Andrew: This program is packed with useful information based on the questions you sent us before the program started. Unfortunately, it also had some technical difficulties. I pieced it together and the audio, if you’re just listening to the audio on your .mp3 player, I don’t think you’ll notice much of a difference. I hope you won’t. But if you’re watching the video, you’re going to see that we had to piece together two different formats. The content, as I say, is still strong. I’m going to thank for paying for the editing on this Shopify.com, Wufoo.com and Grasshopper.com. Check out those three websites and maybe you can help me say thank you to them for paying for the editing on this. Alright, here’s the program.
Hey everyone, it’s Andrew Warner, founder of Mixergy.com, home of the ambitious upstart and today I’ve got something different, something more than the usual interviews. I invited AJ Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia here to Mixergy to show us how his company, how VaynerMedia helps brands grow online by using social media. And to do that, we’re using new software here, Vocal. This is the first time that I’ve done an actual interview here on Vocal and because of that, we’re going to have earphones and check this out guys. We’re going to be able to also, if I could get this going, introduce AJ, put me on the screen here with him like that and have a real conversation. So AJ, how are you doing with the audio? Can you hear us?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Andrew, I hear you perfectly.
Andrew: Terrific. I gave a short introduction to VaynerMedia. Can you tell people a little bit more about what VaynerMedia is?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Sure. So VaynerMedia is a brand consulting agency with a focus on social media, like you said, based in New York City. We work with a diverse group of brands. The main focus probably falls into CPGs, Consumer Packaged Goods, and sports but we do work with start-ups. We work with small businesses, we work with big businesses and we help those brands take their message and their brand and help to distribute it through social media in a way that they can connect with their consumers and fans and friends in a buzz-worthy manner.
Andrew: Can you give an example of a client that you’ve worked with and how you’ve helped them do that?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Sure. I think an exciting example that actually is very relevant and time sensitive right now is a client that we just started working with about one month ago, the New Jersey Nets. And the New Jersey Nets are a team in the NBA, popular league here in America and we started working with the Nets and our first step was to take the Nets brand and make sure it was consistent throughout their social media presences. Primarily in these first few weeks and a month or so, we focused on Twitter and Facebook and we gave them a custom Twitter background, we gave them custom Facebook tabs and we helped them engage with their community and build a strategy in which they can engage with their community in a way that a lot of pro teams aren’t. And the main focus really is to focus on the fan because that’s the product that they’re putting out. That’s what they want to try to accomplish and what we’re really focusing on is engaging with everybody talking about Net’s fast launch. We’re engaging with fans on Facebook and we’re creating ways for them to interact with each other so they have an enjoyable experience when they’re on these New Jersey Net properties.
Andrew: Okay. And I saw a bunch of other impressive, brands that you’re working with. You’re working with the NHL. You’re working with the Jets, who I know you’ve been a fan of for a long time. You’re working with individual athletes and individual personal brands to help them. And as you said, you’re working with start-ups including Dailybooth that you guys are investors in.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Yes. Dailybooth is a company that we invested in a little while ago. They excited us in a lot of ways because I think they’ve been able to take a unique concept, the taking a picture every day and interacting via pictures, and have taken that and have really built an amazing community around it. So we invested in them a little while back. Their main focus right now is building that community and we’re excited to help them in any way that they see us as we can.
Andrew: Okay. And this is new software by the way that we’re using. Sean (PHONETIC) from Vocal, I see that some people are having trouble seeing us throughout this interview. Can you see if you can help them out? I don’t want to overdo it with you Sean because I know you’re also going to be showing us the slides here in the interview. But if you can, see what’s going on there in the chat. Okay, and as I mentioned, I do have some slides here. You and I talked before this interview about what we’ll be showing people. We’re going to be teaching them some of the techniques that you use with the clients that we just talked about. And the first point that we’re going to be talking about is you’ve said that, well there it is. Connect your web presence. Can you talk about what that means?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Yes. That actually falls in line with what I just said in regards to the Nets. I think it’s very important to take your brand and your messaging and make sure that’s consistent across platforms. Too many brands have their website, have their commercials, have their print advertisements and then their social presences are completely different or not even attended to.
AJ Vaynerchuk:…And then their social precises are completely different were not even attended to. So before we start working with any client and really start the engaging and all the exciting campaigns, we make sure that are client has a consistent, branded presents throughout all their social media platforms so when users come to their page, come to interact they understand that they are interacting with the true presence. A lot of brands out there that if someone came on to their twitter profile or their Facebook page they may question whether or not they are on the official page of that brand. So with nets and with the jets, what we did was, when you land on their Facebook page the very first thing that you see is a branded presence and a video smack dab in the middle highlighting some of the players welcoming you to the Facebook page. You know, if there was an unofficial page, i don’t think this unofficial page would have the access that we did to the actual players of the organization to welcome new users to their Facebook page.
Andrew: Alright, i see what you mean and i have seen some brands online link over to their Facebook page. You go to their Facebook page and it just looks like any old Facebook page except it has their logo…
AJ Vaynerchuk: Right
Andrew:…in place off the picture. Same thing with twitter, same thing with other sites…
AJ Vaynerchuk: Right, Not enough…
Andrew: It’s not enough
AJ Vaynerchuk: No, absolutly right. I mean, Facebook gave these brands the ability to do something unquie with their pages. Just to simply rely on the icon and put your brands logo there is a weak effort in my opinion.
