Gary Vaynerchuk is the founder and chairman of VayerX and the CEO of VaynerMedia. He’s also an internet personality and speaker that you’d have to be living under a rock in the business world not to know about. Oh, and he also wrote some books – some New York Times best-selling books.
The 3PM Social Media department, always hungry for some good advice, each picked up one of his books and gave it a good go over. They have some key insights that they took away to share with you below.
#AskGaryVee, One Entrepreneur’s Take On Leadership, Social Media & Self Awareness
– Khiara Elliot, Social Media Manager
#AskGaryVee is a paper documentation of the most useful, surprising and thought-provoking questions that Gary has ever answered on his show of the same title.
When discussing Social Media, I found the most beneficial chapter was chapter seven, “Content and Context”.
“Content and Context” discussed the ideas of building trust within your audience via different platforms, how to truly connect with them and the best way to grow a following. Here are my key take aways:
“The key to every consumer’s heart is through a good story”.
According to #AskGaryVee, people buy with their hearts, not their heads. We see this every single day on social media. Consumer’s want more than to just love your products. They want to align with your ideals too.
“Even as the platforms and channels change, the rules of good storytelling remain the same”.
It used to be newspapers and print advertising. Now, channels like Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat reign supreme. But no matter the channel, if the content isn’t good, people won’t pay attention. The quality of a brand’s storytelling is directly proportional to the quality of its content.
The four defining rules for quality content
#AskGaryVee lays this out really simply: 1) it appeals to the heart. 2) It’s shareable. 3) It’s native to the platform on which it appears. 4) It breaks through the noise.
The best way to grow a following or community from nothing
This one seems as simple as it does difficult. Gary’s answer was to put out quality content every day and engage around it. In his words, “It’s hard to put out content every day, and even harder when you’ve got high standards. But you’ve got to try. Eventually scale can take over and pire momentum kicks in and you can ride the wave of all that work, but that work really never ends…”
Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion
– Caitlin Hynes, Social Media Manager
It was one of his earlier pieces, first published in 2009, but ‘Crush It! Why Now Is The Time to Cash In On Your Passion’ arguably remains relevant and necessary in today’s digital media age. Throughout the 13 chapters which each deliver a clear message of motivation and empowerment more so for aspiring entrepreneurs but also for the nine to fiver’s like you and me, Vaynerchuk is cut-throat. He is not interested in your excuses, instead seeking the apparition of your best self.
My key takeaways:
CARE
Care is the most important marketing strategy, ever.
Get out there
To accompany your best-selling marketing strategy, you can help strengthen your brand by speaking at events, develop affiliations, learn how to roll with it and offer content to industry outlets.
Reinvigoration of your digital presence
This is to be done through the creation and publication of primarily video content, interviewing industry leaders, discussing and recommending industry relevant podcasts and inviting questions from customers that you can answer in video format.
His opinions and deliverance are decidedly divisive. What you can’t dispute though is it worked for him and much of what he argues is common sense. Take comfort knowing you’re already doing what he says, or take a decisive step forward into effective, powerful and relevant digital media.
Gary V Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to tell your story in a noisy social world
Charlotte Worthington, Social Media Manager
Traditionally reserved for the ring, Gary Vaynerchuk’s boxing terms apply aptly to marketing. A right hook translates to: content that aims to sell or shamelessly self-promote. Jabs: engage the consumer by tapping into emotion. Brands which have taken the aggressive stance of throwing right hooks repeatedly at their fans, poison their potential to engage and build brand loyalists. The secret weapon to maximise sales comes down to the formula of the title: jab, jab, jab, right hook.
It might sound gauche, but the main takeaway Vaynerchuk wants to leave you with, is the value of the emotional connection in business. “Marketers are on social media to sell stuff. Consumers, however, are not. They are there for value.”
Let’s break this concept down:
Tell stories
Think of social media platforms as a storytelling channel instead of a distribution platform.
Strike an emotional chord
It’s far easier to ignore obvious salesy material.
Less is more
Especially when it comes to social media content.
Stop the scroll
Create engaging eye-catching content that is impossible to scroll past.
‘Content may be king, but context is god’
This meaning each platform has its own language. Learn to speak each fluently.
Vaynerchuk’s ideas are essentially building on common sense. They are almost infuriatingly simple, however there is no denying their effectiveness.
The Thank You Economy
Marnie Vinall, Publicist
The basic premise of the The Thank You Economy is that companies need to get back to the small town way of doing business. Back when every shop owner knew their customers names, families and favourite product in their story. The way to do this, Vaynerchuk suggests, is with social media. It’s all about nurturing one-on-one relationships with customers.
Here are my key takeaways:
It’s about quality over quantity
It’s an oldie but a goodie – and for a reason: it works. Despite the goal of many organisations and companies online to get as many likes as possible, it’s actually far more beneficial to build engagement. You want your audience to rave about your product or service because that spreads far wider than just a whole bunch of people just clicking the like button.
It’s not about you
Social media isn’t about preaching your own company but building authentic customer relationships. You don’t just want to be posting all the cool things your organisation is doing but creating meaningful dialogue with your audience. How can you provide them value?
Social media is a two-way street
Companies need to treat social media like a two-way street and listen to their audience online as much as they post. You can’t just post content and leave it – you need to respond to every comment and like every share.
You have to CARE about your customers
More than anything, the way to get back to small town personal relationships between business and customer is for companies to genuinely care for their customers.
