Why 90% of Brands Fail at Social Media Strategy | The 505 Podcast PART 1

Summary

Podcast Summary: Why 90% of Brands Fail at Social Media Strategy | The 505 Podcast PART 1

Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
Podcast: The GaryVee Audio Experience
Date: August 26, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this dynamic episode of The GaryVee Audio Experience, Gary Vaynerchuk joins The 505 Podcast to dive into the core reasons why most brands falter in their social media strategy. He breaks down his unconventional approach, the evolution from paid to organic, tactical execution across platforms, and why being unapologetically yourself is the ultimate key to breaking through. Gary shares actionable advice for creators, personal stories from the early Wine Library days, and insights on the fundamental shift to “interest media.” The episode is punctuated by memorable anecdotes, brutal honesty, and signature GaryVee energy, providing essential lessons for brands, marketers, and creators alike.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Critical Importance of Social Strategy (00:01–01:18)

• Gary’s 60-Second Advice:
  “It’s the single most important thing to do if you want to grow your top line revenue. ... I do not believe that 90% of people understand that being remarkable at social means that your business will be dramatically bigger.” — Gary (00:12)
• Most people still underestimate how much social drives business compared to traditional skillsets. Being strong on social is now analogous to being a star athlete in terms of impact and rewards.

2. Platform Diversification & Human Analogy (01:18–03:03)

• Gary draws a parallel between the complexities of human relationships and different social platforms.
  “That’s called being a fucking human being. That’s how I think about Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.” — Gary (01:54)
• Most creators over-focus on Instagram and TikTok, ignoring platforms like Facebook that still offer tremendous organic reach.

3. Organic First, Paid After (03:03–04:32)

• Organic Social as Foundation:
  “Organic social is life. Then you do paid, then you do campaigns, then you do influencers.” — Gary (03:42)
• Big brands focus almost entirely on paid media, missing out on the organic groundwork where real audience trust and creative traction begin.

4. Mindset: More At-Bats, Less Fear (04:32–05:56)

• Encourages creators to publish constantly across multiple platforms, noting most are too wrapped up in view counts and perfection.
  “Everybody who’s listening right now is one piece of content away from their life being different. Do you know how insane that is?” — Gary (04:47)
• The volume and frequency win: more tries mean more breakthroughs.

5. The Shift to Interest Media (05:56–06:34)

• Social media is no longer only social—algorithms prioritize interest, not follower count.
  “Content is finding people that are interested in that content. It’s not social media. ... That’s the game we’re in now.” — Gary (05:09)
• Creators must constantly experiment to reach new, interest-driven audiences.

6. “You Are the Niche” & Platform-Dependent Strategies (06:34–08:24)

• On YouTube, Gary admits being “all over the place” with content has its drawbacks, but his broader strategy thrives on other platforms.
  “My whole framework of document don’t create … There’s definitely in a YouTube proper world some shortcomings … but everybody does everything.” — Gary (06:24, 07:24)
• Emphasizes authenticity and variety as ways to stand out in a saturated creator economy, especially as AI-generated content floods the space.

7. Brand vs. Direct Sales Content (08:24–09:22)

• Discusses Alex Hormozi’s experimentation with broader content and how dipping sales can signal brand building over short-term conversions.
• Most creators run “sprints,” obsessing over immediate sales, rather than “marathons” that value long-term brand trust.

8. Detachment from Metrics & Holistic View (09:22–10:18)

• Gary trained himself from early days to not be obsessed with direct conversion from his audience—initially, he was working for his dad and not extracting money from followers.
• Focus on aggregate results over months, not individual posts for mental and strategic clarity.

9. Founding VaynerMedia: Early Lessons (10:18–13:54)

• Early leverage came from Gary’s social proof and willingness to provide real-time, off-the-cuff strategy, unlike traditional agencies. “I literally did what agencies would spend three months game planning on improv, ad hoc, on the spot.” — Gary (14:33)
• Openness and humility to say “I don’t know” publicly is a superpower; it’s better to stay in your lane and master it.