Andrew: Okay, so if i don’t have a company like yours behind me, if i don’t have an organization like the NHL…
AJ Vaynerchuk: Sure
Andrew:…And i want to connect my brand somehow. What is the easiest way to get started.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Sure, the easiest way is, as complicated as coding can be and as complicated as designing can be, i think the bare minimum to kind of so some kind of user experience and customization to your brand’s page is to at least utilize a screen shot of your website or some mentalist Photoshop skills and take some sort of graphic on a flyer, so to speak, to create some sort of user welcome tag on Facebook or a back road image on twitter just to show the effort. And i understand that a lot of these people might not have the resources that we do. In house development team or if we were one of the brands we work with, an agency that does it for you or works on it with you, but there are a lot of cheap submission, a lot of websites that can help you. 99 designs, i know, is a community where you can find desgin work or build contacts around for a farly cheap price and i think-i understand a starting a company is not the cheapest thing in the world and might want to focus on the marketing budget. But i think taking a sliver out and focusing on design and branding your social properties is a smart choice.
Andrew: Alright, beyond Facebook and twitter is there anything else we need to pay attention to? Or are those to the big guys that we should focus all our energy on?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think those are the-I don’t think you should focus all your energy on twitter and Facebook. But i think it is wise to understand that those are the two dominant players in the space. Obviously if you could utilize Youtube for your video content. Getting on Youtube, that is obviously a massive audience, a massive property the web. But from a engagement stand point, which is something we communicate to all our brands big and small, i think those are two big platforms, but ,i think, at the same time we should focus on other communities. There are communities popping up everywhere and there is ways to get in to those communities and get you brand message across, interact with you fans, friends, and consumers. Google Buzz just popped up and it didn’t even exist a few weeks ago. So, you know, focus on Facebook and twitter to a extent but keep your eye open for other communities that develop. And don’t be narrow minded. You know, if you are a text artist packer news is an amazing community that you can get involved with. And help the discussion and met people that may be a consumer, viewer, or a brand that consumers or evangelment of. You know, twitter and Facebook are two of the bigger players, especially for the bigger brands but there are tons out there.
Andrew: I see, and you’re right. Ya, when you can find a community that maybe a little bit smaller than those guys but is better targeted to what you are about, i think you will end up get a much better engagement, more traffic too, and a much more meaningful audience. More than numbers. Alright, ya, lets see if i can hit next point here…
AJ Vaynerchuk: Absolutely
Andrew: Which is, brand with the Facebook fan page. Now, you specifically pulled Facebook out of the other sites that we could of been talking about. You said specifically a fan page. Why? What is so powerful about a Facebook fan page?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think here is so much flexibility and so much you can do with it. I love all these other platforms, but at the end of the day Facebook has, i think, a hundred and fifty million people login a day. It is the most mainstream so to speak. You grab 50 people off the streets of New York and you ask them: “Do you have a Facebook account”. A high amount of people would have on compared to the other services like twitter and like the other niche communities. I don’t think if i grabbed some one and asked “Hey, are you on packer news?. I don’t think as many people would have one in comparison to Facebook.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Öand, the fact that you can go on Facebook and completely be creative in terms of designing your brand and impacting a message and even creating applications, there’s tons of brands-creating contest. So then what we do with the judge was we created a Facebook contest where we took a player kind of sign a jersey and give it away to the fans. We thought of an application where fans can actually enter in their user information and automatically be entered to win a chance to get that jersey. That just isn’t something you can do on a lot of these social properties. Facebook is the closest thing to a website when it comes to flexibility, innovation when it comes to design and development.
Andrew: You know, I remember you, guys, doing that when you launched PleaseDressMe, the t-shirt search engine. In order to get more people in your Facebook group, you had contests. You’d say, ‘Join up, and if you are, you’re going to have a chance to get one of these free t-shirts.’ How helpful are contests? What kind of contests should we be considering?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think contests are helpful. I rely on them because they can come off as too much and too desperate, but I think the best way to balance contests is to perceive them as something to give back to the fans or the consumer or your friends. Rather than running a contest everyday, you should find, when there’s an occasion that you’re doing or an event that you feel strongly about within your brand, that you think is something of value to the user. I’m strongly against giving away a hat that has your brand’s logo on it. But if you have a big event coming up and you want to send up [xx] their friends to that event, that’s a little bit higher value. So, obviously running contests is a great way to get your brands right across these different social platforms. I think what you need to do with the contests is be mindful of the consumer, be mindful of the person who follows your brand, and make sure there’s actually value behind what you’re running. I don’t think giving away a hat or a t-shirt or anything like that is truly worthwhile.
Andrew: All right. What if you’re a personal brand? What if you just want people to join your personal fan page because you want to engage them in a professional way? What kind of contest can you run there?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think what’s great about personal branding is that your assets are yourself. So if you or a consultant of sorts, let’s say myself, if I wanted to build up something exciting and give back to my community, I work a lot and I have clients and I’m busy. But if I wanted to build a little readership around my personal blog or I want to get people to kind of engage with myself even more so, I would give away a 2-hour strategy session, just meet you maybe just using vocal, maybe using a different service such as Skype and lend your own time and your own efforts to helping that person if they want it. The person who would enter into that kind of contest is somebody who would want to speak with you on the topic that you’re an expert in. So, if you’re a designer, if you’re a developer, if you’re a specialist in a certain niche or genre, lend your own time as a personal brand. That, I think, is something that will be of value to your followers.
Andrew: After we did our first interview, and I saw that you’re giving away t-shirts, I’d said to Seth Godin, ‘Look, I’ve been watching these guys, not just AJ Vaynerchuk, but a bunch of others, they’re bribing their audience to join Facebook, shouldn’t I be bribing, too?’ He said, ‘No, no.’ It seems like bribing, it’s not. It’s defining something that their audience cares about. They’re finding ways to engage around it, yet in a much more articulate answered than I did. But I see now in this conversation, that it needs to be a little bit more appropriate. It needs to be more of a fit than I imagined at first.
