Questions For Gary Vaynerchuck
26. Oct, 2009 
40 Comments
On October 29th, we’ll be interviewing Social Media Guru Gary Vaynerchuck on “How To Quickly Build Your Own Online Community” using social media.
It’s all part of our promotion where we are giving a copy of Gary’s recent book “Crush It” to anyone who purchases WishList Member during the month of October.
As part of that promotion we will also be conducting an in-person video interview with Gary and we want your questions!
So if you had the chance to ask Gary about how to build your own online following, what would you ask?
Let us know by submitting your comments below.
All the best.
WLP Team
How did you start from ground zero to make your presence known on the web?
How do you balance the fact you are selling something and building a community?
It seems some people feel the minute you put any kind of message about selling something, you’ve violated community. On the other side, many people can’t think of community members as anything but people to sell stuff too.
Assuming setting up a Facebook page is recommended by Gary, what specific applications should be added to the page other than the basic wall, discussion, videos in order to encourage community, make it more dynamic eg. blog rss, polls, contests, etc.
Thanks
I’ve heard Gary talk about the fact that he answers every email, Twitter message etc. himself.
The more his business grows, how does he plan on being able to keep that up?
Gary, what suggestions would you have for a nonprofit organization wanting to build community around a cause? What specific tools would use to build that community on a low budget, and what role would video play in that?
What are the specific steps to set up a membership site with WishList Member? A-Z; 1-all stets. What are they? ANd, HOW to do them? This would make a nice video so I can retrace until I got it. What is there one?
I’ve had it since day one, and can not find the steps.
At what point did you begin to realize you were becoming Gary Vaynerchuck the brand? What were your initial steps to strengthen your brand?
Hi Stu Please ask Gary what was the single most important tool/software he used to build his massive following. Thanks
With juggling a business and several kids at home, the thought of keeping up with a community makes me tired! I’m all for hard work that pays off, but I could use “fast and easy.”
Is that even possible?
1. Would Gary go through an overview of each step that he has used to build his business? (broad brush)
2. Ask Gary, “If you were starting out now, 2009, what would you do differently than you did the first time you started?”
3. How does he see the integration of social following and a WL sited focused on the passion of the community?
4. Those of us that pay attention to the IM field get a bit blinded to the rest of the marketplace. What are Gary’s suggestions for uncovering traffic sources for non-IM niches?
David
How do you distinguish which passions have the most monetization and personal value compared to ones that seem to be recreational only, so that you can prioritize building a membership site?
How much of the content do you need before you start marketing the site?
Thanks so much.
What’s the cheapest way you can get away with now to do video. Camera? Set? A lot of people are building fancy sets and going to HD – but can I still do it just sitting in my office and using my Flip?
Please ask the following questions:
1. Is there a blueprint or chart that identifies the steps he used for success? May we see it?
2. How do you find potential members? Do you build it and they will come?
3. How do you provide an introductory price and then raise, once there is interest
4. Is there a price threshold that you find works best for memberships? Ie. if someone is a health professionals vs. hobbyist, like potty training a cat?
5. Do you recommend a micro website to funnel prospects for the website ?
6. Have you every JV’d with an organization to promote your membership site?
Thank you very much!
I am constantly trying to get my clients to ’see the light’ re branding themselves and standing out from the crowd by using Social Media. But it’s hard when they are technphobic, reticent or just plain anti the whole ‘web thing’.
Should I give up on them as clients or have you a master sales pitch I can throw at them?
Do you think there is a personality type or mindset that works best with using online channels to build a following and to monetize products and services online?
I’d like specific tips on what info to include when I tweet.
Some great questions already above – make this at least a 90 minute call, Stu!
1. Okay, let’s get real. Jets, Patriots. You really think the Jets are better than the Pats this year? Talk to me. (this will get his juices going and pre-prime his passion and flow-state, trust me w/ this one Stu…)
2. Let’s Get Real – Mach II: Social Marketing is pretty darn time intensive, at the least with coming up with *really* quality content to share. Best strategies to share with creating and distributing it – Any hard rules with a mix of video, audio tips and URLs or just go w/ yr gut?
3. A bit of post-mortem with analyzing your success – what event(s) back in, say, 2006 created the escape velocity of your marketing efforts that propelled yr massive success that was to come? I sense your commitment to doing the show 5 days a week *no matter what* was one of them, correct? If so, talk about that a bit and what else was there?
I look forward to you owning the Jets someday on our horizon and bringing the heat to my Patriots! Competition is a wonderful thing with lifting all boats!
Peace, Respect & Much Gratefulness For Your Inspiration To GO FOR IT ALWAYS,
Bruce
I’ve heard several people say that the downside of having your business be all about YOU is that if you walk away, the business dies, as compared to membership sites that are based more on just content , some of which can be outsourced or created by trusted professionals, rather than being all about the “leader’s personality and persona”. The “You as the business” is less flexible in some ways because You have to be the one providing most of the content. Can you comment
Question 1:
What are the Top 10 “Can’t Live With Out Tools” you use to produce/upload/distribute your videos?
Question 2:
Knowing what you know now… If you had to start all over again please give a detailed overview of how you would re-build the business from scratch with your current knowledge base.
VANERnation4lifeYO!
what are some great ways to come off as an expert in your brand? how do you do it enough where you are not narcissistic or lacking authority?
Hi Gary,
Maybe I’m a little crazy…
Yet I want to change the way the world teaches math.
That was the pledge I made after surviving an accident in which I broke my back and should have lived the last 26 years in a wheelchair – yet didn’t.
Strangely after two decades, I finally came up with Australian Numerals and my goal is to convert the world from Arabic Numerals to a simpler number system that could help kids LOVE numbers.