10. Recognizing the Interest Graph in Social’s Evolution (16:56–17:38)

• Gary identified the “interest graph” on platforms like Musical.ly (pre-TikTok) as the future—content finding audience through interests rather than personal connections.

11. The Power of Off-Brand, Viral Moments (17:38–18:20)

• Creators should regularly break from their “niche” with unexpected or personal content—those experiments can lead to massive exposure. “If you guys just literally told a frat story of a keg stand, that’s the video that might get 3 million views. … People are not giving themselves a chance to be discovered.” — Gary (17:47)

12. Sawdust Content & Leveraging Production Days (18:21–19:47)

• Brands need to “film everything” and mine valuable content from even the mundane or behind-the-scenes moments.
  “If everything’s meta, if everything’s a production day … The security cam footage post produced properly is probably more effective than the millions they’re spending on making videos and pictures.” — Gary (18:37)
• Mundane reality and authenticity are often more powerful than highly produced hero shots.

13. Fortune 500 Challenges: Corporate Resistance & Evolving Pitch Strategies (19:47–22:52)

• Even when executives don’t push back in meetings, they often don’t action Gary’s recommendations. Real resistance is cultural, not verbal.
• Gary has learned to speak in their language, understanding their attachment to traditional “modeling,” acronyms, and often fake accountability metrics.

14. Post-Creative Strategy: Comment & DM Mining (22:52–24:06)

• Every creator should mine their comments and DMs for feedback and ideas. “Every creator listening here should read every comment left on every piece of content and read every DM they’ve ever gotten.” — Gary (23:02)
• Gary spends 5–10 hours per week in DMs and comments, even as message volumes explode.

15. Practicing What He Preaches: Living the Brand (24:06–end)

• Gary stresses the importance of living his brand—responding to fans, even if seven years later. “I’m super out there. … I’m petrified to not live what I talk about. … I like eating my own dog food.” — Gary (24:17)
• Maintaining authenticity and human touch is not just good marketing—it’s a responsibility and core value.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Everybody who's listening right now is one piece of content away from their life being different. Do you know how insane that is?" — Gary (04:47)
• "Organic social is life. Then you do paid, then you do campaigns, then you do influencers." — Gary (03:42)
• "You being you all the fucking way." — Gary on standing out in a crowded creator market (07:39)
• "I literally did what agencies would spend three months game planning on improv, ad hoc, on the spot." — Gary on early agency days (14:33)
• "I like eating my own dog food. I like telling everybody on this podcast to answer everyone. ... I wish more people did that." — Gary (24:17)

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Key Segment Timestamps

• 00:12 — Gary on why most fail at social media strategy
• 01:54 — Human analogy for platform strategy
• 03:42 — Organic-first social approach
• 04:47 — One piece of content can change your life
• 05:09 — The shift from social to interest-driven media
• 06:24 — “You are the niche” strategy
• 07:39 — Breaking out by being yourself
• 14:33 — Gary’s improvisational pitch method
• 17:47 — Go off-brand to get discovered
• 18:37 — The underrated power of “sawdust” content
• 23:02 — Mining DMs and comments for strategic feedback
• 24:17 — Living what you preach, real engagement with followers

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Tone & Language

True to GaryVee form, the episode pulses with energy, blunt honesty, F-bombs, and concrete “real world” examples. His guidance is no-nonsense, actionable, and unfiltered, balancing tough love with a genuine passion for the potential of social media to change lives and businesses.

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This summary captures the heart of Gary Vaynerchuk’s approach to modern social strategy—relentless experimentation, radical authenticity, and an unwavering focus on organic reach, all delivered with his trademark urgency and candor.