AJ Vaynerchuk: It has to be something that truly connects with them. With PleaseDressMe, we gave away t-shirts to please the people that came to our community and came to our site or people that were looking for t-shirts and had an interest them. We were giving away key chains or anything like that. We found something that actually matter to our community and that’s what we provided them. It seems like bribery, but I also see it as something that is a token of appreciation and a way to kind of drive engagement and conversation around, not only your brand, but within the community itself.
Andrew: Okay. By the way, why are you, guys, building VaynerMedia? Why not create another search engine like PleaseDressMe or create a social network or do something else? Why did you, guys, decide to do this? I say ‘you, guys’ because it’s you and your brother who co-founded the business.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Yes. A little bit about our back story, Gary and I brothers, we’re 11 years apart, and we always knew that we wanted to do business together. So, we spent my college years as time to figure out what we wanted to do when I graduated. Yes, we did PleaseDressMe while still in school, but PleaseDressMe wasn’t our global vision. It wasn’t something that we wanted to take to IPO. It was more of a side project that fit a passion within ourselves and also as a great way to connect with a good friend of ours, Joe Stump, who was working at digg at the time, and now he’s over as a co-founder of SimpleGeo.
AJ Vaynerchuk: — working at Digg (PHONETIC) at the time and now he’s over as a co-founder of SimpleGeo. We worked, the three of us together, just to do, just to feed our entrepreneurial ADD, just to do something that we’re passionate about. All three of us liked it. We had a good idea. We wanted to work on it together. It was a great, it was a win-win across the board. But we decided to be VaynerMedia because we felt there was a way for us to make an impact in the social media industry across many different levels. We really felt that within ourselves we truly understood how people think and how people like to engage when it comes to social media and using the web in general. And yes, we probably could have built an application right out of, back in May when we started VaynerMedia and I think we’d be very successful at this point if we did so, but we saw consulting with brands in social media as a way to kind of feed our entrepreneurial ADD in the sense that we could work with different brands on many different things. One hour I might be working on the National Hockey League. The next hour I might be working with a player on the New Jersey Nets. The next hour I might be working with a fashion expert. The next hour I might be working with a baby retail company. So I get to kind of exercise my brain in the world of social media in many different markets and working with VaynerMedia and creating this structure around that has allowed me to do so.
Andrew: Okay. I’m seeing now that the audience is having a little bit of trouble seeing us for some reason. I think a few people are saying that all they’re seeing is a dark screen. Let me try pausing the event and coming right back into it. If you just hang on there, I’ll do all the work there and then we’ll come right back.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Not a problem.
Andrew: Sorry guys. This is a new system here.
AJ Vaynerchuk: You got it.
Andrew: Alright, let’s see if that made a difference for them in the audience. Guys, let me know. Jang (PHONETIC), if you can see us, tell me. If you can hear us, tell me. Well if you can hear us I wouldn’t know. We’ll see if it reduced the complaints. AJ, what do you think of this system? I keep trying new systems.
AJ Vaynerchuk: As long as Vocal works for the consumer and the viewer, I think it’s great. I really like the side-by-side or the fact that you can pull up the sites, the slides. I think I, the user experience from what I’m seeing, and granted it’s working for me right now, I really like it. I think it’s a smart, put-together, well-done platform.
Andrew: I’m going to ask you a broader question. As somebody who really cares about branding, is it a mistake for me to keep trying different software? Is it a mistake for me to publish using one video service one day and then experiment with another the next day? Not that I do it, I don’t bounce that erratically.
AJ Vaynerchuk: No, I don’t think so.
Andrew: What do you think?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I don’t think so. I think you could have done today, Vocal could have gone great and you found something new. I don’t think the platform from which you broadcast your video defines you. I know with our own personal experience, we use Facebook, we use YouTube, we use Viddler, we use Vimeo. I don’t think the platform which you use truly is your brand. It’s just a way to distribute your content on many different platforms.
Andrew: Okay. And what I’m seeing is that a lot of people experiment, a lot of people with important, Facebook is a great example. Facebook themselves, every few weeks they seem to change something major on the site. People get upset or at least a vocal minority gets upset and then eventually it all settles out. So hopefully the same thing will happen here. And I’ll just —
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think the goal Andrew, if you don’t mind me interrupting, the one thing I would say is as long as your service and what you’re doing globally is as good as what you’re doing, you’re not going to upset people from having one show albeit one show not show up and not work, albeit you had a wonderful guest today. It’s a shame that they’re not watching right now I think, but only an (0:18:44.5 INAUDIBLE) really because your intentions are right. You’re trying to make the experience for them that much better and if you fail as you experiment, I think that’s understandable and everybody does that.
Andrew: Alright. And I see that you guys do that too, that you guys will experiment with whatever the new site is where a less experienced Internet entrepreneur wouldn’t try Buzz right away, would wait before putting ideas out there or somebody who’s a little less experienced with social media I would say, and I notice that you dump right on top of it. I notice that Little LePort (PHONETIC) the port will jump on whatever the first piece of technology is, Robert Scoval (PHONETIC) of course. Alright, well I don’t want to jump as erratically as other people. I do want to experiment and I appreciate the feedback in the audience and guys, I feel terrible that some of you can’t watch. It looks like you’re back up but no. It doesn’t. We’ll do our best. We’ll, I am recording this though and we’ll be able to publish this within, I don’t know, the next business day. Alright, let’s go onto the next, to the next slide which is about Twitter. Alright, you use Twitter differently than Facebook. You talked about Facebook and the way that you bring that into your brand, the way that you use that to build a brand by building a presence. But with Twitter, you say you use it to engage. What do you mean?
