisy social world.Vaynerchuk asks readers to consider “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” as a “training camp to prepare you to storytell on today’s most important social media sites.”
The objective of great storytelling is to create outstanding content on the right platform, and he compares doing that to the sport of boxing (hence the jabs and right hook).
Key takeaways
I highlighted a lot of great points throughout my copy of the book, and the following three takeaways stood out to me most.
1. “Content is king, but context is God.”
You can create really great content that is compelling, but if you put it out on the wrong platform—or it misses what a certain platform is all about—it won’t be the hit you expect it to be. And as Vaynerchuk points out, content for the sake of content is pointless.
2. “No matter who you are or what kind of company or organization you work for, your number-one job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are.”
It could be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter , etc., but it is most likely that customers are on all three and even more than that. You need to make sure that your content is relevant to your customer on the platforms they utilize most.
3. “Skillful, native storytelling increases the likelihood that a person will share your content with a friend.”
That increases your brand’s audience further and further. Shareable content makes your brand more memorable in the future and tells your story beyond your network of consumers.
Train by example
If you’re the typical new PR pro, you were probably a first adopter of many social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest) that Vaynerchuk covers in “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.”
You know the ins and outs of these sites. But don’t think that means this book isn’t relevant to you!
It is easy for brands to get in the grind of posting the same content to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (I’ve seen it happen before), but that way of promoting content is a great disservice for the very reason why context is so important.
The best way to complete the training that this book offers is to flip through to the “color commentary.” This is where he breaks social networks up by chapter and gives countless examples of good and bad content with screenshots of various campaigns.
Some will make you rethink your strategy, and others will make you cringe, asking “what were they thinking?!”
Do you believe in the power of storytelling and context? What do you consider to be the most important way to get your brand noticed?
Victoria Beppler is a graduate of Waynesburg University where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations as well a Master of Business Administration in Market Development. She currently manages social media, email marketing, the annual fund and more for her alma mater as the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations. When she isn’t in the office or traveling to alumni events around the country, you can find her working on a DIY project or hanging out with her husband, Josh, and their dog, Brinkley. Connect with Victoria on Linkedin and Twitter (@victoriabeppler).
