Highlights from Gary Vaynerchuk's Session at The Social Video Marketing Summit
The Social Media Video Summit, hosted by Animoto, recently streamed on Facebook. The summit featured speakers including Sue Bryce, Brian Peters, and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk; who, in a brief 25-minute session, discussed the current state and future possibilities of social media.
Even if you don't recognize Veynerchuk's name, you might have seen his face on Facebook or Instagram videos; his energy, charisma, and knowledge base are unmistakable. Of his 25-minute session, Gary allocated the final segment for Q&A; but his brief discussion and strategies regarding social media marketing were robust enough to establish his internet personality further.
If you missed his lecture, and are hoping to improve your social media platform in 2018, we've highlighted his quintessential ideas to leverage your business marketing performance.
Attention is our "Currency"
Within the first 5 minutes of Vaynerchuk's lecture, he discusses "the current state of the Internet" and how social media is merely the latest platform for people use to earn the attention of others.
Because people spend more than half of their time on social media, Gary argues that ignoring social media as the most critical channel for winning consumer attention and enhancing brand awareness is to ignore the market altogether.
Social media isn't a new-age trend; it is an integral part of the digital revolution. Over the past 15-plus years, it has progressively grown and popularized – to the point where we can no longer dismiss it, wait for it to die out, or define it as a mere "trend."
Whether we are cognizant of it or not, much of our daily interactions, content consumption, and information retrieval revolves around social media.
However, many businesses continue to underestimate the influence and consumer devotion to social media. Whether a company attempts to enhance brand awareness through online networking and doesn't get anticipated results, or considers it an overrated approach, failing to incorporate a social media platform into your marketing strategies efficiently can limit consumer attraction and potential profits.
Therefore, the sooner you understand and acknowledge the importance of social media to modern marketing and the endeavor of gaining attention, the sooner you can use it to your advantage.
"What Are You Gonna Do About It?"
Once you have grasped the magnitude and possibilities surrounding social media, how can you apply it to your business interworkings? How do you put yourself in a position to succeed and capture attention?
Vaynerchuk aligns successful social media implementation and attention with 2 "pillars": self-awareness and empathy.
Pillar #1: Self-Awareness
To win the attention of others, focusing on self-awareness is crucial. Whether you, stylistically, are a storyteller, producer, or salesman, an introspective mentality can help you define and build confidence in who you are and what your strengths are.
Attaining confidence in yourself or your company can ultimately better your business decisions in a range of areas.
Therefore, merely establishing areas where you excel can further boost your performance. While in contrast, identifying areas where you struggle can lead to group collaboration or innovative solutions, and mitigate the risk of taking on a task to receive mediocre results.
Once you have identified your strengths, you have the means to address your weaknesses.
Pillar #2: Empathy
Empathy is paramount to relating, retaining, and marketing to the consumer populous. If your focus is more appointed to your personal/business initiatives than the needs of other people, you can't possibly expect to create content that appeals to them.
And in order to truly exhibit empathy, you have to be willing to listen . . .
Empathy requires you to be an observer. If you understand and listen to the public's interests; creative ideas, innovative products, and quality services and content will naturally follow, and be returned with high consumer demand.
There's no excuse for not listening; it's built into the framework of social media. In fact, social listening tools have been developed specifically to assist you in hearing the voice of the customer.
Vaynerchuk emphasizes that his primary motivator is to impact the livelihood or lifestyle of a single person. With individuality, empathy, and reflection driving his personal and business activities, Gary Vaynerchuk is renowned for his ability to resonate with a wide range of people.
These are a few of the highlights, but there's so much we can glean from Gary's short talk. If you'd like to watch the full session, it is available here.