Transcript

[Interviewer]

In day trading. Attention.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

You said that 90% of brands, they just do not get strategy. If you could sit them down, brand or creator, and talk to them for 60 seconds, what would you say about social strategy?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That it's the single most important thing to do if you want to grow your top line revenue. Let's start with that. The reason it's easy for me to say that 90% of people and companies don't take this shit serious is I do not believe that 90% of people understand that being remarkable at social means that your business will be dramatically bigger. I believe that many people know that if you are remarkable at basketball, you will make lots of money a year more than if you're remarkable at being an accountant. I believe when it comes to marketing and business, it's the reverse. Basically everyone's acting as being a remarkable accountant will make you more money than being a remarkable basketball player. That's the point of my entire thesis.

[Interviewer]

They're sleeping. They're sleeping on it.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They're sleeping on it.

[Interviewer]

Coming, Coming here. I remember seeing a video and I was like, if I'm not posting every day, I'm not, I'm not flying out here.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

You know, so I've been on the grind. We've been busting our ass with the pod for the last three years every single day. And it's like.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And then the question becomes, so that's one and you've gotten there. Next thing I would look at if we were like all first cousins and we were getting together right now and we were like actually ourselves, but we're first cousins. But I've been busy. But now we're hanging out for four days at the grandpa's and they're like. And you guys are like, hey, can you like really look what the fuck we're doing? I'm like, okay, cool, I'll do it. The next thing I would look at is how many platforms are you on and how do you do it on those platforms? Right? Let's take an average 26 year old dude. Like you guys, right? How old are you?

[Interviewer]

27.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Nailed it.

[Podcast Guest]

29.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm pretty proud of that.

[Podcast Guest]

But we look 26.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah, definitely, right? You know, there's your personal life in like dating. What's your personal romantic relationship? Then there's your careers, then there's. Who are you guys as a friend? Like, are you good homies or are you sewing your own shit right now? You can't be a great friend then I don't know if you have siblings who are you as a sibling. Then there's the version of you of who you are as a son. Right? And as I'm saying this right now, I'm sure you're going through it and everyone's going through it. You're better at some things and you're worse at other things. That's called being a fucking human being. That's how I think about Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. The first thing I would look at first, I would know. Cause you just said it, you guys were in it. But then I'd be like, yeah, you're like, overly focusing on fucking TikTok and Instagram. Cause that's actually the answer to almost everyone just like physical trainers. Like, they all know, like, all the things we have. Like, oh, everyone's quads are fucked up. Or everyone's glutes are like. That's how, like, easy it is for me to walk into every meeting. I'm like, I walk into cool guys like you doing the thing in a new way. I'm like, these guys are not fucking paying attention to Facebook.

[Interviewer]

Oh, no. I took your advice. We started posting them and it's like seven in. So we don't have.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So it's early. You really prep for this.

[Interviewer]

I wasn't about to.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

You were ready for me to like, flip it and be like, do you post on Facebook? You're like, yes, we do. But here's what excites me. We're getting in it now. Then after I'm like, are you on everything? Then I'm gonna look at like, do you know how to do Snapchat Spotlight? Do you know how to do LinkedIn? And so, like, it's a very deep game. And what would I say to everybody? Organic social is life. Then you do paid, then you do campaigns, then you do influencers. And I think organic social for most people still is like, last place if you're a big company. Cause they think about social media from a paid. I literally just had a meeting right before this meeting where they were like, no, no, we're good. We're running paid ads on social. I'm like, no, no, it's organic social. And then when something does well, paid ads don't use media to amplify bad creative and really hide bad creative. Use it to amplify good creative.

[Interviewer]

Test and learn, Push money behind with media.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes. But here's the key. It's not test and learn, ok? It's market every day. And when you have winners, know what to do with it. Every time I post on Social Organic, I'm trying to win. I'm not like, oh, let's throw it against the wall and see what sticks. This is not spray and pray. This is fucking real to me.

