Murdok anchor Abby Prince-Johnson was present for the keynote delivered by Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV at the BlogWorld Expo. Vaynerchuk talked about how “America is a branded society.”
(Murdok spent the weekend in Vegas at the BlogWorld Expo and chatted up the brightest minds in the blogging business. Stay tuned to Murdok and Murdok Video for updates.)
Vaynerchuk is a self-trained wine expert who runs the popular video blog Wine Library TV. He has appeared on Conan O’Brien and Ellen Degeneres’ shows and has grown his family’s $4 million business into a $45 million one.
“A brand, once established, builds equity,” says Vaynerchuk. When it comes to advice for success, he recommends spending 2-3 hours a day reading and commenting on blogs. “You want personal relationships… connection is the factor,” he says.
He also says you have to “pump out” your content. “That doesn’t mean tweet, that means a blog post or video post,” says Vaynerchuk. “If you want to build a business, you have to work your face off!” In other words, sell yourself. This concept was stressed in other sessions as well.
Just take a closer look at Wine Library TV’s site. Note Vaynerchuk’s simple use of a “friend me up” box on the right-hand side. The box links to his presences on each of the social networks that he is involved with. This is a tremendous way to connect with potential customers, or just people in general who are interested in what you are offering.
If you want to sell a company, then you have to make money because that’s what people are looking for. To do this, you must network, sell, build, live, and breathe what you do. To get the most traffic to your site without spending any money, you HAVE to spend hours and hours in your community. “Your job is to suck people in and connect with them,” says Vaynerchuk. “You have to be you all the way.”
Update: We have posted a video interview with Vaynerchuk here.
Murdok anchor Abby Prince-Johnson contributed to this article.
