Why did I read it?: I had Vaynerchuck’s book “Crush It” on my list, but this was his newest and was getting great reviews.
What’s the main point?: Most companies have the wrong strategy for their social media accounts, mostly because they don’t understand how they work. Each type of social media attracts a certain type of user or a certain function for the user and you have to play by the unspoken rules of each social media site to be perceived positively. The right hook, or asking for someone to take action, does not work very well on social media until you have jabbed enough times, or provided something of value to the other users. Businesses need to do more jabbing on social media for their right hooks to be effective.
Takeaways: Provide value. In everything you post to social media you should be entertaining, educating, surprising, or somehow making other user’s lives better. Good social media users give more than they take. Facebook is generally for social things, Twitter is for news and information, Instagram is for pretty pictures, Pinterest is for inspiration and aspiration, and Tumblr is for art and animated GIFs. The things you decide to post to each of these should account for the users and what they come for. You can’t just link all your social media accounts and post the same stuff because it will be received completely differently across each platform.
Inspirational quote: “Content is king, but context is God… Most marketers are oblivious to context because marketers are on social media to sell stuff. Consumers, however, are not. They are there for value. That value can take many forms. Sometimes, it’s in a few minutes’ respite from the stress of a busy day. Sometimes, it’s in the form of entertainment, information, news, celebrity gossip, friendship, a sense of connection, a chance to feel popular, or an opportunity to brag. Social networking sites light up people’s dopamine pathways and the pleasure centers of their brain. Your content must do the same…”
Verdict: This book has a lot of great information, case studies and really helped me rethink social media from a branding perspective. I got bogged down with so many case-studies, but if you read the first few from each chapter you get the point pretty quickly.