AJ Vaynerchuk: We really, really preach engagement. I think listening is one of the most important things a brand can do. Too many brands-you see these social networks and they immediately want to broadcast. They want to get their message out to the most amount of people as quickly and as efficiently as possible. And I think too many brands miss the idea that Twitter is an amazing source for consumer research and a way to engage. It’s customer service through the roof, and you can utilize platforms like Search.Twitter.Com to find out what people are saying about your brand and find consumers that truly have a brand connection with you and your company, and you can engage with them and let them know that your using this service and you are listening, and you actually care. Twitter’s a great platform to engage, and care, and listen.
Andrew: Well, but how much time do we have to Tweet all day? To Facebook all day-are we being responsible by spending all that time online? I sometimes feel like maybe i’m wasting time by being on these services.
AJ Vaynerchuk: I mean, there’s two different ways to think about it. As a personal brand, I don’t think anyone can waste time with that. I think it’s a great way to meet new people. I think networking is so vital and so important to business in general, so I don’t think using social platforms is a waste of time for a personal brand. And for a big corporate company, it’s so easy in the scope of things to justify a full-time employee that’s, you know, the head of community within your corporation to engage with people. You know, somebody to focus all day and listen to the conversation online is an amazing use of cash in comparison to what a lot of companies have other employees doing. I think especially with these bigger brands, you know, it’s such a small investment for the return that it can truly bring to not only your company internally, but also your brand perception on the web.
Andrew: Alright, let’s assume i’m running a company. I’ve decided to get into social media, I want to hire somebody. How do I give them proper direction? How do I manage them properly so that they’re not just chatting online, but they’ll really bring value?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Sure. Sure. The most important thing to do is, before you have somebody, you-know, engage on behalf of your brand is to make sure they truly understand the brand message and truly understand the story of why you started the company, what your company does, and what your company believes in. You don’t want to have somebody hire them, then the next day throw them onto Twitter and just have them “chat” so-to-speak. You want them to truly be passionate about your brand so when they do engage it’s authentic and it’s true. And from a modern day standpoint, I think it’s something we deal with all the time. I think companies truly want to understand: what’s the R.O.I of social media? What is the value that I get back from having somebody just chat all day? (so-to-speak as you use the words to say). And I think it’s silly to think: “Oh an R.O.I., make sure it’s effective.” Sure you can look at your brand manager so-to-speak and set some goals, but branding in a lot of ways is intangible. And just the idea that you can go back and see the positive sentiment that’s being broadcasted from the conversation that your brand manager is generating, I think is return enough for you to understand why this is working. Anybody that understands marketing and understands branding can see the strength of social media a few weeks after you start the program.
Andrew: Well what would I tell them to do? Do I tell them to go into every blog that talks about me and add a comment? Do I tell them to Tweet back at everybody who Tweets my name? And if I do, what do I tell them to write on these sites?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think every brand is different. I don’t think you can take a hypothetical and just say: ‘This is what you should do, blueprint.’ Every time we work with every single company or even discuss the opportunity of working with a company, we take a good look at what their brand message is and what they’re trying to accomplish, and try to understand how they can be most efficient with their time in social media. If you have a brand that is a product, you-know specifically let’s say a ‘gadget’, then I would say you-know reading every blog and leaving a comment, being part of discussion is important because a lot of those blog posts are going to be reviews of your product and pros and cons of your product, and you want your brand to be within that conversation and address both the pros and the cons, and any other interesting story line that pops up from it. If you’re a global brand, something that’s just all-encompassing and maybe doesn’t get blogged about as much but maybe gets talked about on Twitter a little bit more, I would say they should focus on that aspect and just generate a genuine connection and a conversation with people that like and hate their brand. There’s an opportunity to engage with people that hate your brand, just as much as there is an opportunity to engage with people who love your brand.
Andrew: Okay, I see that Shaunt is asking me to leave the room to go to another room. Shaunt i’m sorry I think we’re just going to have to continue as is. Can you let the guys who are in the live room know that I will turn this around quickly for them, and that I’ll have a recording of this program for them to watch. I don’t think that it will make sense for me…-
Andrew: ÖAJ, what do you think? You’re the brand guy. What do you think? Do we leave this room and go to another room that he set up and continue the conversation there?
AJ Vaynerchuk: That’s a toughie, man. You know your audience better than I do. I think what I would do if I were you, the second we wrap up this interview, I would put it on the website in like half a second, quicker than that. I will do anything in my power to have it up.
Andrew: It will take a little bit more than half a second toÖLet’s do it. Absolutely. It’ll take more than half a secondÖ
AJ Vaynerchuk: Two seconds, [xx]
Andrew: Öto render, but I will absolutely turn it around. Sean, can you tell them that if they go to Mixergy.com/live where I’d ordinary leave, we’d put up just these live feeds, I will put up a quickly-edited, quickly-produced but well produced version of this for them quickly – I keep saying quickly – you’re absolutely right, instead of leaving this room and having issues that way.
Now, I forgot the question that I was asking, and these are important. All right, let’s use Mixergy, that’s what I was going to say. Let’s use Mixergy. I’m listening to you and your brother like so many people in my audience have been for years. Gary Vaynerchuk says, ‘Publish something everyday,’ I’m now doing an interview a day. I’m exhausted, but I’m listening to you and it works. You, guys, are saying engage people with Twitter, I said for a long time, ‘This is a freaking joke.’ But I did it and I did it and I did it more, and you know what? So many good things have happened because of it. Every time I have an issue, I tweet out; somebody response and helps out. Every time I want to get a good interview on here, I want to improve the work that I’m doing with the guest that I have now, I get feedback from it. You, guys, are dead on. So, help me go now to the next step. You’re saying, ‘The business grows, hire somebody and have them do some of this.’ What would they have them do? So much of what I’m doing now is the authentic Andrew being there [xx].
