Gary Vaynerchuk is nothing if not passionate, both as a consumer and a marketer. He loves the New York Jets. He loves wine. And he loves sharing his passions with the communities that support his business and personal brand.
It's this passion -- along with an intense drive and powerful personality -- that lifted his family-owned New Jersey liquor store into a $50 million national brand, and thrust him into the spotlight as a leading Web 2.0 evangelist and celebrity.
Gary Vaynerchuk has captured national attention as an entrepreneur and internet celebrity. His success, both as the founder of Wine Library TV and as a social media evangelist, can be attributed to his pioneering, multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business building. "In 2006, I saw the internet becoming more social and decided to launch Wine Library TV," he says, explaining how he first got involved with social media tools for promoting his business. "I had seen what people like Ze Frank were doing with video, and I saw an opportunity where my voice could really be heard. It took many months and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to build up my brand using all the Web 2.0 tools, but eventually some people took notice of what I was doing."
And what he was doing was creating an active -- and, yes, passionate -- community of brand advocates, beginning with those who wanted to learn more about wine, and expanding to people who connected with his high-energy, no-nonsense attitude and willingness to experiment with new communication strategies. His Wine Library TV video blog took off, earning him guest spots on shows like "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "Nightline." As his fan base grew, so did his circle of influence, until this year, when Gary was invited to speak about social media and personal branding at Web 2.0 Expo in New York.
"Things kind of exploded from there," he says.
Word-of-mouth secrets
The community Vaynerchuk built to share his wine expertise now follows his advice in other areas, such as using social media to create conversations and build brands. And his circle of influence is rapidly spreading to marketers looking to replicate his formula for engaging an audience.
While it's not always easy to get consumers to spread your brand message, Vaynerchuk feels that it doesn't need to require a complicated marketing strategy.
"The best secret that I can give is that you have to be genuine and authentic," he says. "Trust your DNA and execute against it. In this landscape, anyone who is fake or inauthentic will be badly exposed, but if you are real and willing to work your face off, you can win."
And again, passion is another of Vaynerchuk's mantras for success. He asserts that monetary gain should never be the sole reason for the work you do, but if you are passionate about your work, financial success will follow. Of course, this is great advice for brand owners and entrepreneurs, who have the luxury of working at what they love. But does the same theory apply to others in the digital space? For example, can agencies inspire this type of passion for even the driest products, like toothpaste or floor cleaner?
According to Vaynerchuk, that's exactly what every agency should be aiming to do. "They should not be taking clients they aren't passionate about," he says. That being said, having the chops is clearly a part of the ratio. "I'm passionate about being a member of the New York Jets, but I don't have the skill set to accomplish that. There needs to be a ratio of passion and skill set."
Of course, skill and motivation don't always guarantee success in the unpredictable social medium. According to Vaynerchuk, some of it comes down to just working as hard as possible to get what you want. "Companies go into social media half pregnant," he says. "They want to be involved, but don't want to put in the time to be authentic and real and execute properly."
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