Gary Vaynerchuk on why Content Creation is so important (December 2019)

Potentially NSFW.  This is Gary Vaynerchuk.  He's from Jersey.  He cusses.  A lot.  Or curses, as he calls it.  So this may not play well in your office blasting on speakers. That said, Gary is an entrepreneur since childhood, beginning shortly after his family immigrated here from Belarus.  When he was 12 or 13 years old, he says he was making $2,000 to $3,000 a weekend selling baseball cards at mall card shows.  I believe him. 

In the early 2000's, he grew his dad's New Jersey liquor store from $3 million a year to $60 million in revenue a year, in 5-6 years, primarily using Google Adwords and later YouTube.  He started a YouTube channel called Wine Library TV, which sold a ton of wine through the store, and accidentally made Gary an "internet marketing expert."  That eventually led to public speaking, and he now gives keynote speeches around the world, for all kinds of different business oriented events. 

In 2009, Gary and his brother went their own direction and started VaynerMedia, a digital agency (aka new school advertising agency), which focuses on working for Fortune 1000 companies.  VaynerMedia is now doing over $131 million in annual revenue, and Vayner X is home to at least six other businesses. 

Gary Vaynerchuk plans to buy the New York Jets some day, and win a bunch of Super Bowls.  Gary puts out more "content" than nearly any individual out there, and most major businesses.  He has a ginormous personal following, like 2.1 million followers on Twitter, for example, though he doesn't make his living as an influencer.  In his spare time, this multi-millionaire likes to hit New Jersey garage sales, and buy toys, mugs, stuffed animals, and anything else he cam flip for a few buck on eBay.  If that coffee mug has a $1 price tag, and he knows it sell for $9 on eBay, he'll weasel you down to 50 cents.  Maybe a quarter. 

When it comes to creating content for a business, and attracting attention to your business or other project, Gary is one of the main people to watch for tips, hints, and inspiration.

Why Content Creation is important these days

The land rush scene from the 1992 movie Far and Away, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. 

In 1889, the United States opened up a huge chunk of land, what is now much of Oklahoma, to homesteaders.  By the order of President Benjamin Harrison, on April 22, 1889, about 50,000 people lined up on the borders of this huge area, ready to grab a free piece of land.  At noon, cannons and guns fired, and trumpets sounded, that was the start signal, and people raced into the region, which is what this movie scene is about.  The deal was,  people would find a piece of land they wanted, and plant their flag.  By doing that, and then registering the claim soon after, these people could claim 160 acres of land.  They had to live on that land, and make improvements on it, for five years.  If the homesteaders did that, they would receive the title of that 160 acres of land, for no money.  This is one way that the U.S. got people to claim the former Indian lands, and encouraged settlement of those lands.  You can learn more about the Land Rush here.

If you own a small business, do some kind of creative work, or maybe are an athlete who makes money from some kind of sponsorship deals, you're ignoring "free land" and free promotion for your business, work, or ideas, if you don't create content on many of the platforms available in today's world.

So what does this Oklahoma land rush of 1889 have to do with the internet and social media?  It's a pretty good analogy.  When you open an account on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, or create a blog or website somewhere on the internet, you're claiming your own piece of the cyber world.  Like the Oklahoma land rush, you're staking your claim and saying "This area is mine." 

Once you have your little piece of the cyber world, you can share your ideas through text, photos, audio, and video.  You can also share other people's ideas and content, drawing attention to that content and those ideas.  When you do that, you're "creating content," as it's now known. 

Why create content?  There are a whole bunch of reasons.  Getting Likes is one of the worst reasons, but a popular one.  Some people just want attention.  Some people want others to like them and validate them.  Everyone has their own viewpoints on many different subjects.  A lot of people have specific info, or some skill or experience in some area, that can help other people learn a new skill, entertain people, expose people to something new, or share ideas. 

For most of human history, there were very few ways for an average person to share their knowledge and ideas with very many people.  But the internet and social media have democratized media, and now, nearly everyone can get their ideas out and make then available to a huge chunk of the people, in the entire world.  For centuries, there were "gatekeepers" who let only certain people have a voice to large groups of people.  The gatekeepers may have been a TV producer, a magazine publisher, a newspaper editor, or someone like that.  Now, in today's world, there are no gatekeepers.  Virtually everyone can put stuff out on the web, or on social media. 

Because of this, there's a ton of crap out there to look at, and there's a lot of really good stuff, too.  By creating content, the best stuff you can put out, you can take advantage of one of the greatest opportunities in all of human history.  But hardly anyone really does it well, or puts much effort into it.  Nearly everyone shares stuff on the internet's websites, and social media platforms, today.  Most people go through their days spitting out mostly lame and crappy content.  But very few, even those people who are trying to promote something, take the time to learn to do this well, and work at creating good content on a consistent basis.  All kinds of business are in trouble, or going out of business these days, because they don't create good content regularly.  With the rise of the internet, social media platforms, and smartphones, people of all kinds now expect businesses and organizations of all kinds to put out good content. 

This has changed the business and social game.  In effect, if you own a business, creating content has been part of your job since about 2000-2005.  Before then it was helpful.  But since about 2005, you're leaving a great deal of money on the table, if you're not consistently creating good content, and a lot of it.  If you want to promote anything; your artwork, your business, yourself as an athlete, your favorite political candidate, your band, whatever, content creation is simply a necessary part of the game now.  If you don't get good at it, the person who takes your place, or puts you out of business eventually, will get good at it.  So that's why it's important in today's world. 

What is Content Creation and Why Should You Do It?

When it comes to describing what good "content" is for a business to put out, Patagonia, the company, is my go to.  I went to YouTube and searched "Patagonia," looking for videos by the company, not about the region in Chile, and this is one of the first videos I found.  There's the "patagonia" logo in the beginning.  That's it.  There are no Patagonia commercials in the middle of the video interrupting you.  There are no fashion videos at the end, promoting a certain jacket or shirt by the company.  People in the video may be wearing clothes Patagonia clothes, but I didn't notice.  There were no close-ups of logos that they sneaked in to the video on the down low.  This is a well made video about a group of surfers looking for huge waves they'd heard rumors of near Selkirk Island, off the coast of Chile.  This video is a gift to you from the company Patagonia.  No strings attached.  That's the mark of great content. 

When we talk about "creating content" for today's media platforms, "content" is simple.  It's written words (text), spoken words or music (audio), photographs, or video.  To create content, you make something with text, audio, photo(s) or video, and you put it on some platform where people can experience it.  That's it.  

You personally, or your business, makes some kind of content, and you put it out on a blog, a website, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Instagram, a podcast, Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat, Linked In, TikTok, Medium, Reddit, or one of the other platforms out there for content.  Then you let people experience it.  That's content creation.  These platforms, by and large, are available for free.  Millions, in a some cases, billions, of people check out these platforms.  With today's internet and technology, you can put content that has the potential to be experienced by a huge number of people.  In most cases, you make this content available for free.  You give a gift of some cool photo, thought provoking piece of writing, funny photo, interesting audio bit, or cool video. 

Why?  Why would you "waste" time and money to create pieces of content and give them away for free?  Because people like gifts.  That's it.  You give people gifts of content, and you hope a bunch of them will come to believe in you or your business.  People begin to have a favorable opinion of you or your business, you "build brand."  When people need a product or service you supply, whatever that product or service is, you want your business to be the first one they think of.  People who have enjoyed your content then become customers.  If you continue to do a good job as a business and a content creator, people have a tendency to be fans, and customers, for a long time.  That's why you create content.