#AskGaryVee Episode 82: Buying Followers, Dealing with Rejection & Millennials

become too expensive for a new start-up to compete with larger
companies for ad spots?” – Marc, the answer’s absolutely. I mean, that’s the whole point. That’s the whole point of
everything I talk about which is jump into new places when the grass is greener, ahead of the market to create the arbitrage
when it’s under priced compared to the market, a la, email marketing for
Wine Library in 96 and 97, nobody else was doing it. I was asking for it. My conversions were better. More people came. The conversion rates went down, it became more expensive, and harder to get people
into the email funnel, that became the expense. Google Adwords, on the word
wine for five, ten cents. A hell of a lot better than
owning it for two bucks, right? Of course it will get more expensive. We’re seeing it on Facebook now. Facebook ads to get into the feed are more expensive than they were 12, 18, 24 months ago. Even when I started this show and told you to do dark posts, it’s
gotten more expensive since then. So the answer and the
question and the debate and the opportunity all
lie in the same place which is what are you
doing about Instagram and Snapchat and Meerkat and Periscope and all these new things. Are you moving there when
the audience is not as big, the returns are not as
big in the short term? My overall plan is to go to those places hold my breath for three
or four or five or six or seven months, when
it’s not as valuable, but be there when it does become more valuable, and then ride that wave for 12 to 24 months before those platforms become an add their ad product. Instagram’s ad product
is still not mature yet, so the organic reach for the people that jumped on three,
four, five years ago. Is it five years already for Instagram? Feels like it is. 2009 for Instagram feels right, right? Or 2010, trying to remember. Anyway, if you’ve been, you know, fuck charity right, and like
other people of that nature, they won, they moved quickly. They’ve got the biggest audience. They can command enormous dollars. So, I think the answer is yes depending on your budgets. It becomes more price prohibitive. What a small start-up or small business has is time versus a big brand’s money. Right, so are you willing
to work seven pm to three in the morning to
get the disproportion arbitrage of new platforms to over index before money becomes the variable. I hate when small businesses are like, oh, that’s it, we don’t
have enough money to compete with the big guys. What you have is speed and time. What I mean by that is they have time too, but people that work in corporate America don’t want to stay up til
four o’clock in the morning that often. And even if they do, they want to move within the system of corporate America, and they cannot do the
same things you can do. It’s not that same
entrepreneurial nimble system. By the time they even understand what Snapchat, Instagram,
Periscope, Meerkat are, it takes two years for it to get approved. In that time, you’re executing, and so, the answer’s yes, but that’s not a bad thing. It only speaks more to
my overall philosophy of jumping into these new platforms, extracting the value before the ad product becomes mature, and then using the ad
product, Facebook dark posts while everybody else is waiting. Now, in 2016, 17, 18, when Facebook darkposts unpublished
posts, the ad product become the mainstream, that’s when it becomes prohibitive for you, but you’re on to the next one.

brings a lot of rejection
from my family and peers. What are some ways you build
confidence when rejected?” – Destin, which is not
Dustin and is not Destiny, Destin without a Y, or
Destiny without a Y. Well, you know it’s funny. When the question was asked by India, one thing, first and foremost, you want to make sure, the
way to build confidence is be confident in yourself. I want to make sure first and foremost that you’re not selling
something skeezy, right? Like if everybody doesn’t
have confidence around you, maybe you’re selling something
that is not the right thing. So, first and foremost, are
you selling the right thing? Or are you in ponzi scheme world? Are you in $300 ebook world? Are you in full of shit world? If you’re not in full of shit world, take it from somebody who hasn’t been in full of shit world his whole career, but has done things that people didn’t believe in. E-commerce being number one. Wine Library TV being number two, and then really a social media agency, number three believe it or not. In 09, people still debated
that this was a stupid idea. I think that, you know,
this is a tough one for me to answer because the truth is, I don’t give a crap
what anybody else says. As a matter of fact, I’m
wired a little bit backwards. I prefer that everybody thinks I’m wrong. I feed off of that negativity, and I turn it into positivity. Right, like I literally actually prefer, it’s why I like bad sports teams. It’s interesting. We got to, actually this
worked out perfectly. The reason I really would not want to root for the Yankees anymore, I loved being a Yankees fan in the 80s cause they stunk. The Mets were the team of the 80s when I was a kid. I loved the climb, then they became the establishment, and I pushed against it. It’s my overall thing, right? I’m a very basic character. Like, I like coming from the slums. I like being underestimated, and the second I become the establishment, aka the wine world, it
becomes less interesting. Advertising’s becoming less interesting because I’m starting to
be proven to be right, and it’s just not as fun. Like, I want the push-back. So, you and I are wired
differently if you’re asking this question. My question is like,
how do I stay underdog for longer? You know, and so I feed
off of the negativity. I feed off of like, you’re not right, you’re not right, you’re
not right, you’re not right, I don’t agree, I don’t
agree, I don’t agree. That’s not the way it’s always been done. So, I might not be the right person to answer this because
it’s always been in me. In me is the underdog. In me is the scrapping up. In me is the I’m going to
prove you wrong, sucker.

