The GaryVee Audio Experience

Episode: THIS Will Help You Become Better at Making Content

Date: December 19, 2025
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
Guest: Jack (Kayaking Business Owner)

Episode Overview

This episode is a high-energy, in-depth coaching session where Gary Vaynerchuk breaks down how to create more effective content in today’s social landscape. The conversation, featuring Jack, a kayaking and drone video entrepreneur, dives into the best content strategies for organic growth, brand building, franchising, ad performance, and the rapidly evolving platforms and algorithms. Gary unpacks what it really takes to break through on social media, challenges vanity metrics, and lays out practical tactics anyone can use to become a better content creator for business.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Content Creation is a Long Game. Reps Matter Most

• Gary’s Philosophy: You can’t “think” your way to viral content – you have to produce, experiment, and learn from what actually works over time.
• Quote:

  "You need to live it. How do you break through? By doing so much content for so long that you start to get an understanding of the thematics at work." (00:00)

• Tactics:
  • Try a wide range of formats (memes, carousels, combined posts).
  • The more you create, the clearer the patterns of what works become.

2. Leveraging Virality for Business: ‘Brandformance’

• Turning Organic Wins Into Sales:
  After a video goes viral, “slightly tweak it” for use as an ad. Add a clear call to action, discount offer, or explicit sales copy to convert attention into business.
• Quote:

  “Taking the viral creative and turning it into an ad, the viral creative is building brand, the ad is building performance. We call this brandformance.” (03:12)

3. Algorithm Realities: Social is Now “Interest Media”

• Big Shift:
  Platforms have transitioned from follower-based organic reach to surfacing content by interest and engagement.
• Quote:

  “The greatest thing about Organic Social right now is the algorithms are not based anymore on...your followers, it’s now based on the content.” (02:14)

• Implication:
  • Small/new accounts can explode if their content is quality.
  • The interaction now is less about a “list” and more about catching broad or niche interest waves.

4. Platform-Specific Advice

• Instagram: Described as “impossible” and highly competitive (like moving from school league to pro sports).

  “Instagram now is the pros. If you’re going to really go crazy, you gotta be the best.” (07:49)

• LinkedIn: Under-utilized for franchise/business recruitment—post hard-hitting business content multiple times a day.

  “You should be putting out three posts a day on LinkedIn saying the same seven things, 7,000 different ways of why they should work with you.” (04:15)

• TikTok: Immature but with massive reach potential—heavily recommended when “attention” is shifting away from Instagram.
• Ad Strategy:

  “Taste—spend like $55 on the same ad on three different platforms to see what’s brewing.” (09:33)

5. Practical Franchising & Content Tactics

• On Selling Franchises: Go heavy on LinkedIn, repeat value props in various ways, and use testimonials (ideally not from family).
• Podcasting as Content Engine:
  • Use podcasts as an easy way to create frequent, diverse content.
  • Experiment with interview formats (e.g., guests in kayaks, action podcasts).

  • “Almost everyone should have a podcast because having guests is a very easy way to get content.” (12:14)

• Test Ownership and Overcoming Fear:
  Don’t let fear of “messing up the algorithm” prevent you from making direct asks or cross-posting business offers.

6. The “Vanity Metric Disease”

• Challenge:
  Most creators hesitate to directly ask for business out of fear of lowering their likes/views.
• Gary’s Solution: Care about the actual business result, not surface-level performance.
• Quote:

  “There is a disease in marketing. It’s called caring about the vanity metrics over your business.” (22:25) “For me, it’s business over algo.” (22:57)

7. Audience Segmentation and Cohorts

• Advanced Targeting:
  Adjust your content style and messaging for different groups (“cohorts”). E.g., seasoned agency owners in the Midwest vs. young, NYC-based startups.
• Quote:

  “You have to create cohorts. The consumer groups you’re trying to get—they're not going to get the same content.” (52:12)

• Implication:
  • Make highly tailored content (even if it “messes up your grid”).
  • Use ads where tailored content shouldn't be publicly visible on the grid.