AJ Vaynerchuk: Andrew, I think it’s a little different. I think while you’re a personal branding your businesses well, the last thing I would tell you to do is hire somebody and tweet on behalf of Mixergy, you are Mixergy. But when Gary was running Wine Library TV and still is running Wine Library TV, he never had anybody tweet on his behalf. You’re the brand, and although you are company, you can have people do things for you that can save you time and help you focus on the community. For example. before we did this, you helped organize some websites for me to look at, you had me give some tips kind of do little homework. That’s something you can delegate and that’s stuff that you can have somebody else do as long as they understand your story, they understand what you’re trying to accomplish.
Of course, you would work with them. You probably have a quick discussion with them, figure out what you would want from me. But you wouldn’t have to be the person that goes back and forth and figure things out and making easy on me, the guest. So, you can use that to kind of stir your business because I guarantee that 20-25 minutes spent organizing the websites for me to look at and to go back and forth to tell me about vocal and how this was going to go, could be better used you working on getting new guests, engaging with their community, creating even more content. So, don’t go away from your brand, do not let anybody else engage with your consumers. But from a business standpoint, experimenting with vocalÖI bet, before this, you spent time with Sean and spoke with him, you can have somebody else do that. But when it comes to the engagement and the content-creation, that’s you and that’s you alone.
Andrew: You’re absolutely. It’s freakingly right. You’re saying 25 minutes or maybe you said 45 minutes, I don’t remember what it is. But whatever the number was, it’s an understatement. I said to myself, ‘I got the brand guy come on.’ Not just the brand guy, but I’ve engaged with you and other people and the companies that you worked with, and everything you, guys, touch gives me an incredible experience. Just the back and forth and ‘Can I interview AJ?’ is great, it doesn’t feel like the back and forth that I have with most people. Just the back and forth on, ‘Can I get a book from Gary Vaynerchuk so that I can talk about it on Mixergy?’ iss not the usual interaction. So, I worked extra hard with you and I spent extra time, and you’re right, I could have somebody else do that. Somebody else who would have enjoyed it, somebody else who would have brought more to it than I did even.
AJ Vaynerchuk: You know, Andrew, the interaction before we did this between you and I, something that I value and I appreciate, I think you need to keep that in some regards. But, if you reach out to me and say, ‘Could we do an interview?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ And we agreed upon some terms, and then you said, ‘Listen, I’m going to pass this off to person X and he’s going to help you or he or she’s going to make sure that your experience come Friday at 2 o’clock Eastern is a great experience.’ I would have appreciated that and I would have been more than happy to go through that process. It gets to a certain point where you will not be able to handle the load yourself. Gary, I reference Gary just because it’s so close to home with me when he did Wine Library TV, but he reached that point after a certain time. Probably around a year or two into it, where he had to bring on somebody that helped kind of make sure the nuts and bolts stay tight and things got done.
You might have spoken to Matt Sitomer in the past as well. Matt is somebody that Gary brought on as his assistant when he was still running Wine Library day-to-day, and he still does as well, before VaynerMedia, pre-VaynerMedia.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Before Vader Media, Prevader Media, and that came into our world and helped us execute on Gary-related missionism, any projects Gary and I were working on, and he’s somebody who has been so vital to the success of what we do, so much so that he’s actually transitioned from Gary’s assistant to a very high position within Vader media full time. And It’s really important as you develop a business to find people that truly embrace your passion and your view point and make sure you make them as efficient as good as possible.
Andrew: If anyone watching this is interested in helping me out with our rockstar entrepreneur guest, email me and let’s see if we can work something out. And I know I’m going to get good e-mails from this because [interrupted].
AJ Vaynerchuk: Andrew, I’ll tell you right now, you should have 0 problems finding some young, hungry, internet entrepreneur that would help you because: I’m telling you right now, if I were 17,18,19 and this was a couple years ago and I had the opportunity to work with you and for you, to help you build the Mixer G. brand, I would jump at it and jump at it very quickly. You probably have an e-mail in your inbox right now.
Andrew: Alright, well thank you. Alright, now let’s move on with the next point here: Stay on top of trends, what do you mean by that?
AJ Vaynerchuk: So, you referenced earlier some entrepreneurs might not be willing to jump on buzz right away, or to log onto Chatroulette and as a disclaimer, if you’re watching this, Chatroulette has a little not safe for work content on there, but do a little reading, find out about Chatroulette. That’s something that if you want to be at the best you can possibly be, you need to stay on top of things. I believe as an entrepreneur, especially in this space, there’s a lot of doodoodoo, there’s a lot of action, we preach engagement, we preach working your face off. But, reading is extremely vital, I would recommend a handful of sites at the top of my head: Sites like TechPunch, Mashville – you’ve heard of these sites. And follow those sites and read them religiously, because they can lead you to the next big thing that can be the differentiater between your business and your competition’s.
Andrew: So, can you give me an example of a trend that you’ve gotten on top of that has helped you grow your brand?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Twitter. Gary and I were one of the first users of twitter way back early 2007, maybe late 2006, we will probably have to use that app that finds out when we were on it. I actually registered a couple of months after I found out about twitter. But, even though we weren’t the first people to use twitter, there were tens of thousands of people probably on twitter before Gary and I. The mainstream media, the bigger brands, the bigger companies, didn’t know about twitter until 2008ish, maybe late 2008, let alone embrace twitter. We still work with brands that are still skittish to even create an account to start engaging. So, I think twitter is the example of staying on top of trends and understanding how you can use it for brand building.
