note: This email exchange between myself and Gary happened in April 2009. It is so illustrative of great customer service that it deserves mention again.
I am a daily wine drinker, and now a budding Social Media dork. This combustible mix has me watching Gary Vaynerchuk over at Wine Library TV as often as I can. He’s a social media and marketing expert, and he’s clearly drinking much better wine than I ever do! I have learned quite a bit from him as I try to build my 5-month-old tee biz, Rizzo Tees, on basically a $0 marketing budget.
I’ve been watching his Wine Library videos for a few months, and I’ve posted comments when I have something to say. Sadly, none of my posts were making it onto the page. At first, I just thought Gary and his crew were inundated with comments and didn’t get to mine (I post rather late in the game, after the video has been up for awhile – I’d come back a day later, and still no comment from me.). Then I started wondering if I was just saying stupid shit. Finally, I wondered if I was being inappropriately commercial by posting as “Rizzo Tees.”
I have to admit (don’t laugh) – I was getting a little discouraged. For both oenophilic and selfish reasons, I wanted my comments to appear on the site! Like anyone taking the time to post on a blog, you want to be part of the conversation.
I even tweeted about it a few times, until the other day, someone tweeted back and told me to just write to Gary and ask him about the issue. I thought, “Geez, don’t bother the guy… he gets 1,500+ emails a day.” He says he reads them all, and I believe him – I had once emailed him some advice on a hotel chain to target for his wine distribution business, and he did write back a day or two later.
Finally, today, I did write to him about the blog comment issue, and the results were rather stunning.
Gary,
I’ve been watching your daily videos on WineLibrary TV for a few months now, and I’ve been enjoying them greatly. I even enjoyed Jake & Amir – I didn’t think you deserved the hate.
Anyway, I’ve tried to join the conversation on there, but my comments never get posted. I didn’t know if I was caught up in a spam filter, if the fact that I post as “Rizzo Tees” is inappropriately commercial, or if I was doing something else wrong.
I am a daily wine drinker, so your site has particular interest to me. And, selfishly, I’d love to see my posts on your site. Any insight on how to get my posts to show up on WineLibrary TV?
Thanks,
Founder, Rizzo Tees
12:41PM – FOUR minutes later – Gary writes me back, copies his tech Mott
they dont, MOTT? pls do homework on THIS ASAP!
CHRIS WTF! I have no idea, we are both checking now!
Gary Vaynerchuk
12:55PM – Mott writes to me
Chris,
Your posts were getting caught in the spam filter, probably because of the url in your name. Anyway I moderated them through and you should be good to go now. If it happens again, let me know.
Thank you Gary for your prompt attention to this! And I ask all of you, especially you bloggers, or anyone trying to run a business:
Geeze, dude's a giant!! Can mere mortals stand in the face of that?
Geeze, dude's a giant!! Can mere mortals stand in the face of that?
Jen, I was shocked when he got back to me so quickly. It's funny, because he doesn't usually say anything to me on Twitter – he spends the majority of his Twitter time talking to his critics, and to people he's never talked to before – with the limited amount of time he has, I gather that this is what he's chosen to do.Nevertheless, I peed my pants when he took care of this so quickly.
Jen, I was shocked when he got back to me so quickly. It's funny, because he doesn't usually say anything to me on Twitter – he spends the majority of his Twitter time talking to his critics, and to people he's never talked to before – with the limited amount of time he has, I gather that this is what he's chosen to do.
Nevertheless, I peed my pants when he took care of this so quickly.
Here's the rub on social media as a career and cultural trend: The line between personal and professional isn't just blurred… it's gone. Finito. Buh-bye. Your competitive advantage in terms of service is part personality but also your time and to ability respond… to everything. Work/life balance becomes a relationship and personal issue when your career is dependent on your ability to stay on Twitter and email 24/7. We've got access to a BIG chunk of the world's information at the drop of a hat. The more we get used to that the more we expect immediate gratification from people as well. What people don't take into account is the strains this puts on the people that stay connected like Gary, 24/7. It's something we all strive for in the industry to a certain extent… but it's also something people struggle with to the point of therapy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining… but it's a very interesting dynamic I'd love to see talked about more.
Here's the rub on social media as a career and cultural trend: The line between personal and professional isn't just blurred… it's gone. Finito. Buh-bye. Your competitive advantage in terms of service is part personality but also your time and to ability respond… to everything. Work/life balance becomes a relationship and personal issue when your career is dependent on your ability to stay on Twitter and email 24/7.
We've got access to a BIG chunk of the world's information at the drop of a hat. The more we get used to that the more we expect immediate gratification from people as well. What people don't take into account is the strains this puts on the people that stay connected like Gary, 24/7. It's something we all strive for in the industry to a certain extent… but it's also something people struggle with to the point of therapy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining… but it's a very interesting dynamic I'd love to see talked about more.
Brad, thanks for visiting! What I struggle with….. is there a way to:1. Limit the number of communication tools that YOU promise people that you'll communicate on. “I answer all emails,” for instance – people might then expect you to answer Facebook messages, Facebook wall posts, Twitter “@” replies, Twitter DM's, etc. And…2. Related to #1, is there a way to manage expectations and overtly provide people a list of the platforms that you will NOT be responding on. Like on Gary's twitter page – check his background. http://www.twitter.com/garyvee – it says “I never check DM's.” As more platforms are added to the Social Mediasphere (Google Buzz), it becomes next to impossible to stay completely interactive and responsive.
Brad, thanks for visiting! What I struggle with….. is there a way to:
1. Limit the number of communication tools that YOU promise people that you'll communicate on. “I answer all emails,” for instance – people might then expect you to answer Facebook messages, Facebook wall posts, Twitter “@” replies, Twitter DM's, etc. And…
2. Related to #1, is there a way to manage expectations and overtly provide people a list of the platforms that you will NOT be responding on. Like on Gary's twitter page – check his background. http://www.twitter.com/garyvee – it says “I never check DM's.” As more platforms are added to the Social Mediasphere (Google Buzz), it becomes next to impossible to stay completely interactive and responsive.