In the meantime, when this book comes out I’ll be storytelling all over the place, throwing jabs and right hooks at every opportunity. Maybe I’ll put out a nine-second video on Facebook, then follow up with a short tweet accompanied by a link to Amazon. At the same time, you might find a picture of the jacket on Instagram, and then an animated GIF of the same picture doing wheelies on Tumblr. I’ll have to figure it out. No matter what, though, I’ll always be telling the same story—about social media, about business, and about how they really are now one and the same.
ROUND 12:
KNOCKOUT
Just days before I was supposed to turn in the drop-dead, final version of the manuscript for this book to my editor, Instagram launched a fifteen-second video product that competes directly with Vine. I was in Cannes, and as soon as I could, I went back to my hotel room and spent four hours looking at every Instagram video I could find. And since then, my team at VaynerMedia and I, and all of the most progressive marketers in the world, have been scrambling to figure out the best way to storytell in fifteen seconds of video on a platform built for pictures. I can’t think of a more fitting illustration of what kind of world we live in now.
Forget Mad Men, and fuck Don Draper. He lived in an easy world where nothing changed for thirty years, where you could spend your whole career working to figure out how the print and television markets worked. This world, the one you and I live in, evolves every second, every day. The skill sets it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, a successful marketer, or a relevant celebrity today is a different skill set than you needed ten years ago, even though that was the skill set that mattered for decades.
I have bad news: Marketing is hard, and it keeps getting harder. But there’s no time to mourn the past or to feel sorry for ourselves, and there’s no point in self-pity anyway. It is our job as modern-day storytellers to adjust to the realities of the marketplace, because it sure as hell isn’t going to slow down for us.
Video for Instagram is just the most recent evolution. Soon Google Glass will launch and we’ll have to figure out how to natively storytell on a screen hovering at the top of our customers’ right or left eye. And as we go, we will have to continually reevaluate just how many times we should bring value through apps and videos and glasses before we can ask our consumers to do something for us. We have to remember to give, give, give before we ask. That will always be the real challenge. That, and moving fast enough to keep up.
The upside of moving quickly onto new platforms has been proved time and time again. The people and brands that overindex on Instagram and Pinterest are not necessarily the same ones who saw popularity on Facebook or Twitter—they just got to the new platforms first and figured them out sooner than anyone else. They’re the ones that got out there and started testing, learning, and watching others. They went all in.
I hope you will, too. I hope you’ll fight for your place in the social media ring with the same ferocity and conviction as Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier during the Thrilla in Manila. If you don’t know it, it’s been described as one of the greatest boxing matches in history. Ali was officially declared the winner, but it’s been said that both contenders fought so hard and so well that no one actually lost that day.
I like winning; I hope you do too!
NOTES
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.
Round 1
1 there are nearly 325 million mobile subscriptions: Colin Knudson, “Smartphones, Tablets, and the Mobile Revolution,” Mobile Marketer, January 29, 2013, http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/14667.html.
2 almost half are networking on social media: “Americans Get Social on Their Phones,” emarketer.com, August 8, 2012, http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Americans-Social-on-Their-Phones/1009247.
2 71 percent of people: Shayndi Raice, “Days of Wild User Growth Appear Over at Facebook,” Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303296604577454970244896342.html.
2 almost half of all social network users: Andrew Eisner, “Is Social Media a New Addiction?” Retrevo Blog, March 15, 2010, http://www.retrevo.com/content/node/1324.
2 Boomers, who control 70 percent: Jack Loechner, “Booming Boomers,” MediaPost.com, August 21, 2012, http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/181095/booming-boomers.html#axzz2XtXe5SNi.
2 Moms, the buyers and budget analysts: Melissa DeCesare, “Moms and Media 2012: The Connected Mom,” Edison Research, May 8, 2012, http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2012/05/moms-and-media-2012-the-connected-mom.php.
4 It took thirty-eight years before 50 million people gained access to radios: United Nations Cyber Schoolbus, n.d., http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/technology/tech.pdf. Years it took the telephone to reach 50 million users: International Telecommunication Union, “Challenges for the Network: Internet for Development,” Executive Summary, October 1999, http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-d/indicato/59187.pdf. Years it took television to reach 50 million users: United Nations Cyber Schoolbus, n.d., http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/technology/tech.pdf. Years it took Internet to reach 50 million users: Ibid. Years it took Facebook to reach 50 million users: newsroom.facebook.com. Years it took Instagram to reach 50 million users: Chris Taylor, “Instagram Passes 50 Million Users, Adds 5 Million a Week,” Mashable.com, April 30, 2012. http://mashable.com/2012/04/30/instagram-50-million-users.