[Podcast Guest]

But going at it every day, you're getting more at bats. Like, I feel like somebody who's kind of posting a few times a week versus someone who's going multiple times a day on multiple platforms. You're just getting more reps. Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And everybody's so insecure they'd rather have more views on one post. So they let it sit there for a fucking month. Like. Like I don't give a fuck. Like, I'm trying to win out here. And so like, yeah, I mean, more at bats is more at bats. Like, everybody who's listening right now is one piece of content away from their life being different. Do you know how insane that is?

[Interviewer]

It's crazy.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It's fucking crazy.

[Podcast Guest]

But it didn't used to be like that. You talk about the tiktokfication of content.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's right. What I now call interest media. Yeah. Content is finding people that are interested in that content. It's not social media. I'm not posting. And every time 80% or 60% of my people see it now, it's like. I mean, every day someone's like in my comments, like, gary Vee, where you been? They haven't seen a piece of content for me in nine months, even though they followed me for nine years. That's the game we're in now.

[Podcast Guest]

And so how would someone. How should someone think about their strategy differently now that it's different?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They need to realize that it's not about followers. The same way they need to realize that they have to mix up their content more to find different audiences or while doubling down on what works for them. So I'm like, what everybody does? Like Gary. No. I have to have a niche or I have to be consistent. I'm like, me too. That's 80% of my content. But 20% of my content is giving me a chance to fucking explode.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. We're going for. Yeah, you can go for a homer.

[Podcast Guest]

I wanted to ask you about. You are the niche as advice.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Podcast Guest]

If you go back.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Thank you for knowing that.

[Podcast Guest]

Of course.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Cause that was like a once or twice piece of content for me. But I think it's. I'm pumped that you picked up on it. Cause I think it's profound.

[Podcast Guest]

You go back on your YouTube channel and at the time, 17 years ago, you're deep in the wine game.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes.

[Podcast Guest]

But your YouTube channel, you're posting about so many different things. So how do you feel about the advice of you are the niche.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I believe in it. For example, on YouTube proper, me being all over the place is hurting me in some ways. That algo works in a way that like is more Mr. Beast Life. I'm okay with that. Ish. My whole framework of document don't create, you know, being contextual to a lot of people. There's definitely in a YouTube proper world some shortcomings that come along with that. Which is why I've never. Even though I have a lot of followers, my views are not strong. Cause I'm not doing the best practices. And that's kind of out of like sustained curiosity. If it ever changes. And a shortcoming that I should be better at and is very much a big priority for mine in 26 of like being more production oriented.

[Interviewer]

But you like showing multiple different things.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I do, but I can do that on every other channel. Like YouTube has now looked me in the face. Like YouTube proper, not shorts has looked me in the face as a platform. And like, that's cute, Gary. But like you're gonna fucking lose if you don't like conform to us, which is more programmatic stuff. So I feel like I'm ready to like fold. Like, I feel like YouTube beat me, you know what I mean? Kinda like this can beat me. And I got a 2, 9, you know. So I think that's where I'm at with that. But bro, everybody does everything. Like this concept that you're gonna find some niche. Oh, so what, you're a magician? So is everybody? Yeah, what are you, a fucking social media expert? That's nice. Like, you know what I mean? Like, everyone's doing it. There's 8 billion people. There's gonna be 100 billion people doing it. Cause 92 billion of them are gonna be AI influencers doing it. So how the fuck are you actually gonna break out? It's just you being you all the fucking way.

[Interviewer]

I saw a clip from.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Do you know what I mean?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, no, 100%. I saw a clip from Hormozi and he was saying how he started going broad. He was like, philosophy, some dating advice. And he's like, it's my sales dipped. Our sales dipped like crazy. And he's like, fuck that, we're going.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

That's cause he was going brand.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, if you go brand, your sales will dip.

[Interviewer]

But do you think if he sustained it for a longer period of time that he would have seen it start to flat, like start to go back up.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I don't know. And I haven't analyzed what Alex is doing. What I would say is in the macro, I do believe that most people don't run marathons, they run sprints. And this is not an indication to Alex. I really genuinely on the record, like, fully have no fucking clue. But, like, what I would say is that a lot of people want sales and that's good. It's just that when you build brand, you are not overanalyzing every day, month or even year on sales.