a millenial owned branding agency here in New Jersey. What are key factors we
should be looking for when hiring other millenials
as we quickly scale?” – Well, great picture,
it’s a good time to stop, especially for everybody listening. So, stop your treadmill, pull
over on the side of the road. I need more Instagram picture questions. I need more Instagram picture questions. Tag AskGaryVee or AskGaryVeeShow
on your Instagram. Just like this question. So obviously if you’re listening, go and watch the show just so
I can show you what I mean, but obviously if you’re watching, you know exactly what I mean. I’m going to say it one more time. You, the audience, you, the VaynerNation, oh, go I need a wristband, Steve. You the VaynerNation,
are the oxygen that allows this show to happen. The more you guys check out or take it for granted or get into a rut because I wasn’t on for two weeks, the more likely I will stop at episode 94. So, like I really, really
need your help here to continue the momentum. So, if you like this show at all, and if you’re shy or not shy, either way, I basically
need an Instagram photo with a question. Here’s a link to how you ask the question. And let’s move on. Will, I think building a millenial agency, I always talk about that fat dude that built Backstreet
Boys and N Sync, right? He wasn’t a 13 year old girl. He just knew how to market
to 13 year old girls. I, especially with the gray hairs, even some in the beard which is weird, I am not a millenial. I know how to market to millenials better than all of my millenials combined. Okay? So I would say, first things first, were you thinking I Poppa? First things first, I would say is you don’t have to, and this is a huge mistake that most people make. You don’t necessarily hire millenials to market to millenials. Just cause you’re 24, doesn’t mean you know how to sell shit to a 24 year old. So, first and foremost, what you should be thinking about in hiring people is do people actually know how to market to the age group? The reason I mention that 50 year old fat white dude is he
understood 12 year old girls and pop music better than anyone. Just like this 39 year old old dude understands the behavior
of 13 to 23 year olds better than most people. So, first what you should be looking for is can they talk the game
to the actual audience, not necessarily are they the
demo of the actual audience. (bell dings)

important observation you’ve ever made in your life?” – Sean, I think the biggest observation I ever made in my life was I needed to really trust my intuition over what I was being sold by anybody. From my parents to my teachers to the television. I just, you know, I always talk about betting on your strengths. You know, for me, and you know, maybe most people are different. Like, everyone’s different, but for me, you’re asking me, the #AskGaryVee Show, that’s
why we called it that. For me, it was just
somewhere in my early teens, it was just obvious to
me that I was right. And I know that’s an
obnoxious thing to say, but my happiness and success always followed me going down the path that seemed obvious to me, yet I was confused why everybody else wasn’t, it wasn’t, besides my mom, it wasn’t so obvious too. And so I, that’s what I would say. I would say that’s my answer because observation was I was right, don’t be scared of what that meant, have the confidence to
follow through with that, don’t hedge, don’t, respect other people’s points of view. Have the humility that has been such an important balance to the gift of the intuition, but never
waver, never waver.

