Last week one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Marie Forleo, interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk on her TV show – Marie TV.

Gary Vaynerchuk was there to talk about the ideas shared in his newest book: “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” – How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy, Social World.

Before I dive in, let me explain the boxing metaphor. Until Gary explained the reason behind the title I was finding it hard to digest…boxing as a metaphor for customer engagement? WTF?

While a lot of people are throwing things out there and hoping they work, there is actually a science behind social media. Not everyone realizes this, says Gary. It’s the same with boxing.

“When most people look at boxing, they look at it as…dudes punching each other in the face…but, most philosophers, or deep knowledgeable people of the sport compare it to chess. As a matter of fact, boxing is known as “the sweet science”…I realized [that] social media reminds me of boxing. People think it’s this one thing, but it’s very detailed.”

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook = Give, Give, Give, Ask

The Jab is the Give (Caring)

The Right Hook is the Ask (Selling)

“If you’re always throwing right hooks, people duck,” says Gary in the interview. Companies obsess over getting the sale and they should really be obsessing over how they can help more people.

You can watch the full (29 minute) interview with Marie and Gary here, or scroll down for a summary of my favorite points.

As a disclaimer, I haven’t read the book (yet!), but what I can say is that there were solid points made in this interview. Here are my favorites:

1. PUT EFFORT INTO YOUR GIVES

The giving is what Gary calls the Jab, it’s what your company does to show you genuinely care. Just like your personal relationships will suffer if you’re all take and no give, your customer relationships will also suffer by the same treatment.

Says Gary: “Everybody is putting effort into their right hooks, 99% of people aren’t putting any time or effort into their jabs.”

What he is referring to is a hyper-focus on the sale, with little to no focus on helping or relating. These companies are “SPAMMING on social”….and as a result, people “mute you out”.

Do you know what your company “Gives” are? If not, it’s time to make creating them a priority.

2. WE MUST RESPECT THE CONTEXT

When it comes to social media, we’re often so busy thinking about CONTENT (what we’re going to say), that we fail to consider the CONTEXT (how and where we should say it).

There are dozens of different social networks that your company could use to engage with your customers. If you simply sign up, and use them as a way to distribute information, you’ve missed the point.

Social Networks are not distribution channels, they are engagement channels. [Tweet This]

Respecting the context means we understand what works on the social network we’re using; and we understand who uses it, and why.

Before auto-posting the same content to every channel you participate in, consider the following…

• Pinterest is used primary by women (approx. 80% of their users). Users of Pinterest use it to “Pin” the things they want to buy, aspire to buy, or do.
• People use Facebook to keep in touch with their world. Facebook users prefer to digest all of their information from within the Newsfeed and are less likely to click links to external websites.
• On Twitter your unique value is in the context you give to content. How you spin the story.

We can’t use social the same way we use the local radio or buyer flyer! [Tweet This]

Thank you for reading, and thank you to Marie Forleo and Gary Vaynerchuk for the interview.

If you’d like to buy the book, you can get it here: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.