[Interviewer]

How long did it take you though, to kind of build this muscle of you post something and you're not so deathly attached to what it does? Cause it's been hard. It's been hard. I've been doing it and I'm like, yo, I'm now looking at the 30 day aggregate total, not individual. And it's so much more holistic for me because if you do three posts a month or something, you're so tied to what is going on.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I have never had to make my money from my audience. Think about that.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, right.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I broke out in wine. I was building a business for my dad. I was getting quadruple hosed. I was building a business that wasn't mine. My dad wasn't paying me for shit and I wasn't getting any money for my audience. Like a triple host. Like triple fucked. So think about how lucky I got. For the first five years of my life, I got triple fucked. So I got trained into not worrying about making money from it. Then when I exploded. Over the last decade, I've been building Vaynermedia. Yes, I've sold Empathy wines. I sell veefriend stuff, but, like, if I didn't sell a single veefriend, it wouldn't matter. Like this company that you're in right now, this company will do $365 million this year. It's a big business this year. Revenue. Not valuation, revenue.

[Interviewer]

Is it true that one of the first Vayner clients came through the wine shop and you had met them there? Yes, it is true. Is it Gillette?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, it was an agency that was working with Gillette. He was a customer and he outsourced some work to us.

[Interviewer]

And what. Talk me through the early days, because I remember hearing a clip of AJ and he's like, we didn't. We weren't in this ad agency game. You were just a big listener and you had an inclination of like, what you thought would work. How did those early days go. The very early days. Cause you walk into this room, and it's electric. Like, I'm just so fired up to be in your office and walk through these halls. And I just wonder, like, what was your idea back then, when you're in still in the wine shop, that the.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

World was about to change in a real way? And everything I did was around that. I took all my savings and invested into Facebook and Twitter. I started to put myself. I was 34 years old when I started to really put myself out there. 31 for 30 for wine library. But 34 in 2009 is when I'm like, should I show everybody who I fully am, not just a wine critic? So I did that. Then I started this company. Basically, my mindset was, social media is going to eat up the oxygen of the entire world, and I'm gonna be at the forefront of it.

[Podcast Guest]

And what sparked that for you? Like, what was that thing that you were seeing? You were just so into the press.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I was living it. Yeah, I was living it. No, like, even before Facebook and Twitter, I was trying to figure out how to use MySpace to sell wine. And I couldn't. Cause it was really kids. And, like, I couldn't figure it out, but I was trying to figure it out.

[Podcast Guest]

And was there, like, an aha moment of you using social that led to way more sales selling wine that you're like, I can do this with every other company.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It was Wine Library tv. I would review wines on Wine Library tv. And I remember right away, episode one. I was like, I'm not gonna shill. I'm gonna fucking review these wines. And even If I have 100 cases of this shit downstairs and I need to sell it, and if I personally don't like it, I'm gonna say I don't like it. Which was bananas crazy.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like fucking bananas crazy. But the point I was trying to make with Wine Library tv and for anybody who's listening right now, still, my passion to tell people about wine is. This is what I think. Do you like? Actually, let's play a game. You guys like oysters? Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, a little bit.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Good uni. Sea urchin here and there. Yeah. English peas.

[Podcast Guest]

Never had them.

[Interviewer]

Never had them.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Blueberries.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, big blueberries.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

What's your favorite fruit?

[Interviewer]

Strawberries. Yours every day.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Strawberry. Great. Literally, for me, Strawberry is probably 10.

[Podcast Guest]

That's wild. Strawberry. What's number one?

[Interviewer]

Blueberries.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Blueberries. Mango. Kiwi, you know, raspberries, Dude.