My problem is that the education system doesn’t seem to want to change. And because I failed math at school, it seems the math community prefer to ignore what I’ve created – despite it being both more powerful and simpler that what kids are taught in schools.
So what could I do to create a missionary army of advocates for Australian Numerals?
I’m sure looking forward to crushing the status quo… After all we eventually moved on from Roman Numerals!
Jonathan Crabtree
http://TheBrainTeacher.com
also
http://AustralianNumerals.org
Hi Stu,
This is the first time I’ve seen a blog used for an Ask Campaign. Nicely done!
My questions are …
*What are some nonprofits or charities that have implemented your “community building” strategies? What strategies work best?
*What motivational strategies do you use to keep yourself upbeat and keep your energy high?
Thanks!
Phil
http://GrantWritingNewsletter.com
Hi,
Questions, 1.) Retention, how do you keep / retain members, or are all of your members starting from a free membership? 2.) Please list the software you use to do it? 3.) Which social media sites matter the most for attracting visitors, and why? 4.) If you have a payment plan, what are the best ‘levels’ to use, and why? Which price points work best?
Thanks,
-Brett
I would like to know how to move on to the next level in my business. I teach new entrepreneurs how to get started online and earn a mid 5 figures a month. How can I move into helping more small businesses and corporations with their social media, blogging, and technology needs?
Hi, I would like to ask Gary are you happy with your life and the time you spend on your business? I ask this because you strike me as someone who has found a happy mix of the time and pleasure.
Thank You
GBU:o)
Ellen
At what point can you sit back (ala 4 Hour Work Week) and not have to spend 8-9 hours per day answering tweets, emails, facebook and blog comments?
Shouldn’t the end result of building a viable business model be that you can step away from it and it will run on its own?
Do you see your efforts and many hours of work constantly building your personal brand ever coming to an end? And if so, will the business stop growing?
1. Nobody is asking this quintessential question. The best content, best marketed membership is useless when its down. How do you properly secure a WordPress Membership .
2. When you do get hacked, after inplementing the answer above, what are the procedures we need to know to get back up. Backup restore is a no brainer, but I am looking at what logs to look at, diagnosing, and a blueprint to use.
3. How do you stop hackers from finding and spoofing your email address for your wordpress site. All the tools I try seem to fail at it. Its hard to read your in box for real email from members when its full of spoofed spammers.
4. After one realizes that there is not enough time in the day to do all this effectively, it becomes apparent that hiring someone must be done. And then at some point point you want out to live life instead of working to death. Please provide a the rosey road map of managing the tiers of the entire business cycle. People wwant to know the truth, and all the hype is leaving out the important principles, and that is to live a better quality of life, otherwise might as well get a job.
I appreciate the idea of passion, at the same time I have heard some say that it is possible to be successful without necessarily being passionate about the business model.
It seems to me the best approach would be to have both. At the same time passion may not translate into financial success.
Your thoughts.
Thank you
I would love to know how Gary manages such a hectic schedule as he is everywhere, both online and offline! How many “behind the scenes” peeps assist him and what do they do?
Thanks!
Echo Tom W. Yes, what is the “rosey road map?”
Of the millions of social media pages out there, how do you rise above the noise and become WORTHY of being followed? How do you satisfy the question, ‘Why should we care about your widget?’ and do that in a compelling way?
It looks like you are very off the cuff when you do your daily video. How much do you script it? Do you create the script and content or do you have creative help in the process?
Any tips to get your video noticed online? What do you or your company do to get it seen using social media? Traditional Media? What falls between the cracks?
Congratulations on the storm of interest in Crush It. I first heard about it on a KPCC interview returning from the SocialThurdsday Facebook Group/TweetUp so I know you had lots of variety in your press exposure.
Warmest Regards,
Edward
Hi
How do you acquire passion for a business that you got into because you saw a demand and created a product to feed that demand. Can passion be acquire/thought and is it necessary for all businesses?
Thanks Gary
Gary- you started as a Wine Expert, bringing the joys of wine to a wider audience, though what differentiated you was as much your online video MEDIUM as your message…
Now, you are paid even more for your message on using your online medium more broadly, via social networking.
So your brand is as much about your medium as your messages. Was this a strategic choice or the luck of timing? What advice for us seeking to get our expertise out there nowadays? (Knowing you may refer us to that awesome new book Crush It!)
How are honesty, facts, truth related to Quickly Build Your Own Online Community?
As your list has grown have you found much, or any significant change in response rates of subscribers?
How often do you “broadcast” (video, autoresponder, offline) at diff. levels
When new and the list is tiny
then the list pass 10.000
and above 50.000
A lot of awesome questions above! Many are covered in Crush It!. I really value my time, and I can honestly say that it is well worth reading. I was skeptical at first, but Gary shares his insight from some angles that I hadn’t thought of.
I think the best advice that he gave was to “keep it real”. I have dabbled in some things that have been interesting for a while, but never became a real passion. If you have true passion for something, you can make it work for you.
My question for Gary is not about tools or software. There are plenty out there that will work. What I’d like to know is how to stay focused on your passion. Answering all the emails is one small step…I’m sure that there are others.
I have a tendency to be easily distracted with a multitude of information and opportunities, so I am looking for some real tips to help maintain focus.
Does WishList work with most autoresponders?
I’ve just watched the interview in the customer area and I LOVED it – love Gary’s passion and truly he is spot on in his own enthusiastic, full-on way. Wonderful to watch and reinforces my own direction as I’m right in the midst of launching not just a business but a ‘movement’ – it’s all about the connection with people. Yeah!