In author Gary Vaynerchuk’s “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” he asserts that “Content is king, but context is God.” He pushes this mantra hard because marketing isn’t as clear cut as it used to be. To be successful in the marketing world you need to able to deliver messages in ways your audience will actually want to listen. The content, however, is only part of the story. Context is what matters.
Vaynerchuk believes that marketers, social media managers and content creators should try to relate with customers in the context of a business transaction. In other words, you can’t simply ask your audience to go out and just buy a product anymore.
“The most effective jabs are actually the gentlest.”
– Gary Vaynerchuk, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
As a social media manager, I’ve come to learn how to share the same information in various ways for different platforms and their respective audience. We have our students on Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, and our youngest audience on TikTok. Facebook is where we have our largest audience, which includes our parents, community members and stakeholders.
A post that works on one platform won’t always work for the other, but the content still needs to be shared. The question then becomes: how can we make each post successful while still sharing everything our bosses need us to? By creating content that’s visually compelling, yes, but it’s mostly figuring out what works with the audience on each platform. The thing to remember, as Vaynerchuk states, is to do it in an authentic way, otherwise it will sound mechanical. The moment you start to sound disingenuous, you’ll no longer have an audience to share your story with.
“The most effective jabs are actually the gentlest,” he writes in his book. “They are thrown with ‘native’ content, which seamlessly blends in with the platform’s offerings and tells stories that engage the consumer at an emotional level. From the outside, jabbing with this kind of content won’t look or feel like the setup for that selling right hook, but it is, because the long-term financial worth of a person’s smile, giggle, snort, and even her tears is invaluable.”
Vaynerchuk wants marketers to make an effort to understand the consumer and the platform they’re on. Is this the same case for nonfiction storytelling endeavors? In an article titled “Why Marketing Campaigns Must Move From Fiction To Non-Fiction,” author Lizzie Davey makes the plea for marketers to transition from selling something fictional to non-fiction, where the brand can share real stories from actual people about things that actually affect them. This can be done in all mediums, not just digital.
“Brands no longer focus on themselves,” she writes. “Instead, they are bringing their customers into the picture in a collaborative, community-centered approach which has taken marketing campaigns from polished, fictional stories, to non-fiction that revolves around real people and real-life stories.”
Nonfiction marketing on digital platforms works well on apps like Snapchat, Instagram Stories, Twitter Fleets and Facebook Stories as it’s now easier for companies to share stories in real-time. That can help the audience relate more, as well as offer a way to instantly connect with them.
Context is vital. But so is effort. Without it, brands won’t make an impact, and the best way to do that is through authentic, genuine context.
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References
Davey, L. (2016, September 26). Why Marketing Campaigns Must Move From Fiction To Non-Fiction. TINT Blog. https://www.tintup.com/blog/marketing-campaign-ideas/.
Vaynerchuk, G. (2013). Jab, jab, jab, right hook: how to tell your story in a noisy social world. HarperBusiness.