Gary Vaynerchuk reflects on the demographic he has yet to reach

Content guru and entrepreneur 'Gary Vee' talks about the future of social media

With his 44 million followers on various social media platforms yielding more than 300 million monthly impressions, it is difficult to find people who have not heard of entrepreneur and content guru Gary Vaynerchuk, but he still says there is a specific type of person he struggles to reach.

“There's a lot of people would prefer to take a slow walk on a mountain with the breeze going and the birds singing in the background,” he said, during an interview with the The National's Business Extra podcast.

“That's the audience that struggles with me,” he explained. “They just don't like the energy … I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to win over that audience,” he continued, acknowledging that his unique and occasionally hyper speech delivery style does not connect with some people.

“I'm empathetic to that,” he continued. “But I just lean into that [enthusiasm], I can't not be me, but I get that some people just want a little more calm and I give a little bit too much energy, but that's just how the chips are going to play out.”

By any objective, standard, however, that enthusiastic and unique question and answer format that has become synonymous with Gary Vaynerchuk, known to many simply as “Gary Vee”, has yielded success for his various ventures and personal brand.

He can regularly be seen across all the major social media platforms, with video posts showing him interacting with audiences, encouraging them to post, encouraging them not to fear failure and encouraging them to be themselves to promote whatever product, cause or idea they are trying to get out into the world.

'Day Trading Attention'

Mr Vaynerchuk, who was one of the early investors in Meta, X (formerly Twitter), Venmo, Snapchat, Coinbase and Uber, is also a prolific author, with five of his books appearing on the New York Times bestseller list.

His most recent book, Day Trading Attention, promotes the latest strategies that Mr Vaynerchuk believes can help almost anyone can build a brand and enhance sales in what he describes as a new social media world.

The platform of TikTok figures large throughout the book, with Mr Vaynerchuk explaining something he calls the TikTokification of the social media landscape.

Entrepreneur and author Gary Vaynerchuk said his new book, 'Day Trading Attention', is able to explain content strategies in greater detail than social media posts allow. Pawan Singh / The National

Conventional social media strategy, which he describes as simply getting as many followers as possible and banking on a percentage of those followers engaging with content, has fallen by the wayside, he argues in the book.

TikTok and its unique algorithm changed the game, he said.

“I don't have as big of an advantage of getting my content out there today as I did four or five years ago,” he explained. “Because now if you make a good piece of content and you've never posted before, it could easily get 500,000 views.”

“The algorithms are taking over the feed based on people's interests more than based on who they follow … which is actually much more similar to how people consume information,” he said, alluding to the idea that the playing field has been somewhat lowered on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

His latest book, like its predecessors, is rising up the charts, but Mr Vaynerchuk said he still has not written the book his publisher really wants him to make.

“They're like, 'Gary, write a timeless book,'” he said, noting that the technology based advice he frequently gives in his books doesn't necessarily have a good shelf life.

Mr Vaynerchuk explained that the shortcomings of social media, however, prompt him to keep writing the strategy-based books that have done so well for him in the past.

“A book, ironically, allows me to go much more detailed than a piece of social media content,” he said. “This book is more academic, it's more textbook, it's the current state of the seven platform that matters,” he added.

Those seven platforms, according to Mr Vaynerchuk, are Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn and YouTube.

“I give people a framework for how to think about the platforms in terms of consumer segmentations, cohorts and post-creative strategies,” he said.

Addressing smartphone addiction

Mr Vaynerchuk's book, however, comes at a time when technology is viewed through a more critical and less altruistic lens, with concern mounting about the effects smartphones can potentially have on teenagers and preteens.

Social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt's most recent book, The Anxious Generation, is currently enjoying critical and commercial success with its claims that the use of smartphones, especially among preteens, is causing significant mental harm to those particular audiences.

While Mr Vaynerchuk said he had not read Mr Haidt's book, he did address the overall themes and main thesis.

“Anything not in moderation is a problem,” he said. “If you're saying being on your cell phone 15 hours a day constantly is a problem, yes, of course, it is,” he added, before pivoting to bad parenting, which he felt is a bigger issue than technology addiction.

Gary Vaynerchuk spoke about the future of social media, attention spans and content strategy with Business Extra podcast host Cody Combs. Photo: Pawan Singh / The National

“Be a parent and take it [smartphone] away, delete the app, moderate your child,” he said.

“I think we have a parenting pandemic,” he explained. “What I'm fascinated by is that we are in a generation of parenting that is not willing to have children face consequences and ramifications for their actions. I think that's our issue.”

However, he did say he was not trying to absolve big technology companies from responsibility.

“No, I fully agree,” he said. “My argument though, is that we're always talking about big tech, and we're always talking about regulation. Why aren't we talking about parenting?”

Regulation and misconceptions of AI

TikTok, the video-based platform at the centre of the content creation Mr Vaynerchuk often espouses, is also facing scrutiny, with app facing a potential ban in the US due to data privacy concerns.

Mr Vaynerchuk had some advice for content creators in terms of a potential ban.

“This goes back to my love affair with accountability,” he said. “I think anybody who relies on TikTok for their career, who isn't building out a presence on YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram, that's just not very smart,” he explained.

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As for artificial intelligence, which has already fuelled billions in investments from technology companies seeking to gain an upper hand in the burgeoning field, that too has garnered criticism for its potential to dramatically affect livelihoods.

In turn, Mr Vaynerchuk said there are some misconceptions about AI that need to be cleared up, while also emphasising some forthcoming change as a result of the fast-developing technology.

“It's an inevitable outcome in our society and you don't put the genie back into the bottle with technology,” he said.

“I think the biggest misconception is that it's going to kill jobs when, in fact, it's going to create tonnes of jobs,” he added, comparing it to the development of tractors and their impact on agriculture.

“It [the tractor], allowed us humans to go do more profound things, and AI is going to do that as well,” he said, insisting that the jobs that AI might eliminate would be dwarfed by the jobs it might create.

“Social media and AI both sit in a very familiar place right now with regard to the world's feelings right now, which is that people choose cynicism and negativity,” he said.

“People aren't spending enough time at all the good things – that will be the result.”