6 you’re investing only 1 percent of your ad budget: Kathryn Koegel, “Branding and Interactive Spending: Are We There Yet?,” Advertising Age, October 29, 2012, http://adage.com/article/digital/branding-interactive-spending/238004/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage.
Round 3
29 The platform was called: Sid Yadav, “Facebook, The Complete Biography,” Mashable.com, August 25, 2006, http://mashable.com/2006/08/25/facebook-profile.
29 In a 2006 survey of: Mike Snider, “iPods Knock Over Beer Mugs,” USAToday.com, June 7, 2006, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-06-07-ipod-tops-beer_x.htm.
29 The “Like” button: Matt Lynley, “28 Crazy Facts You Didn’t Know About Facebook,” BusinessInsider.com, May 17, 2012, http://www.businessinsider.com/28-crazy-facts-you-didnt-know-about-facebook-2012-5?op=1.
29 Mark Zuckerberg initially rejected: Ibid.
29 There were more than a billion: Facebook Newsroom, Facebook.com, http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts.
29 There were 680 million: Ibid.
29 One out of every five: Matt Tatham, “15 Stats About Facebook,” Experian.com, May 16, 2012, http://www.experian.com/blogs/marketing-forward/2012/05/16/15-stats-about-facebook.
Round 4
83 As of December 2012: Tom Pick, “102 Compelling Social Media and Online Marketing Stats and Facts for 2012 (and 2013),” Business2Community, January 2, 2013, http://www.business2community.com/social-media/102-compelling-social-media-and-online-marketing-stats-and-facts-for-2012-and-2013-0367234.
83 The Twitter concept evolved: Eli Langer, “7 Things You Didn’t Know About Twitter,” BusinessInsider.com, March 17, 2013, http://www.businessinsider.com/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-twitter-2013-3.
83 The company’s logo: Ibid.
83 JetBlue was one of the first: Andrew Moore, “A Conversation with Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey,” Daily Anchor, n.d., http://www.thedailyanchor.com/2009/02/12/a-conversation-with-twitter-co-founder-jack-dorsey.
83 Users post 750: Danny Brown, “52 Cool Facts and Stats About Social Media (2012 Edition),” Ragan’s PR Daily, June 8, 2012, http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/52_cool_facts_and_stats_about_social_media_2012_ed_11846.aspx#.
Round 5
117 48.7 million users: Craig Smith, “(June 2013) How Many People Use the Top Social Media, Apps, and Services?,” Digital Marketing Ramblings, June 23, 2013, http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-u
se-the-top-social-media.
117 From 2011 to 2012, Pinterest: Greg Finn, “Pinning the Competition: Pinterest’s Four-Digit Growth is Tops in 2012,” Marketing Land, December 4, 2012. http://marketingland.com/pinning-the-competition-pinterests-four-digit-growth-is-tops-of-2012-27769.
117 68%: “Pinning = Winning: The Infographic,” Modea, February 25, 2012, http://www.modea.com/blog/pinterest-infographic.
117 The most repinned pin: Craig Smith, “Jabra Creates Contest to Find the Most Pinteresting Mom,” Pinterest Insider, May 8, 2013, http://www.pinterestinsider.com.
117 the female demographic that outnumbers: Craig Kanalley, “Pinterest May Be Bigger Than You Think, Competing to Be the 2nd Most Popular Social Network,” Huffington Post, February 15, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-kanalley/pinterest-competing-twitter_b_2697791.html.
118 Pinterest was invented: Alyson Shontell, “Meet Ben Silberman, the Brilliant Young Co-Founder of Pinterest,” Business Insider, May 13, 2012, http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest–2012–3.
118 the approximately 48 million people: Sarah McBride, “Startup Pinterest Wins New Funding, $2.5 Billion Valuation,” Reuters, February 20, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/21/net-us-funding-pinterest-idUSBRE91K01R20130221.
118 That represents 16 percent: Maeve Duggan and Joanna Brenner, “The Demographics of Social Media Users, 2012,” Pew Internet, February 14, 2013, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-media-users/The-State-of-Social-Media-Users/Overview.aspx.
