My favorite speaker this year at Inman Connect was Gary Vaynerchuk, who runs winelibrary.tv. He was a strong believer in the power of social media.
Giving away information:
A few months ago at a difference conference, the keynote speaker noticed that people were recording him in the front row. He asked them to stop. Why? He was getting paid for to deliver this valuable content! Gary noticed the same thing at Inman, he encouraged it. Why? The people who were recording were probably going to post it on YouTube, which will probably get viewed by people who Gary wouldn't have been able to reach by his own efforts, and he will probably pick up a new client. Being open opens you up to get passed along. Which approach do you think will garnish more results?
Transparency:
Gary does short videos about wine, some he likes and some he doesn't. People watch him and buy from him because they feel like he is being honest with them and isn't trying to sell them wine he himself doesn't like. Take a video of a home and say why it sucks will get you further than a library full of glowing videos- he said. Hmm....I see where he is going with this, because he is right. Whenever I read restaurant reviews on Yelp and every single one of them is positive, it looks suspicious. However, as Realtors I don't know that you could do this to a particular homeowner. But are there other areas you deliver this type of transparency? Maybe using market stats or business forecasts?
He had a lot of other good advice, but since there are videos galore of him on YouTube (a search for Gary Vaynerchuk yields 687 results, and how many other people have that name..) I'll let you watch for yourself if you are interested in hearing more.
But I'll close with something I found very interesting. This holiday he spent $7500 in advertising promoting a discount code for free shipping on his site. These were the results:
Billboard: 170 orders
Radio 240 orders
Direct Mail: 320 orders
Twitter: 1700 orders in 24hrs (he has 31,177 followers, @garyvee)
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Social media is all about sharing. Kind of like relationships.. You give a little, you get a little! Educating our clients is important... it helps them remember us, and see us as the trusted advisor!
I guess it's the old addage give something to get a lot. I thnk it rings true in any type of business. I am going to have to start following him.
Now that shows us something powerful about new media and the changing of the guard.
Hey Sara,
I am a huge fan of Gary's as well ... very excited because he will be one of our guest speakers at our Success Summit! www.yourcoach.com
Tom Ferry