8. AI and the Future of Content

• Current Use: Best for brainstorming and cultural insight, less for true ad copy or creative (for now).
• Strategic Use: Use AI as a “thinking partner” – ask it what would appeal to your niche or demographic.
• Quote:

  “You can literally type into AI: 'What would get people to want to like use a kayak?'…I ask AI to think with me.” (32:08)

• Prediction:
  Anyone will easily make thousands of micro-targeted ads daily in a few years.

9. Operational Excellence and “Pounding” Your Message

• Advice for Agency/Service Businesses:
  Consistently share operational insights, best practices, and client-oriented value props.
• Quote:

  “Pound, pound, pound. What’s the most universal mistake you’ve seen agencies make?” (36:33)

• Make Ads Specifically for Different Problems (“Why agencies rarely hold onto a client for two years”).

10. Convincing vs. Conviction

• Stop Trying to Convince the Unconvincible:
  Focus relentlessly on the small proportion of the market actively interested.

  “You’re worried about convincing the non-convincible and you haven’t even gotten 1% of 1% of 1% of the convinced.” (24:07)

• In Careers, Lead with Conviction:
  Consistent, respectful conviction outperforms trying to appease everyone or just seeking approval.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On breaking through:

  “How do you break through? By doing so much content for so long that you start to get an understanding of the thematics that work. If you think I woke up one morning and said...we’re gonna make a meme...I promise you, I had no fucking idea.” – Gary Vaynerchuk (39:09, restated emphasis at the end)

• On Instagram’s maturity:

  “Instagram today is like you’re not even in Malibu anymore…so mature. What happens is more people today, more content will be produced for Instagram than any day in the history of Instagram. However…the attention has gone to TikTok.” – Gary Vaynerchuk (06:46)

• On being business-first:

  “There is a disease in marketing. It’s called caring about the vanity metrics over your business. For me, it’s business over algo.” – Gary Vaynerchuk (22:25, 22:57)

• On platform experimentation:

  “Taste—spend like $55 on the same ad on three different platforms to see what’s brewing…That’s the level of, like, if you’re gonna get into peak physical shape…That’s a level of diet and exercise that is really fucking intense. Same in this game.” – Gary Vaynerchuk (09:33)

• On podcasting as content:

  “I believe almost everyone should have a podcast because having guests is a very easy way to get content. The Shed should absolutely have a daily to minimally weekly podcast.” – Gary Vaynerchuk (12:14)

• On convincing:

  “Don’t convince, just have conviction…You’re worried about convincing the non-convincible and you haven’t even gotten 1% of 1% of 1% of the convinced.” – Gary Vaynerchuk (24:07)

• On grid aesthetic:

  “Nobody gives a fuck about your grid…If you’re doing grid for the aesthetic but it’s not following best practice to reach…the most audience, what the fuck are you accomplishing?” – Gary Vaynerchuk (19:35)

Useful Timestamps

• 00:00 – Gary’s opening salvo: “You need to live it…reps.”
• 01:10 – “Take viral content and make it your ad collateral.”
• 03:12 – Introducing “Brandformance.”
• 04:15 – LinkedIn for franchising: “Three posts a day…”
• 07:49 – Social platforms as attention stock markets. State of Instagram.
• 12:14 – The podcast as the ultimate content engine.
• 19:35 – On not caring about social ‘grids.’
• 22:25 – “Disease of caring about vanity metrics.”
• 24:07 – “Don’t convince the unconvincible.”
• 32:08 – Using AI as a thinking partner.
• 36:33 – Pound your message; operational excellence content.
• 52:12 – Consumer cohorts and audience targeting.
• 55:12 – Conviction vs. convincing in the workplace.

Final Takeaways

• Volume + Adaptation = Success: The only real secret is relentless output, constant adaptation, and learning from every piece of content.
• Platform Nuance Matters: Each social platform has its own “currency”; be willing to move and change tactics.
• Hyper-Practicality Over Perfection: Don’t let algorithm anxiety or brand aesthetics block you from actual sales and growth.
• Focus on Conviction, Not Conversion: Obsess over the already interested, not those you need to convince.
• Future-Proofing: Be ready to leverage AI and micro-targeting at a massive scale in the coming years.

For content creators and entrepreneurs: this episode is a reality check and a roadmap—delivering practical, sometimes blunt truth about what it takes to succeed in modern media and business.