118 Now that Pinterest has revised: Pinterest, http://about.pinterest.com/copyright.
119 A survey by Steelhouse: “Pinterest Users Nearly Twice as Likely to Purchase than Facebook Users, Steelhouse Survey Shows,” Steelhouse press release, Steelhouse.com, May 30, 2012, http://www.steelhouse.com/press-center/pinterest-users-nearly-twice-as-likely-to-purchase-than-facebook-users-steelhouse-survey-shows.
119 Pinterest produces four times: “Advertising on Pinterest: A How-To Guide,” Prestige Marketing, May 4, 2013, http://prestigemarketing.ca/blog/advertising-on-pinterest-a-how-to-guide-infographic.
119 Some small businesses: James Martin, “12 Things You Should Know About Pinterest,” Life Reimagined for Work, January 23, 2013, http://workreimagined.aarp.org/2013/01/12-things-you-should-know-about-pinterest/#.UVH8nK3ERRM.email.
119 Between 2011 and 2012: Jeffrey Zwelling, “Pinterest Drives More Revenue per Click than Facebook,” Venture Beat, April 9, 2012, http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/09/pinterest-drives-more-revenue-per-click-than-twitter-or-facebook.
120 doing so increases the number of likes: Mark Hayes, “How Pinterest Drives Ecommerce Sales,” Shopify, May 2012, http://www.shopify.com/blog/6058268-how-pinterest-drives-ecommerce-sales#axzz2SEv3Ya59.
Round 6
135 As of December 2012: Greg Finn, “Pinning the Competition: Pinterest’s Four-Digit Growth Is Tops of 2012,” Marketing Land, December 12, 2012, http://marketingland.com/pinning-the-competition-pinterests-four-digit-growth-is-tops-of-2012-27769; http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/20/4448904/instagram-now-has-130-million-active-monthly-users.
135 40 million photos: Ibid.
135 It took Flickr two years: Mark Ashley-Wilson, “Some Fun Facts About Instagram #Infographic,” Adverblog.com, August 18, 2011, http://www.adverblog.com/2011/08/18/some-fun-facts-about-instagram-infographic.
135 Instagram photos generate: Ibid.
135 Instagram started out: Kevin Systrom, “Instagram: What Is the Genesis of Instagram?,” Quora.com, October 8, 2010, http://www.quora.com/Instagram/What-is-the-genesis-of-Instagram.
136 100 million monthly active users: Kevin Systrom, “Photoset,” Instagram, February 2013, http://blog.instagram.com/post/44078783561/100-million.
136 With one new user: Katy Daniells, “Infographic: Instagram Statistics 2012,” DigitalBuzz.com, May 13, 2012, http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-instagram-stats.
Round 7
151 As of June 2013, 132 million: Tumblr Press Information, http://www.tumblr.com/press.
Hey, kudos on being an explorer and for finding this little Easter egg. Feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions or thoughts about the book! Include the words Easter egg in your subject line so I know who you are!
151 60 million new posts: Tumblr Press Information, http://www.tumblr.com/press.
151 The Tumblr blog: David Karp, “Don’t Laugh at Us,” Tumblr.com, May 8, 2008, http://staff.tumblr.com/post/28221734/dont-laugh-at-us.
151 For every new feature: Liz Welch, “David Karp, the Nonconformist Who Built Tumblr,” Inc.com, June 2011, http://www.inc.com/magazine/201106/the-way-i-work-david-karp-of-tumblr_pagen_2.html.
151 Ranks number one in average: Diana Cook, “Facebook’s 900 million? But What About Engagement?” TheNextWeb.com, May 17, 2012, http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/05/17/sure-Facebook-has-900-million-users-but-its-engagement-is-smoked-by-these-other-sites/?Fromat=all.
151 Bought for $1.1 billion: Chris Isidore, “Yahoo Buys Tumblr in 1.1 billion deal,” CNN Money.com, May 20, 2013, http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/20/technology/yahoo-buys-tumblr/index.html.
152 He had tons of ideas: Tom Cheshire, “Tumbling on Success: How Tumblr’s David Karp Built a £500 Million Empire,” Wired.Co.UK, February 2, 2012, http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2012/03/features/tumbling-on-success?page=all.