Andrew: Alright, what else? I understand that whatever the latest tool is, you want to at least check it out and know about it, but what I see too is there are some brands that as soon as something happens they connect with it and they almost leach off of the popularity, or draw from the popularity of it. Like, who was it, it was Kanye West who had that outburst. There’s a couple of websites that created clips of that outburst and somehow drew themselves into that story. Is that what you mean, is that something that we can do?
AJ Vaynerchuk: You know, the way you marketed it in terms of leeching and jumping on top of terrible content [interrupted]
Andrew: I got to say, I am terrible at vocabulary. I should not do interviews, I’m trying to come up with the right word, and what do I come up with? A leech. That’s what I’m trying to find out how to become, but that’s not what I mean. How do we insert the proper word here?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think the foundation of what you’re saying is right. I think staying on top of trends – the best way to market in a positive light – is something that I believe in. You know, the Kanye West edition, that scenario. If you are in a hip-hop web app and that has a snorky tone behind it. If you’re a hip-hop website that us all about sharing videos and that’s all about a kind of the undertone humor of hip-hop, then yes, the Kanye West debacle was the greatest thing that ever happened for your brand. Now, if you’re a big consumer package good, if you’re a candy or a soup, or a cereal, I don’t see any positive to leeching onto the Kanye West debacle because of what I said before. But staying on top of trends, I think relies on current events and I also think it relies on understanding your industry, understanding social media platforms. So, what I said was an example of twitter. I think that it’s important for every brand that wants to connect with consumers and social media stays on top.
AJ Vaynerchuk: …Stays on top and, you know, the second Google Buzz gets announced, and the second that somebody in their company has access via Gmail, they should use it and understand it and see if it’s a viable option for their business.
Andrew: Okay. The next thing, the next point you talked about is be consistent. What do you mean? I’m out there every day, I’m working hard, is that what you mean, is?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Yeah. That’s exactly what I mean. I think be consistent with engagement, be consistent with content, that’s massively important. I think, you know, producing content at least five days a week, because some people, or most people, take off during the weekend. So at least five days a week, I think, is the bare minimum in my opinion. And, you know, maybe there’s a greater bare minimum, but I really prefer five days a week in terms of content, in terms of engagement, and in terms of just being smart, creative, and being on top of trends. Read every day, produce content every day, engage every day, network every day, listen every day. Be consistent in that regard as well as in terms of branding. I don’t think your, you know, your website should be completely radical in terms of messaging compared to your Facebook or your twitter. I think social media platforms and any marketing channel, whether you’re running a newspaper ad, if you’re running a billboard, tv commercial, radio spot, website, social media marketing campaign, I think your brand message has to be consistent so you can drive that message to the consumer effectively.
Andrew: Why five days? I actually posted something recently where I said that ever since I went to five days a week, I seemed to be getting better guests, I get better engagement from my audience, I get; it feels like I’m growing everything because of this. But someone in the comments said, actually Tim Berkwin[?] said, I’ve been testing this, I’m not sure the five days makes sense, do you have anything to back it up? And I thought, and I said, no, I don’t. I know that the Vanderchucks[?] have been saying this for a long time; go at least five days a week, maybe even seven days, and good things will happen. And I’ve been doing it. But he did make me wonder, why five days? Would four days be just as good? Would a consistent once a week be better? Or if not better, maybe it would be 80 percent as good, but I’d save a lot of time. What is it about five days?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I say five days, I think five days is the right strategy if you’re great at producing content. You know, Gary and I, you know, asked you and pleaded for you to produce five days a week because I think you’re talented and you deliver great content to your audience. And I think it’s, five days is a nice formula of getting enough content. You know, once a day, Monday through Friday, is a lot of content for somebody to absorb, and if you’re putting out great content, you’re going to kind of recapture and keep that audience. It kind of falls in line with the consistency angle. You know, people in general like rhythms, they like rotations. And I like five days because I think it’s a great way to get your message across and interact and engage with your fans and followers and friends on a consistent basis. So I understand the argument of once a week, maybe you can content overload, but I think if you’re great at what you do, and you love what you do, five days a week is a lot because you’ll feed the people the amount of content that they desire. I think the answer, in the shortest way possible, is that five days of content is what a superfan, somebody that truly loves what you’re doing or truly loves the brand’s content, would consume and enjoy consuming.
Andrew: I see. You’re right. That, then, does engage and support the superfans, which are the ones who end up doing all the work anyway, or the ones who end up the most engaged in helping out.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Yup.
Andrew: What about for somebody who’s doing e-commerce, or somebody who has not a content brand, but a different kind of brand?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think every brand can be in the content business. You know, e-content, right? I’m glad you said that. My family business was Wine Library, and is Wine Library, a wine retail. Winelibrary.com does e-commerce on the web. And Gary decided brilliantly to start producing content around the niche and around the industry, and that went on to be massively successful. So I think every single brand in the entire world can produce content and should produce content.
Andrew: All right. And in a little bit, we’ll show some websites of people in the audience who asked you for feedback. And I did have, I think, one e-commerce site, at least one e-commerce site, maybe as many as two in there. We’ll be able to help them and talk to them about how they can create content. All right, let’s take a look at the next point, here. Actually, I think Chantha[?], you skipped one. Can you go back? Or maybe we just go with the one that he has. No, there it is, okay. The next point is, have patience. Why did you single that out? Why did you say, why did you say that people need to have patience?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Too many people quit too soon. They, you know, and I think patience is the key in a lot of ways to success. Andrew, as you mentioned earlier, you started engaging with your community via twitter, and initially you thought, ah, this is a waste of time, why I am I doing this? I could be focusing more so on the marketing and the content production…
AJ Vaynerchuk: But, as you said, and I think in a lot of instances happens for many people, is, engaging, and if you believe in what you’re doing, if what you’re doing is great, you need to give it time. Nothing happened, you know, Rome wasn’t built in a day. I hate to use a clichÈ, but it’s true. Too many people quit too early and I think everybody who is successful in life, has at least some sort of patience because a lot of things just take one event to really take it off, one article about what your application does, or one contest that drives so much engagement, so much buzz about your brand that everybody starts following what your doing and then you can use that as a launch pad. Everything has a breaking point and if what you’re doing is actually worthwhile, patience is important because patience will let you be successful.
