If you have a Facebook page, an Instagram page or a Youtube account and regularly look at ‘motivational’ or inspirational content, you’ve almost certainly come across the sensation that is Gary Vee.
Of all the entrepreneurs that have swarmed to social media to promote their brands, their courses and whatever products they can conjure up, Gary sits atop the heap. With 5.6 million Instagram followers, 3 million Facebook likes, 2 mil on Youtube and about the same again on Twitter, he is everywhere and in a big way.
The difference is, Gary Vaynerchuck is not there to sell you anything, at least not often. His main business, Vaynermedia is a digital marketing agency dealing predominantly with the big players of the marketing world. Generally not small businesses on social media. Yes, he does speaking engagements and he sells his books occasionally, though it’s rare to see him promote anything on his social media platforms. Anything that is, except himself and his message. And there’s a reason; his message sells itself.
Positivity, hard work, hustle and empathy.. not the usual message of a born salesman looking to amass enough wealth to buy the New York Jets. Yet that’s 99% of what Gary Vee talks about and boy does it resonate.Really listen to a dozen of his videos or speeches and I can almost guarantee that you too, will be a fan. I say that because I would honestly be hard-pressed to believe that anyone would like him upon their first encounter with the Gary Vee shooooowwwww. I certainly didn’t. With his peculiar voice, ridiculous self confidence, loud, brash conversational tone and constant swearing, he is definitely an acquired taste. But once you look past the presentation, you’ll find the core of what he’s saying to be absolutely bang on the money.
Here’s where we can truly learn from Gary. He is a marketer, a salesman at heart. His goal is to build a billion dollar business and essentially become a ‘rockstar’ entrepreneur. Like all of us, he wants to build an empire and make a fortune. But what he’s figured out, is that the long game always wins out. So, his strategy is to provide as much value upfront as humanely possible, then out-rightly ask for a purchase of his book or his latest wine. People will absolutely buy, simply because they derive so much value from him, he could easily sell 1 million bags of shredded paper if he wanted to. That there is the absolute key for Gary, for you and for me to achieve success with our business and our personal brands. We’re going to dive a little further into that here…
How to Market Like Gary Vee
Go Beyond Marketing and Selling
You know what’s really made Gary Vaynerchuck -> Gary Vee (the social media king we all know)? It’s not his posts on Instagram strategy, on how to convert on LinkedIn or how to get a million Youtube subscribers. It’s the content on psychology, on mindset and on happiness. This is the stuff that resonates, that goes viral. That’s why people subscribe.
With content such as:
How to Figure Out Your Life After College
You Can’t Just Love it When It’s Convenient
It’s easy to see why people are tuning in. It’s really not a common message that he’s espousing.
I think the key takeaway is this; We have a tendency to focus purely on content that surrounds our business. Whether that be the service we offer, the product we are selling, or even the industry we are involved in. Look at digital marketing agencies such as mine for example- the majority of content is ‘how to gain 1,000 Instagram Followers’, ‘5 strategies for LinkedIn success’ etc… And I do exactly the same thing.
What we can learn from Gary, I believe, is that offering value can expand well beyond the specific of what our business is doing. If we value psychology, have particular insights into human behaviour- incorporate that into your content. Throw some old school philosophy into our messaging, ensuring it’s relevant of course. Get science involved. Offer advice to the younger generation. This is what can set us apart and continue to ensure we’re offering real value, rather than value based on the premise that it will sell our services more effectively.
Content, Content, Content
Name a platform and Gary Vee is on it. He is everywhere and not halfheartedly. Whichever social media channel you’re on, you’ll see Gary pop-up multiple times a day and you wonder; how the hell does he do it? Because all the content is amazing.
Well, to be completely fair, he does have a full time design team putting together all this content for him. Though he does continually state that he believes everyone should be doing at least 5x pieces of content per day, every day, for their own brands. So let’s see how that’s possible…
Gary Vee uses what he calls the Pillar Content Strategy.
What this essentially boils down to, is using a key long-form piece of content (i.e a Youtube Video, Podcast or Keynote Presentation) and turning it into multiple pieces of smaller content to distribute across all the different social media platforms.
Each of these pieces of ‘micro-content’ are tailored to the platform they’re delivered to. Then they drive traffic back to the key pieces, as well as generate their own engagement. This is a brilliant system, as it allows for dozens of posts from 1 source. Saves you having to think up a million different things all the time. It does however, require dedication to the long-form piece and then quite a time consuming process of breaking it down into smaller chunks.
In regards to the inspiration for producing content, this is another key message of Gary Vee’s: document > create. So essentially, instead of going around thinking up ideas, making things up as you go along, simply document the process you’re already going through. This makes it both easier and more authentic to produce the content you need.
Authenticity
Speaking of authenticity, perhaps no-one does it better. This is the reason he’s so popular and probably the reason it’s easy to dislike him upon first encounter. Here’s an example where he discusses swearing (Gary swears A LOT)
But as he states, this is who he is and it’s authentic self. It’s not posturing and people can see that.
In the social media space, there is so much talk of authenticity and being real etc.. it’s kind of lost all meaning. To me, authenticity simply boils down to not posing or posturing as something you are not. It doesn’t mean sharing every detail of your life, nor even being a completely open book 100% of the time. It just means not deceiving, not manipulating and not pretending that you either know more about a subject than you actually do, have achieved results you actually haven’t or acting in a manner that is not in alignment with your values as a brand and a human being.
If you are a naturally private person, as I am, I say embrace it. There’s no need for all of us to be sharing all our personal struggles and life stories all the time. There are too many gurus on Social Media these days and not enough people simply getting after it and inspiring others through their example.
Positivity & Empathy
These are such powerful messages and so sorely needed in the world of Social Media. Gary Vee has built his reputation on staying true to these 2 values and so far, he’s doing an outstanding job.
In fact, he believes so strongly in the virtues of empathy, he’s started a wine label called Empathy Wines! To me that’s gone a little too far.. (especially since he has only 2 options and one is a rose…)
At it’s essence, his view is simple- treat people well, as human beings, not as numbers, and your business will thrive. After all, businesses are simply people at the end of the day. There seems to be a belief in the entrepreneurial world that you are required to be an asshole like Steve Jobs or a younger Bill Gates to achieve any level of success. Gary Vee takes the opposite approach, showing that empathy and kindness go much further for the majority of us.
In another aspect, staying positive, even during trying times, is a great motto to live by. Not just positive in your own mind either, but sharing that with others; encouraging them, supporting them and being a quality role model. That is an incredible message and again, something we certainly need more of. Particularly in the convoluted space that is Social Media in 2019. There is so much negativity, so much hatred on platforms that have the potential to be the ultimate beacons of growth and inspiration.
If we follow Gary Vee’s lead, I believe we can all help change that course.
