You know who Gary Vaynerchuk is, right? He’s the Wine Library TV guy. He’s an entrepreneur, has written books, and founded a media company.
He’s also pretty big into social media. He tends to jump on the newest social media trend, and turn it into a lesson on how to do social media right.
I’ve been thinking about his “social media experience” in the last year or so. Here’s what I see him do with a new trend: he’ll jump on it (Snapchat and Instagram Stories are big for him lately). Then he’ll announce he’s there on his other social media channels, a ton of people will immediately follow him … and he starts getting a lot of engagement on the new social media channel.
And, I’d guess, he gets business done there, too.
Nothing wrong with that! But he sometimes translates his unique experience into a “you should do this too” scenario. For example, in a Huffington Post article, he said: “And the one simple takeaway is this: if you’re running a business in 2016, you need to be thinking about Snapchat as a channel to grow your customer base. Period.”
I’ll disagree with that quote. I think his experience using Snapchat (or any other new social media tool) is a unique one that has more similarities to what a celebrity experiences than what a business or organization might experience.
What’s the difference? Gary has a large, loyal “tribe” that will readily follow him to the new social media channel. They love his content, they like watching what he does next, so they follow. Gary gets instant followers/feedback/engagement, and then thinks that “this new social media tool is HOT.” So he ends up sharing quotes like the one above.
OK – not completely fair, I know. I’ve never met Gary, but I’d guess he would add a “your mileage may vary” to that quote. For example, should Hospice be on Snapchat? Maybe not.
So – just a reminder. Definitely read what people like Gary think. Read what I think. But then do two other things:
- Try out the new tool – get familiar with it on a personal level.
- After you’re familiar with the new tool, see if it fits within your organization’s strategic plans or short-term goals.
Sometimes, yes – it is definitely what you need to be doing. And sometimes, it’s a great idea … but not where you need to focus at the moment.
And that’s ok!
Image by Adam Tinworth