Andrew: You know what, hearing your stories of the early days, hearing Gary’s stories of the early days, hearing other people stories of the early days when nobody was watching, was such an encouragement for me. I built a business where, for a long time, I couldn’t get dozens of people to watch me, and then I couldn’t get hundreds, then before I knew it, we ended up at millions, and it seems like fast, I’m talking about “Bradford and Ree”, the previous company, it seemed like it happened quickly, in retrospect it feels like it, to other people on the outside it feels like it, but I do remember the early days of that business and it was just a struggle. And the struggle was mostly me trying to just accept that one day it will grow to millions, but now I have to just cultivate the dozens, or cultivate the individuals who are out there. And even though I had that experience, I started out with Mixergy, and for the longest time I said, ‘what am I doing, are people even going to be watching?’ And here we have, not millions yet, but it’s a growing audience. Alright, final point hereÖ
AJ Vaynerchuk: A lot of people. A lot of people. Absolutely.
Andrew: Thanks for the encouragement along the way, not just publicly but also in private. Al right here’s the last point here. Let the little things add up, what kind of little things?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think too many people, especially brands, want just to shoot for home runs, they want to swing as hard as they can and hit the ball as far as they can. I think something that has been very effective at ‘Bainer’ Media for what we’ve been doing with our clients, is doing the little things. Small, little marketing campaigns. For example, the Jets. One of the most effective things we’ve done have been five second clips from actual players, just saying hi to the facebook community, just engaging with the community, answering a question. Just the little things, really. I mean to get a football player from the New York Jets to film a fifteen second video, isn’t the most, isn’t the sexiest thing in the world. The higher ups in the organization were like, ‘oh my gosh, this is going to be amazing, this is brilliant, this is going to be great.’ But those videos have cultivated the community like you said earlier and built a brand connection so when you do try to run a marketing campaign that swings for the fences, and you want that home run out of it, you’ve built a support system that will help you do so. Little things can add up to a big thing. The minor engagements, the super tiny contests, the smart production of content, the consistency, all of those things build up and allow for major successes down the road.
Andrew: What’s one little thing that we could be doing right now, after this program is over, not just my audience, but me, and future audiences that will be listening, not just the live audience I mean.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Here’s a little thing. After this goes up and you record it, I think it was seven questions you had for me, lets find some time later today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, and film an eighth question, make some bonus content, and post that video on your facebook fan page and ask people if they want to see an eighth topic with AJ and Andrew with a three minute clip, AJ and Andrew discuss topic X. Post it on facebook, I think you’ll get some people to watch it, you’ll get some facebook fans, and I think you’ll add value to your community.
Andrew: Your saying we’ll find one question, one topic, and make it special, put it outside of this interview, and give them a bonus somewhere?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Yep.
Andrew: I like it. What about for somebody listening to us? What kind of easy step can they use? What can they do next after this?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Here’s the little thing that everybody can do that I think would be smart. Take a social network that you currently do not have a user account on, and register, and spend an hour browsing through it, and while your using it, look for the pros and cons and see how it can help you.
Andrew: You know what, I put you on the spot there but I love that. You know why I love that? What I’m realizing is, even if the social network isn’t big, even if it isn’t the right social network, you end up just owning another spot on the google search result because a lot of these big networks that end up not being for you, still have a lot of page rank, still have a lot of google juice. And it ends up helping you own your own name. Alright. Your own search results.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Not even that. Andrew, can I interrupt you? I’m sorry. Not even that. I think, even if you take an hour and go into a social network and it’s not for you, forget the page rank or the google juice. You might look at something that somebody did on that social network or you might find something that’s happening on that social network that that social network highlightsÖ.
End of transcription.
AJ Vaynerchuk: […] in that social network, that that social network highlights and you may well take that away and apply it to your business. You might find one little aspect that you found interesting and start doing it on a different social network, or start applying it to a different social network, or to your business or your website in itselves. So not so much even for the Page Rank or even owning your brand, but just from an educational standpoint, I think people need to explore a little more than they’re doing so right now.
Andrew: Okay, I get your point. All right, we’ve got four websites that we talked about before this interview that I sent you that you looked over – let’s bring one of them up here on the screen, and I’ll describe it to the audience and then I’ll bring up the question that they had for us. So this site is – let’s just have, not a multi-shot, we’ll just have the website – this is Bid Sketch, and Bid Sketch is a web app that makes proposals easier for designers. And the question that the founder has for you is: how can it leave an impression on a creative audience when there’s so much social media noise out there? How can this site, Bid Sketch, stand out?
AJ Vaynerchuk: You know, in general, I think the creator of that site did a very nice job of communicating their message and creating an aesthetically pleasing user experience. The one thing that I found that I think that he could do to really help his product is – and this isn’t common, this might not necessarily answer his question completely – but (I believe the gentleman’s name is Rubin) Rubin can help his application by building his own personal brand. I did a quick search on Google for “Bid Sketch Rubin” – I was unable to find a personal website, I was unable to find any information on Rubin and his previous experience and his story as to why he created Bid Sketch. You know, the best applications are the application’s that you’ve built on personal experience and personal need. So I think the ability for Rubin to possibly create a personal website, build his own brand, tell – you know, generate content within the designer community and build his brand within that community will actually help people find Bid Sketch and help people use Bid Sketch, and make people want to use Bid Sketch.