[Podcast Guest]

A ripe nectarine hits.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Ooh. You know what's funny? I had A fucking apricot this weekend. That blew my face off. But like strawberries, genuine, this is real way down. Like as like the big fruits, like strawberries are just like, it's a hot take and it's funny. Oranges, bananas and apples, I'm also like, okay with. But like all three of them. And those are like my bottom tier. And I like all three of them more than strawberries. So let me get to the point. You guys shouldn't blindly like every wine that I like. We have different palates. So my point to everybody was like, try different things. Just cause I'm an expert, cause I know a fuckload about wine, doesn't mean you don't ask me what food you should eat. Just cause I've eaten more food than you. Like, we have our own preferences. So the framework of the show made me comfortable saying this is shit and realizing it won't kill us selling it. Cause I was pushing the audience of like, don't even listen to me, but try different shit.

[Interviewer]

So then, so then we get into Vayner, we leave the wine. We're fully going into Vayner. What do you think about social at that period of time? Are you like, YouTube is gonna be a ticket, there's gonna be more eyeballs. It'll get me in front of cmos, they'll see this. Maybe I'll be able to book a meeting. Or was it outbound? Were you emailing?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I already had hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million followers on Twitter when.

[Interviewer]

No one did already because of all the wine stuff.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Correct.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And that blew people's fucking.

[Interviewer]

And that gave you social proof.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And that gave me social proof.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Podcast Guest]

And when you walk into the meetings, you have no pitch deck like your brother said, and you're just like, check out all the followers.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

We're doing something. It wasn't check out. No, it was even better than that. That would have been like lazy. It was, here's what you should do.

[Interviewer]

Here's what's working.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, I literally did what agencies would spend three months game planning on improv ad hoc on the spot.

[Podcast Guest]

Oh, you're like, hey, Gillette, this is actually what you should do.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Gillette was like outsourced and we had to execute something. The meeting we had with Stride Gum Stride was like, basically I told them their entire ideas and marketing plan off the rip. Like, I didn't even know. I was like, just like on. Just because I'm in the. I could do that now.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, you're in the gate.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm in the gate. That's it, bro. Like, listen, everybody. Who's listening? Whatever. You know, most people are like, man, you're such a good public speaker. I'm like, of course. Cause I only talk about shit I know, and I'm not scared to say I don't know. The reason I do Q and A publicly and almost nobody else does is I'm not scared. If you ask me a question. And I don't know, like, if you used I have humility as my superpower. If you ask me a basic marketing term acronym, and for some reason I'd never come across it, or maybe I'm having a brain fart and I just. I would have the humility to be like, what's a tcn? And you'd be like, whoa, what the fuck, Gary? Vee? Like, how do you not know? Or cac? Like, if you're like, hey, what's the cac? If I, like, for some reason, had a. Like, a weird moment in my brain and was like, I'm sorry, what's cac? You're like, bro, customer acquisition. Where you'd be like, whoa. Like, Gary, you're like. You would look down on me. I don't give a fuck. So when you have humility and you just talk about shit, you know, I watch so many people do interviews, podcasts, keynote speeches, talking about shit they don't know. And I could smell it on them, mainly because it's. They're talking about something I might know. You know what I mean? Like, when I don't know it, then I don't know either.

[Podcast Guest]

Sounds pretty good.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly like. But you know, and so I don't know, like, I'm not. I'm never scared. And I wasn't scared in that meeting or building this agency. I understood that I didn't go to marketing school. I knew that I didn't go to ad school. I knew I had no relationships. I knew. I knew none of the terminology. I knew. I knew nothing other than I knew exactly what was happening and going to happen. Take me, which is the only thing that matters.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, no, it is. Take me back through when TikTok kind of transitions over. And now it is called TikTok. Me and my boy Kyle, we were literally in our fraternity basement hiding from people, making videos because they were clowning us so hard for being on TikTok. And we posted every single day. And it worked. So shout out to you for. For making those videos. What were you telling the big brands you were meeting with being like, hey, we need to be on I mean, there's.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

There's videos of me, and you guys can clip this for audio of me doing fucking AskGaryVee about musical ly. Wow. Like, this is even before TikTok bought musical ly because it was like Tumblr. Tumblr. The reason I invested in it was around interest, not who it was. What. You were into art, you were into skateboarding, and you followed those accounts. Not you were into wine, but you followed Gary Vee. Got it. You were following interests. I could tell that musical ly was gonna be that. It was the interest graph, not the social graph. I could see that content was finding audience. I'm like, this is big.

