When social media moguls get it wrong
June 15th, 2009 by Jon Clements
Gary Vaynerchuck is a name well known to those immersing themselves in social media - and is one which carries some weight, as the success of his online Wine Library TV is testament to.
But he’s had to swallow a substantial slice of humble pie in recent days and clean up the mess left by his representative, who decided to pitch countless bloggers to support a “promotional bonanza” around the launch of Vaynerchuck’s first book.
In response, blogger, John Cass, wrote on his PR Communications blog that apart from being a “form pitch letter” (i.e., a mass, unpersonalised pitch, a.k.a. chucking mud at the wall and hoping something sticks), the approach failed at a more fundamental level: the pitch was wrong for the medium and simply reading Cass’s blog would’ve revealed that. It’s a tactic that’s sent journalists’ blood boiling for eons and does precisely the same with bloggers today.
And Cass emphasises that the promise of getting extra online “traffic” by participating in the book launch is meaningless to him: “I’d much rather have people who want to engage in a dialogue with me, where that dialogue results in me learning something I can use as material for my blog, ideas for my work, or building relationships that convert into into customers.”
To his credit, Vaynerchuck is obviously listening and pitched in on the comments section to answer Cass and other commentators and confess he’d ”messed up”. So, in the end, he used the medium in the way it should be used - to engage in dialogue.
It goes to show: in communications - and especially social media - you can never afford to stop learning.
June 15th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
[…] When social media moguls get it wrong […]
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:26 am
Hi Jon, Thanks for commenting on the post, I agree with your sentiment about constant learning. Every new tools gives us an opportunity to explore how to conduct dialogue and build community. Twitter for example, has been a tool that have left many naysayers wondering why the noise is important. Yet for me, the chance to see the conversation in between blog posts has given me new insight into old friends and driven opportunities for new connections. That’s what’s exciting about social media, what will be next?
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:49 am
John
I’m with you on the old friend/new connections front.
What used to be the preserve of spending endless time at networking events can now be done from the desktop. Of course, it’s great to get face to face, put a face to a name, etc, but as tools such as Twitter have shown, it’s not a prerequisite.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Perhaps the new rule is meet face to face once you’ve connected online. However, I can think of a great number of examples of people connecting at industry events. Still a great way to communicate.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:29 am
True. I’m at two face-to-face events next week. One of them - the Manchester Social Media Cafe - very much sees the value of getting together in person and sharing ideas, despite the fact that we’re all social media devotees.