Andrew: That brings up a question that I got a lot from the feedback from the audience when I told them that you were coming on. People are asking: should they have their own Twitter – should they use their own name for Twitter or their company name? Should they use their own personal name on Facebook and YouTube or their company name? What do you think of that – how do they decide?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Well, you know, I got twitter.com/ajv and twitter.com/vaynermedia. You have twitter.com/mixergy and twitter.com/andrewwarner. I think what’s very important when building a business is to build both brands together, because one side of the brand can help the other brand grow, and having two powerful brands is better than having one powerful brand. So I wouldn’t be concerned of having one account that you always tweet or Facebook or email or create content against – I would do both at the same time, and yes it’s more work but it’s worth it and that’s how you build business, with hard work.
Andrew: We actually lost the vocal connection but we always have Skype as a backup – I’ve got AJ back on here. The website that we were talking about is webdesigncompany.net, and they’re obviously a web design company, and they want to know how they can build a brand and how branding may help – actually, the question they have is: how can branding help get more people to fill out that request for designer quotes?
AJ Vaynerchuk: So it’s two-fold, in my opinion. One, from a branding perspective, I think what they need to do is truly create a brand. I think they need to distinguish themselves from a logo standpoint and from a design standpoint. I think they need to come up with a style that people like and harness that and really focus upon that style. And then another thing that they could do – I took a look at what they were doing, I notice on a lot of their web design portfolio, a lot of the client work they’ve done, they don’t have a badge in the footer of the client’s website, and I think that’s a great way to grab business and to build a brand and get people to see your logo. For example, on the Vayner Media website, we worked with a great company called MetaLab – they have a badge in our footer and we’ve sent them business and we’ve built that logo’s brand. So that’s one way, I think, to increase people filling out requests for work – they could do a little more work in terms of tying that request into their own website, when you click their portfolio. I think a great way to do it is to have a page for each porfolio piece and on that page, not only explain the work that they did for them, but you can also have a call to action, something similar to: ‘Do you like this work? Do you find this interesting?’ You know, reach out to us and we’ll work with you. So those are two things I can see them doing.
Andrew: Okay, right. The next person to ask for brand help is actually a student. Her name is – and I hope I’m pronouncing her name right – it’s Crystal Cian [sp?], and her website is crystalcian.com, and she’s asking: how can she position herself as, and I’m quoting this from the email she sent, as ‘the young social entrepreneur […]
Andrew: [continued] social entrepreneur, blogger, graphic designer, yet also a potential consultant/strategist on youth marketing.
Interview: The number one thing she can do is produce content, and I may sound like a broken record, but I think by her taking her website, and she does have a blog, but she doesn’t blog there often, if she really focus on creating [inaudible] content on a consistent basis, I think her articles and her content would get spread around and it would reach the right people. You know, if you write about what you want to work in, it will reach the right people, if you do a good job producing it consistently, with high quality, and market it. So, she should focus on her blog, talk about her passions, and go that route.
Andrew: Even if she doesn’t know enough to teach other people or even if she’s just getting started [interrupted]
AJ Vaynerchuk: I don’t think she needs to teach, I think she can just provide her own opinion, and if she’s passionate about the topic, there’s tons of people in the sports world right now producing blogs that haven’t played professional sports and haven’t been coaches before, but they a unique stand and have a passion and people enjoy their content. I think that’s what she can do.
Andrew: I see, so if you don’t have enough experience you can still have your own spin, your own take on it, and start.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Absolutely, absolutely.
Andrew: Ok, lastly we have a site called Monogiggle, Monogiggle is an e-commerce site for special events and here’s his question. Before its relaunch, it was a wedding website. How can it now get people to broaden its prospective of the business?
AJ Vaynerchuk: I think the number one thing this site and this business could do is make their message clear. I went onto this site, I had no idea what was going on. I think they should, if they want people to understand what their business is about and understand the brand and embrace the wide range that it has, I think the website could use a redesign and really focus on the call of action and it needs to educate the user as to what they are experiencing. I think there is a lot of noise on the site and I appreciate the marketing entrepreneurial ADD and DNA that’s within the blood of that person, that’s very much in my world too. But, I think if they simplify the site and really focus on the brand message, it will help consumers brand the brand even more so.
Andrew: You mean come up with a simple statement of about what the website does and then put it up there in big letters.
AJ Vaynerchuk: Yes, absolutely. Explain it to them. You know, I see a lot of different messages there. I saw an iPad giveaway as a big call to action as when you land, and while iPad giveaways , it might have been an iPhone, but I think I saw a iPad, but while those things are great, and they can create much buzz and attention, I landed on the site and truly did not have a grasp for what I was experiencing, and I think that’s the number one priority above everything else.
Andrew: Ok, Alright, I will [inaudible] back. Thanks for spending all this time with us and thanks for working through some of the tech issues. If people want to connect, I know there’s lots of different ways to do it, what do you prefer?
AJ Vaynerchuk: Anybody can e-mail me anytime, it’s aj@vadermedia.com. I use twitter a lot, twitter.com/ajv, 3 letters, that’s it.
Andrew: Alright, well thank you all for watching. I love your feedback on the first system that we used on vocal, I love your feedback on the content here. What else do you want to see, and just your overall input. I’m always looking for information about what you guys are thinking on the programs that I’m putting out there. So, come back [inaudible]. I’m Andrew Warner. I’ll see you in the comments.