“How do you retain and increase followers after taking over social
media from a company who bought their initial fans?” – Clayton this is a great question. I think this is a good one at this point. In the maturity of social networking, people realize buying fans on any platform has absolutely no value. You eventually get exposed for being the scum-bucket that you are. And so, I would say that the, the… Listen, there’s two different
ways to buy fans, right? Like, buying ads on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, to then,
if people are interested, to follow is a smart move. Just buying, like you know, going on ebay and buying 5,000 bots makes no sense, but the funny thing is the
answer to your question is the same way you would if it was zero. Whether you have zero followers for a new wristband brand or you’re a coffee
company that they bought a thousand fans on ebay to try to make it seem like there was somebody, you’re move the next day is the exact same which is let’s start from the beginning and try to make it work. So, what you’re looking
for is engaged fans, converting fans, people
that will buy your book, your wine, will watch your show, will pass it on. Like, what you need to do for them is you need to provide them value, and so providing value is the whole game. Whether that’s listening
on Twitter and engaging. Whether that’s putting out great content. Whether that’s sweepstakes, entertainment, information. Whatever it is, you need to provide value. You need to put out good content, you need to listen. You can talk great, you
need to listen great. You can talk great, you
need to listen great. You can talk great, you
need to listen great. And if you’re Meerkat cooking
show is good, you win. And if your Meerkat cooking show is shit, you lose. It’s not really complicated. This stuff is quite basic. You need to put out good stuff, and the question is what is good stuff? Good stuff is different to everybody. You know, like Steve. Name three good music things. Musicians, bands, name three, any three music things that are good, go. – SoundCloud is good. – [Gary] No, no, no, no, acts.
– Acts? – [Gary] Yeah, things that you listen to. What are three things that
you want to listen to? You were willing to give your 20 minutes that is very valuable, and I will sit down and listen to these six songs. Name three acts. – Flux Pavilion. – [Gary] Good. – Maddy Young. – [Gary] Good. – And Lionize. – Good. I have no fucking idea who
any of those three people are. Staphon. Go to him. I know there’s a light but figure it out. Staphon, your turn. Name three good music things. – Kanye, Jay-Z, Kanye. – [Gary] There we go. Great. India? – Um, oh my God. – [Gary] I don’t care. Don’t blank, you know music, go. – I do, um, The White
Stripes, Colts and probably, like the Beach Boys. – Good. Let’s just figure out what just happened. Three lovely people that are into very different things. They would. Steve, what do you think about Kanye? – Um, I think he’s kind of a jackass, but I thought “Bound To” was a good song. – Good. Staphon, your overall
thoughts on the Beach Boys. – I’ll give you some when
I listen to the music. – There you go. India, what are your
thoughts on Lionel Richie, one of my favorites. – He’s great. – Good, me and India agree. So, bottom line is it’s
quite simple, right? What is quality is 100% subjective. There were plenty of people in Hollywood 20 years ago that said
this reality TV stuff will never work. It’s not produced well, it’s not good, it’s not interesting. There’s a million people that
think the Kardashian’s suck. There’s a million people
that think they’re great. There’s tens of thousands
that think I’m great. There’s tens of thousands that just don’t realize I’m great yet. I mean, the bottom line is
it’s all very, very simple. Quality content is subjective. What is not subjective
is what happens next. AKA, you may sit and say I’m
putting out great content, but after four and half years of 13 people are subscribed
and paying attention, you just might not be that good. You might not be good at the content. You might not be good at
getting the content out there. It’s a mix of the two. I’m a by-product of the mix of the two. I’m good enough to put out
content that people like. But I’m also good enough
getting it out there and using the marketing
to bring in awareness, and both matter. Both matter, but that’s really it, right? Like that’s really it. Like, whether you have a billion fake fans or zero fans, aren’t
you in the same place? Zero fans? Yes, you are, and thus, it’s like me. If I decided to start doing
wine content again, right? If I decided to do that, you know, I have to start kind of over. Like, of course I have my base. People that used to watch the show, and things of that nature, but if it’s not good. If episode 1,001 of Wine Library TV is just a disaster show,
then it’s very unlikely chance that it will be successful. So, the quality of the content
really, really matters. And then all the other growth hacking marketing strategies, all
the stuff we talk about, those are just support systems to give that stuff a better chance to succeed.