[Interviewer]

You just make it. And whatever comes to you, comes to you. And then your interest, it starts to.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Guys, do you understand that you could double your podcast audience if you guys made a video about burgers? People don't believe that when I say that.

[Podcast Guest]

Go deeper on that.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I will. By you throwing off speed pitches, that 20%, that gives you the opportunity to get a whole new world. If you guys just literally told a frat story of a keg stand, that's the video that might get 3 million views. And they'd be like, who are these guys? Oh, shit. This podcast. Oh, I do that. Like, people are not giving themselves a chance to be discovered. People want sales, people want depth. People have philosophies of like, I want to be on brand. I want to be consistent ideologies. It's not how the game works.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Podcast Guest]

Another piece of advice that you've given is sawdust content, which I love. Can you go deep on. If there's a brand and they have a big photo shoot coming up, like, how can they best utilize that whole campaign, that day shoot to get as much content as possible?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

An intern that's there setting up the food in the corner for this shoot you're doing around, your fucking nice watch might be doing the thing that most sells watches. So if you're filming everything, if everything's meta, if everything's a production day, I mean, most retailers should be filming their stores day to day. Like, the security cam footage post produced properly is probably more effective than the fucking millions of dollars they're spending on making videos and pictures to sell fucking shirts at the Gap. Like, people don't get it. It's, like, just so goddamn obvious. It's like the mundane. It's the fucking why reality TV works. It's why influencer marketing works. People are interested in different. Like, everyone's pumping the. Do you really fucking believe Your nice photo shoot for your fucking sweatpants is what's gonna get it done. That's what every piece of content on Instagram is.

[Podcast Guest]

Okay. So if you.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

So the model, when they sat down and like, said, lettuce is fucking delicious. That's the thing. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Do you think they're afraid, though? Because they're like, that isn't on brand, like the luxury brand. Yeah, that's what it is.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

But that's why they're bad marketers.

[Interviewer]

100%. Yeah. Even. So when you sit down with these big boys and you're talking to them and you're saying, hey, this is what we should be doing, how much pushback are they still giving you on, like, their social strategy?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

At this point in my career, not a lot to me. But then they don't do it. Ten years ago, they would shit on my fucking face and, like, push back and yell and argue with me. And then I ended up being right to a lot of them. So now in these meetings, they're not really pushing back, they're yes ing me to death. But then they're not doing it. So their pushback is more like in reality, not in the meetings. In the verbal meetings. I'm also incredibly hard to debate with because I really know too much about what's actually happening. Meaning when I told Pepsi that Liquid Death, Prime Energy, and Poppy were a problem, and they're like, no, it's not. And then it is like, you know, this is now 15 years deep. When I said TikTok, when I said inflate, like, you know, it's like, it gets hard. And I know how to talk to them now. I'm not, by the way, I'm not trying to, like, I'm not trying to be cool with our clients. It's not cool to talk to our clients. When you say, you know what I mean? Like, these are business meetings. I'm not trying to put on a show.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Like, I don't think it's cool to talk to the CMOs of these clients. Like, corporate America, people are not cool. The world's cool. Like, this is not cool stuff for me. This is business. So my meetings are very business. I'm like, let me show you why this is good and what this does and why you get leverage against Walmart for retail media if you do this and what's happening on Amazon and like, TikTok shop. These are business meetings. I'm animated, like I am right now. But this is not about, like, show. I'm not trying to convince them. I'M not trying to, like, win the debate. We're having business meetings.

