The Growing Online Cult of Gary Vaynerchuk Followers
Is viral entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk a positive influence or just a higher level of procrastination?
Back in 2016 when I was working in social media cutting my teeth as a meme maker, one name kept popping up in the social media and content creation world: Gary Vaynerchuk. The Belarusian-American started successfully marketing his family’s wine business online in the late 90s before starting his own successful NYC based Digital Marketing agency “Vaynermedia”. He started a Youtube channel and began posting daily videos covering his time speaking at conferences, client/celebrity meetings and taking calls from budding entrepreneurs who would pick his brain about how they too could “make it happen”. If your social media timelines or Youtube recommended videos haven’t already served you a slice of viral Gary goodness then below is a little snippet to give you an idea of what he’s all about:
I think Gary Vaynerchuk is so well respected because of his no nonsense approach to people. He’s like an inspirational speaker and life coach but instead of filling you with hot air and telling you everything will fall into place with positive energy, he tells you the steps you should take right now to progress your passion, business or other dream. Even his series of “inspirational” phone screensavers contrast that of the “if you can dream it, you can do it” nonsense we’re used to seeing. I saw this myself when the company I was making memes for flew him over to speak at one of their conferences.
He spoke for an hour about how our phones and social media despite all their negative press have actually given us all an opportunity to tell our stories and build our own futures like never before. In the conference world where you’re usually spoken at rather than to (usually with a range of metaphors or case studies) Vaynerchuk instead enthusiastically gestures, curses and speaks about life instead of strategy. He’s like a modern day televangelist or a “social media-ngelist” (don’t think that works)…
Where he really shined that day however was when he opened things up for attendees to ask him their questions. People from all backgrounds jostled to table queries and concerns related to what they’re working on and how they could take it to the next level. Within seconds by asking them personal and practical questions he was able to drill down to the reasons why they weren’t doing the things they needed to and make suggestions as to what their next moves should be. I even left that night full to the gills with inspiration and ideas about how I could start my own “side hustle” and benefit from this golden age of technology. Then I had dinner, watched Netflix, went to bed and forgot all about it…
In the interim years Vaynerchuk’s social reach has exploded into the mainstream and his messages now resonate with millions of people from all backgrounds. “Making no excuses”, using “every free hour” and generally “hustling your face off ” all sound great as sound bites in viral videos but do they really align to people’s lifestyles? We all make excuses, we all binge watch our free time away and if we’re hungover you’d be doing well to hustle yourself up a takeaway on your phone! Truth is a lot of us are too busy or even burned out these days to be putting in those extra hours to make our “dreams come true”. For that 2 or 3 minute video though he gives us a heavy dose of reality that makes us feel like we finally will…but tomorrow…
Even Gary himself has noted in the past that he doesn’t want his followers to always watch his content, he wants them instead to take what he’s saying and apply it to their situation. He also mentions that if you’re earning a reasonable wage that meets all your needs and you’re happy to spend your free time enjoying your friends, family and Netflix and not complaining about things then that’s great because you’ve won at life too. I think as part of a generation that seem to be always looking for the next best thing however, this part of his message usually falls on deaf ears. Instead part of us feel like we could always be doing more when it comes to work, exercise, travel, our hobbies or even socialising. If his videos reinforce this feeling when you watch them then this is where watching his content can become almost unhealthy.
His messages are simple and practical but when you’re wasting your day away on social media, that’s kind of the last thing you actually want. It’s a bit like watching a fitness influencers quick ab workout tutorial on Instagram. They look great in their Colgate white runners and pristine sitting room and for a split second you think “I’m gonna start doing that everyday”. Trouble is 90% of us don’t and then can feel like we’re not doing enough. I was the same convincing myself I’d create my website, blog and start doing some proper freelance work. It only took me the guts of two years talking about it, procrastinating over it and watching “Gary Vee” videos to actually start.
Would I have been able to do it without Gary’s sound bites and influence though? Working in digital marketing I had always planned to but “tomorrow”. Sometimes all you need is that extra encouragement from outside of yourself, even if it comes from a straight talking viral stranger…Do you get lost in Gary Vaynerchuk videos? Comment below what you think or get in touch. You can also follow me on my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for future uninspiring content.