What I learned from Gary Vaynerchuk

by ROK
(Marbella, Munich, San Francisco)

One week ago I decided that I wanted to get a chance to meet Gary Vaynerchuk the man at the helm of the hottest social media agency on the planet - VAYNERMEDIA. I had been turned on to Gary's content from my wife a few months back and was hooked after the first few videos.

Just to clarify, I'm not the kind of person that normally follows any single "guru" on any subject. I enjoy hearing a broad spectrum perspectives on any particular topic and distilling my own position based on a combination of facts and context.

What differentiates Gary's approach - specifically on social media and branding - is not only his clarity, but his emphatic connection to a work ethic of a bygone era. It's something that I have never heard before in the advertising world - a game where so much of what is produced is subjective and based upon the merits of so called "insight experts" and "thought leaders" who claim to know how people think and behave.

As an American of Eastern European parents who emigrated to the US myself, everything Gary says is reminiscent of what I grew up with as a teenager. I've never connected with "get rich quick" schemes so his hard driving emphasis on value creation, action and "the grind" has been both refreshing and familiar at the same time.

So I bought a ticket to the INBOUND conference in Boston - where Gary is scheduled to be a Keynote speaker - and I decided to do something I have NEVER done before. In the three weeks leading up to the conference, I would send him a series of 20 videos including the questions I would ask him when I had the opportunity.

Just to give you some of my personal background - I’ve been in media buying for 7 years with global brands in Europe. Two years ago I decided to break away from the corporate world when I bought a content creation company itargeting the +5 million strong expat audience in Spain.

So, what have I learned after one week of sending video questions to Gary? More than I expected. A LOT more.

#1: CLOUD TIME
For a taste of Gary's perspective, I recommend you have a look at the content put together by his sidekick and talented videographer - DRock. You can see the clip below titled: Between the Clouds and the Dirt: A Short Film.



As any entrepreneur will testify, running a successful business demands focus on strategy (the Clouds) and the nitty gritty (day to day ops). After watching Gary's content, I started to appreciate the amount of "creep" the day to day ops have had on my cloud time - which is critical for the long term success of my company.

I found that by focusing a little bit of attention daily on the questions I would ask Gary, I actually dialed up my cloud time because I directed brain power on the strategic issues rather than the tactical. The net result - after only one week - is that I have gained some additional insight on new initiatives I will be implementing to grow my business in the fourth quarter of this year.

#2: CONTEXT
Context on social media platforms is radically misunderstood. I meet with clients every day who continue to broadcast the same message on all channels. And when a new channel emerges - like Snapchat - their first reaction is to push the same recycled content through a new hole. Inevitably, someone in the organisation - usually the owner - becomes disillusioned and frustrated with the entire social engagement process.

There’s no better way to see the contextual differences among social media platforms than by simply following Gary’s own channels on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat.

#3: THE LONG BIG GAME
Social media and the impact it will have on brands and companies over the next 10 years is MUCH, MUCH bigger than I ever imagined. It's evolution will impact multinational companies in the same fundamental way that it will the local gym as these entities compete for one thing: ATTENTION.

Even though I’ve been a media buyer for a number of years, what is crystal clear from Gary's content is that we are at the infancy of leveraging social media for brand management. Even today, most of the biggest companies in the world remain clueless about how to create and distribute engaging and effective content - which is why so many stay in their comfort zones, investing millions in advertising with unmeasurable business impact.

When it comes to social media marketing and branding, we are at the dawn of a new era that only started microseconds ago. And it is very, VERY exciting to think about all the new opportunities that will be created by this massive ATTENTION SHIFT globally.

So there you have it. That’s what I’ve learned in just 7 days of focusing a bit of time on the single objective of reaching out to Gary Vaynerchuk.

Stick with me on my journey to meet the busiest man in social media - you may learn something yourself.