[Podcast Guest]

You said that you've changed the way you've talked to them. You've learned how to talk to them. So how have your pitches changed from when you first started vayner to now?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I know all the dumb shit they believe in.

[Interviewer]

Give me an example. Give me an example.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

An example before was like, well, this works. And they're like, you know, I was like, hey, you should do Twitter. And this is why. And like, if you do community management, they're like, well, how do we measure that? I didn't even understand what they meant. I'm like, it's common sense. This is good to get customers to care. They're like, yeah, but the report, like, what's the report that says community management on Twitter in 2009 Is ROI positive? I'm like, what are you talking about?

[Interviewer]

Mm.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

And I was like, oh, fuck, this is school. Like, oh, shit. MMMs and MMAs. Like, internal modeling. Like, all this fake shit. I didn't realize how many companies sell bullshit to Fortune 500 companies to justify bullshit behavior. So now I at least can talk about. I'm like, you know how your. Mmm. Well, this, you know, like, I could talk to the acronyms, the rules, the way they actually work.

[Podcast Guest]

Gotcha.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

They think in, like, lower cost cp. Good. I'm like, you do know when you buy shit for less money, it's normally bad. Like, if you shop at Marshalls versus shopping at like, in like a boutique in Soho. You're getting worse stuff. You should be paying higher CPMs for good shit.

[Interviewer]

Absolutely. You said in day trading Attention that post creative strategy was one of the most important metrics that you're looking at.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Break that down to, like, the everyday person who's just a creator without them.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Every creator listening here should read every comment left on every piece of content and read every DM they've ever gotten.

[Interviewer]

Are you still in the weeds of the DMs?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yes, but I can't read all of them. I'm getting 10,000 a day.

[Interviewer]

Can't do it now.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I'm trying to use AI to get me summaries. What people have to say to me publicly and privately is the most important shit. I'm just a human and I can't outsource it either. I'm not gonna have my admin team do it for me and act like they're me. I read 5 hours a week, 10 hours a week of DMs and comments still to this day that Used to be enough to get back to everyone. Now it's not even a. You know, I'm not even in the game.

[Podcast Guest]

You got back to me seven years later, which is fucking epic.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Tell them. Tell them any. Like, tell them. Tell them the story.

[Podcast Guest]

So I read jab, jab, jab, right hook. And I DMed Gary. As I was reading it, I forget what I even said to you. And seven years later, I get a message from him saying, sorry I missed this. Hope you got it all figured out. And then you wish me a happy holidays.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Yep.

[Podcast Guest]

And I was like, fuck, yeah, you too. Shoot my shot here. Do you want to come on the podcast? And then you go, maybe let me connect you with my guy. And then you put us in a group chat, like, 30 seconds later.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is crazy. This is real life to me. Like, I'm. Listen. You guys know this. I'm super out there. Like, super out there. Right? I say a lot of things out there. I'm petrified to not live what I talk about. I would have the worst reputation behind the scenes. You know, you mentioned Babin before we started the show or maybe on the show. I like when people ask about me to people that really know me. 99.9% of people don't really know me. Luckily for me, they do, because I'm very much who I am publicly. But I get really happy knowing what's going on right now. Like, right now, knowing there's conversations about me and the person that really knows me is blowing the other person's mind and telling them I'm better than they think I am, not worse. Cause unfortunately, you guys are starting to live. A lot of people let you down. Like, don't meet your heroes is a real fucking thing. And not that I'm a hero, but I'm a public figure. I'm aware of that now. And so people are curious. And so I like eating my own dog food. I like telling everybody on this podcast to answer everyone. And I like that a human can tell them a story that is real. And that's insane. That is insane to me. Even though I live it and do it, like, seven years. I'm in my shit. I'm in my bag. I live what I talk about, which is good. I wish more people did that.