The Overlooked Opportunity in Organic Social Media for Founders

The Overlooked Opportunity in Organic Social Media for Founders

Gary Vaynerchuk argues that organic social media is the biggest business opportunity most founders ignore. He emphasizes that building a brand through consistent content creation across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts is essential for growth. He advises allocating 20% of budget to organic production and shares his own journey from Wine Library TV to demonstrate that anyone can start with no budget.

The Biggest Business Opportunity Most Founders Ignore. | Transcript:

be of the audacity that you're trying to build something and you're going to tell me that you do not have time to create content to build brand and to grow your business. I don't even know what you're doing. What could you possibly be doing that's more important than letting the world know why they should buy your thing? What would you suggest for brands that are looking to stand out in their brand building? Where should they start? Social. I'm just so tired of this conversation. Organic social is disproportionately the opportunity for everyone in this room and is clearly for anyone who's been paying attention been the model that the brands that many of you aspire

to be have executed over the last 5 years to go from zero to 50 or 100 or 250 million in revenue. Understanding that social media doesn't exist anymore and that we're now in interest media where content is finding its audience. Not all of us are getting people that we follow content. All of you know this. When you woke up this morning, your feeds were littered with the things you're currently into. Not your cousin or somebody you went to high school with, you know, that you follow. This interest media thing has been a massive opportunity for the room in here that's trying to go from zero to the next level. So more financial and

emotional and strategic investment to posting organically across seven platforms, not just Instagram and Tik Tok. YouTube Shorts has never been more important to this room because the content you put out on YouTube Shorts is feeding the Gemini LLM, which is going to allow your product to show up when people type in, I need a healthy, you know, beef jerky or I want a healthy, you know, think LinkedIn for B2B content. um Snapchat spotlight. If you're trying to reach 15 to 35, nobody's marketing in there because Snapchat's doing a terrible job promoting that they have a Tik Tok and Instagram. Even the most savvy in this room are not attacking there. The written word Substack Beehive X long form LinkedIn has never been more

opportunistic, especially for people here that do go deep into their product and resourcing and ingredients. So I believe that every single company represented here should spend 20% of their entire marketing budget just on organic social production. And at the size and scale that a lot of brands are here under 100 million I could argue a lot more. I know that a lot of brands were built in the last generation of social which was AB testing, meta, rorowaz, CAC, LTV, but the biggest opportunity to build massive brand is to go organic social. And when something when you normally get 800 views, when something gets 57,000 views, 570,000 views, 5.7 million views, knowing what to do with that creative, sending it

down, this is why I call it the midfunnel, sending it down to the lower funnel and making that a performance ad, sending it up if you've got the budgets to CTV or making it the campaign or even the commercial. Mary Roots Organics, Poppy, Liquid Death, many others uh in this room represented and at this incredible event are playing with versions of this. I would just say more. My ambition for my personal brand GaryVee is that I will be posting organically on nine platforms, 57 different handles. So like GaryVee Sports or Uncle Ve for like the kids on Tik Tok orgary at Garage Sales for that content. nine platforms, 55 handles or

more, and posting over 400 pieces of organic content a day. So, it sounds overwhelming to someone who is not the greatest on social media. So, to scale it back just a little bit, let's just say you're starting today. Budget is an issue. Time is an issue. What is your simplest advice for someone who's looking to become the next Gary Vee? Very few want to be Gary Vee in this room, but a lot of people want to sell their brand to, you know, a food holding company or go coast to coast and build something meaningful. Go IPO or have a nice side business. It really doesn't matter what your ambition is in what I assume most of you are doing at this event. I would tell you that the

first thing you have to do strategically is understand that every one of your companies are a media company that happens to be selling a product. That's number one. And when that becomes the case, you know, people always like, "Oh, easy for you. Like you have a full team." I'm like, "Fuck you. I made my own content for eight and a half years before I hired my first person." The receipts are out there. February 21st, 2006. Wine Library TV. No lighting, no mic. I look like I'm a hostage in Afghanistan and I'm just reviewing wine from the bottom of my little heart in a world that nobody was watching. Nobody was on YouTube. You guys are so fortunate. The world's attention is on that phone and

you can post for free. Two, I don't want to hear time. Because if you have the audacity that you're trying to build something and you're going to tell me that you do not have time to create content, to build brand, and to grow your business, I don't even know what you're doing. What could you possibly be doing that's more important than letting the world know why they should buy your thing? Thank you, everyone.

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