Who is Gary Vaynerchuk

Birth of an Internet Celebrity and Marketing Genius

Legend in the making Gary Vaynerchuk was born in the USSR in 1975 and came to the US in 1978. Before gaining internet fame as the host of Wine Library TV he was the co-owner and Director of Operations of a retail wine store in New Jersey called Wine Library. Wine Library TV is a daily video blog or webcast about wine. Gary presents a down to earth, but very enthusiastic style on his show, and it is no surprise that it has become as wildly popular as it is. Gary has also been busy on the talk show circuit; making stops at Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on Ellen.

Wine Library TV

Wine Library TV features wine appreciation, reviews, information and advice. It is filmed at the Wine Library store in Springfield NJ. The episodes take place either at Gary’s desk or on his couch and last around 15 minutes. Gary will taste a few wines and rate them out of 100. But you really have to watch an episode to understand how different Gary’s approach is to wine appreciation. His metaphors are not the type you would usually associate with the often pretentious practice of reviewing wine

Gary Vaynerchuk Video



Viognier Friday - Episode #462

Gary Vaynerchuk is not just about video when it comes to mixing up retail with the new social web. He also uses a social wine rating site as well as popular web 2.0 destinations like Facebook and Twitter. And of course keeping up with question sent via email. The whole package enables him to truly interact with his audience, fans and, lets face it customers, on a level never before seen

Embracing the Social Web

The wine industry can be very uptight, but Gary’s approach is the complete opposite and he has been whole heartedly embraced by today’s YouTube generation. Web video of this sort is gaining significant momentum as bloggers are beginning to embrace it more as they make their leap from text, to audio podcasts to video. Web 2.0 is the social web and as enterprising individuals like Gary Vaynerchuk move to take advantage of tools like embedded video it enables them to connect with their audience on a more personal level than a regular blog allows. Replying to comments is good, but watching the star of a show, personally respond to your questions is far better. And this is extremely powerful when it comes to building a brand and trust. Gary Vaynerchuk’s rise to a notable and influential wine critic exemplifies this.

A Lesson in Internet Marketing

The added dynamic however is that Gary’s site is about more than just providing a information to those wanting to learn more about wine. He is also selling wine on the very site. That is why Gary is looked upon with such admiration by today’s Internet Marketers who are building sites for the purpose of promoting or selling a specific product. Gary went a step beyond setting up a website and simply buying PPC traffic or trying to work some SEO voodoo. He embraced an up and coming technology and turned it into an extremely effective traffic driving mechanism. He has shown internet marketers how to think and behave differently, and with an audience of 80,000 a day he has been enormously successful.

The key to being successful in this manner, however, is that you can’t be faking it. Gary Vaynerchuk has succeeded because what he is presenting is the real deal. When you bring your audience/customers as close to your business as Gary has done, they will sniff out a phony in no time. Somebody claiming to be an authority on the best stretch mark cream needs to have a sincere passion to make women better off, if they expect to build the following that Gary has. But the thing is: if you have this passion, then the cost of entry is next to nothing and there is no reason why you can’t be successful. Remember Gary’s audience tunes in to see him as much as they tune in to learn about wine. That is what you need to be emulating.

Gary is acutely aware of what he has done; this isn’t happening randomly around him. He is successfully building a brand, something all internet marketers pursue. He recognizes the power of social media and he is intentionally bending that to achieve success in his pursuits. As a case study, there are countless lessons to be learned by those wishing to elevate their own online retail presence. I feel as his notoriety continues to become more widespread, we will see many attempt to emulate what he has done.

Gary Vaynerchuck has always had his eye on being famous. With his larger than life charisma, he possessed the ingredients to make his dream come true. He has a flair for conveying his thoughts and feelings about his passion and the video medium is a natural fit. I would not at all be surprised to see Gary one day make the leap to mainstream TV; perhaps he’ll get his own show on the Food Network. Like Emeril, Gary is building his repatoir of catch phrases.

Gary Vaynerchuk Book

As wildly popular as Gary Vaynerchuk and Wine Library TV are, he has really just beginning to cross over from Web personality to mainstream media. The future looks very bright for this enterprising individual and the possibilities of where he can go from here are truly endless. With a new book coming out called “Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines” and another appearance on Conan O’Brien you can be sure that you will be hearing (and seeing!) a lot more from him.

Gary Vaynerchuk Conan

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