Gary Vaynerchuk has a new book out, and it's likely you'll see it somewhere in your social feed or online.
Even if you've heard of him, you probably don't really understand his full story, or why he's worth listening to.
I’ve created a four part introduction to get critical people up to speed and provide some context to the "Gary Vee" content machine.
This is not meant for Buzzfeed.
Gary has been around for a while, and has a pretty solid business track record. His wine content show Wine Library TV was one of the first big successes on You Tube. Since then, he became an investor in many other platforms and startups, and now runs Vaynermedia, a digital social marketing agency. If you use the internet, you probably won’t be able to avoid him because he’s made it part of his life to be everywhere on the internet, all the time.
This “Social-media-Wine Guy” smells like bullshit on the nose.
Depending on which clip you watch, or when you catch him, these are all fair descriptors of Gary Vee:
Unfiltered. Abrasive. Cocky. Crass. Irreverent. Immature. Obnoxious. Unstable.
If you’re one to judge a wine by the first “sniffy sniff”, Gary probably won’t make it through your bullshit filter, though you’d be missing out. If you listen for a few more minutes, or watch a couple more clips, your list of accurate descriptors would start to include some of these words as well:
Kind. Serious. Sharp. Consistent. Productive. Fast. Honest. Caring. Loving. Transparent. Endearing. Accountable. Respectful. Generous.
He can come across as a hypocrite, but my impression is that he's more of a paradox worth paying attention to... and not just for information on social media strategy and content marketing.
For the past 6 months, I’ve been paying attention to his content, and if I had to distill it all down to a single word, it would probably be “authentic”. When you pair that with his business/investing track record, experience in media and consumer behavior, and add in the transparency created by the fact that he is an active practitioner on basically every web platform, you’ve got a steady stream of valuable content to pay attention to, whenever and where ever is most convenient for you.
Whether it is a result of his emotional needs, or his ambition to buy the NY Jets, he ain’t going anywhere, and he’s definitely not getting any quieter, so you might as well get the most out of him.
An Intro From Old School Vayniaks Gary Mele and "Sugar Ray"
PART 2. 8 @Garyvee Narratives Worth Following
PART 3. Curating The "All You Can Vee" Content Buffet
PART 4. When Right Hooks are really Jabs