152 Tumblr’s obstsalat: Ibid.
152 it debuted a newly streamlined dashboard: Sarah Perez, “With Today’s Update, Tumblr Starts to Look More like a Fully Featured Twitter than Blogging Platform,” TechCrunch.com, January 24, 2013, http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/24/with-todays-update-tumblr-starts-to-look-more-like-a-fully-featured-twitter-than-blogging-platform.
152 And in a Forbes interview: Jeff Bercovici, “Tumblr: David Karp’s $800 Million Art Project,” Forbes.com, January 2, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/01/02/tumblr-david-karps–800-million-art-project.
158 “If Leonardo da Vinci”: Hugh Hart, “Animated GIFS Paint Breaking Bad Characters in Day Glo Pixels,” Wired.com, April 12, 2012, http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/04/breaking-bad-gifs.
161 going directly to Fresh Air’s Tumblr blog: Mel Kramer, Fresh Air on Tumblr, April 10 2013, http://nprfreshair.tumblr.com/post/47647361814/i-was-sick-and-out-of-the-office-most-of-last-week.
Round 8
172 200 million members: Jacco Valkenburg, “Everything You Want to Know About LinkedIn,” Global Recruiting Roundtable, January 22, 2013, http://www.globalrecruitingroundtable.com/2013/01/22/linkedin-facts-figures–2013/?goback=.gde_52762_member_206908630#.UWcEfhnLInY.
172 Every second: Ibid.
172 More than 2.8 million: Ibid.
172 Executives from all 2012: LinkedIn Press Center, http://press.linkedin.com/About.
172 Students and recent college graduates: Montpellier PR, “25 Amazing LinkedIn Stats You Can’t Miss,” Montpellier Public Relations, January 17, 2013, http://montpellierpr.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/25-amazing-linkedin-stats-you-cant-miss.
174 As of June 2013, Vine gained: Jenna Wortham, “Vine, Twitter’s New Video Tool, Hits 13 Million Users,” New York Times, June 3, 2013, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/vine-twitters-new-video-tool-hits-13-million-users.
174 In the week following its launch: “Jordan Crook, “One Week In, Vine Could Be Twice as Big as Socialcam,” TechCrunch, January 31, 2013, http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/31/one-week-in-vine-could-be-twice-as-big-as-socialcam.
174 Five Vine videos are shared: Christopher Heine, “Twitter Vines Get Shared 4X More than Online Video: Researcher Says Nascent Tool Packs Branding Punch,” AdWeek, May 9, 2013, http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/twitter-vines-get-shared–4x-more-online-video–149340.
175 consumers share branded Vine videos: Ibid.
176 60 million images: Jenna Wortham, “A Growing App Lets You See It, Then You Don’t,” New York Times, February 8, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/technology/snapchat-a-growing-app-lets-you-see-it-then-you-do
nt.html?_r=0.
Round 9
178 He was partly motivated: Robert Seltzer, “Fortitude Made Douglas a Big Hit, a Change of Heart Led to Triumph in Tokyo,” Philadelphia Inquirer, February 15, 1990.
179 He also admitted to suffering: Author Unknown, “Douglas Weighs In at 246 vs. Holyfield,” Daily Record, October 25, 1990, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19901025&id=4HhUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e48DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6802,7359288.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Vaynerchuk is first and foremost a storytelling entrepreneur. He is also a New York Times bestselling author, and his digital consulting agency, VaynerMedia, works with Fortune 500 companies to develop digital and social media strategies and content. Businessweek selected him as one of the top twenty people every entrepreneur should follow, and CNN voted him one of the top twenty-five tech investors on Twitter. He lives in New York City, where he avidly roots for the New York Jets.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
ALSO BY GARY VAYNERCHUK
Crush It!
The Thank You Economy
CREDITS
Cover design and illustration courtesy of Michael Roma
Cover photographs: © Miflippo/iStockphoto (gloves); © Digieye/Shutterstock, © Irina_QQQ/Shuterstock, © César Vonc/Cgtextures.com (background textures)
COPYRIGHT
Products, pictures, trademarks, and trademarked names are used throughout this book to describe various proprietary products that are owned by third parties. No endorsement of the information contained in this book is given by the owners of such products and trademarks, and no endorsement is implied by the inclusion of product, pictures, or trademarks in this book.
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook Page 17
