Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk

Thank You.

It’s a simple message, rather, culture that we must instill in our businesses, or they will fail.

At least this is what Gary Vaynerchuk passionately stated during a webinar that myself and Sean Malarkey hosted.

You know what?

Gary is right.

I’ve known Gary for a while and have heard him speak passionately about the Jets, business, family, social media, mobile marketing,  getting beaten by me in basketball and thumb wars, and many other topics (he is a very passionate guy).

This presentation seemed to be a little bit different than all of my other encounters.

Although he still shared the same passion and excitement, (feel free to count for f-bombs in the video) Gary shared a fresh side of his passion I hadn’t fully seen before.

We had over 1,500 people sign up for this webinar with well over 700 who attended live… and the feedback was amazing!

I don’t think I’ve seen that many tweets zing by in one hour from a previous webinar, and I received hundreds of emails, tweets, and other social media messages with people thanking me and Sean for bringing Gary on.

A number of people were unable to get on due to time zone, and other work related conflicts, so I decided to post the replay of the webinar below.

I hope you take the time to watch this entire video as Gary has some great perspectives on the way business MUST be done now and in the future… or it will fail.

If you haven’t already picked up a copy of Gary’s new book, go ahead and grab it at www.thankyoueconomybook.com and send him a tweet @garyvee letting him know you got it from this webinar.

If you want to see what people were saying from the webinar just search “#TYEbook” on Twitter and you can find the updates there.  Hope you enjoy this video and please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The perceived value of your brand and your database are your most valuable assets.

At least this seems to be the case for most entrepreneurs and business professionals I know.

Generating success on LinkedIn has everything to do with enhancing your personal brand and expanding your database. In fact, Gary Vaynerchuck talks about the importance of building your brand equity within the social media landscape during this video below (even if you have already seen this, it’s always fun to revisit)

Powerful LinkedIn Tips

Without an identity on LinkedIn, your personal brand will suffer tremendously.

LinkedIn is also the only major social networking site where you can build a large database of highly targeted leads and access that database at any time (by exporting your connections emails).

Since LinkedIn is without a doubt the # 1 business social networking site, it’s important you put the energy and effort into getting the most out of your LinkedIn marketing.  Here are my top 10 LinkedIn tips to achieve this.

1.  Control Your Brand

This is the most important aspect for me, and why I included the video with Gary.   The best way to take control of your personal brand on LinkedIn is to fill out your entire profile and write concise, compelling, value driven copy.

For most, when you search for your name on Google, your LinkedIn profile is one of the top five results that show up. Control what others view about you by completing your profile 100%, and making it stand out from the rest.

2.  Join Groups In Your Niche

There are thousands of groups on LinkedIn.  Connect with the ones that fit your interest or industry.  Each group has a job board, a discussion area and forum, and a place to ask questions.  Get active in groups as it’s a powerful way to interact and find like minded professionals.

3.  Connect With Everyone

This is something I debate with people often.   I believe this is a limiting mindset when you don’t allow others to introduce themselves by reaching out to connect with you.  How do you expect others to want to hire you or do business with you if you shun them away?  Connecting with everyone on LinkedIn not only opens up new possibilities and opportunities, it also increases and expands your 2nd and 3rd degree connections, allowing for more people to find you, contact you and work with you.  Simple as that. 

4.  Ask Compelling Questions

That’s right.   Actually get on LinkedIn and ask a few questions every now and then… is that so hard?   I asked two questions that took me five minutes of my time and received over 50 helpful answers in return.   Just make sure you ask the right questions and tag it in the places where your target audience is searching.

5.  Become An Expert

A great way to share your expertise is to answer questions.  One of my connections told me he spends 15 minutes a day, 3 days per week answering questions related to his topic.  He says in brings in around 3-5 new clients each month after he follows up with each person (this results in $3,000-$5,000 more each month for him).  If leads are your concern, then answering questions could quite possible be your answer.

6.  Host Your Own Event

You would not believe the energy and enthusiasm created by hosting a live LinkedIn networking event.  I’ve hosted over 20 live events and promoted them all through the LinkedIn events section.  One event had over 1,000 RSVP’s and the average event had around 350 paying attendees.  It allows you to connect with those online connections… offline, and make powerful face to face relationships.  Learn about the benefits of hosting your own LinkedIn event here.

7.  Say Thank You

In the real world, people love it when you say “Thank you”.   It seems to solve a lot of problems in general.  Be sure to say those two important words every time someone does anything for you, such as makes a recommendation, makes an introduction, or answers your questions.  Saying “Thank You” is another thing Gary recommends, in fact it is the entire topic of his new book The Thank You Economy.

8.  Become Transparent

It seems as though the only way to be successful online these days is to become completely transparent. The more you try to hide something, or stay generic, people will move on to the next thing.  Seth Godin says that being remarkable is nothing more than having others remark about you. Take this advice into account as you go along your LinkedIn ways.

9.  Create a LinkedIn Group

I can’t say enough about LinkedIn groups and what they have done for my business.  They give you more credibility, help you get more leads, and more sales.  Here are my top 10 reasons to start a LinkedIn group and other thoughts on how to create a profitable business from your LinkedIn group.

10.  Make Recommendations

Chris Brogan has a great post on LinkedIn recommendation tips, and I suggest you check it out before you give any.  Of course it looks good to have a lot of recommendations on your profile (Chris has almost 150 of them here) but I always recommend giving them first before you ask for any.  Most likely if you give a great recommendation, that person would be happy to return the favor.

(Bonus Tip)  Use LinkedIn Applications

LinkedIn does a great job of adding more and more advanced applications to their tool belt.  It’s a great way to enhance your profile and stick out from the rest.  You can add a video to your profile, showcase your blog or your graphic design work, include your presentations, put up a picture of your book from Amazon, run a poll for your connections, and more.

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I hope you learned something new with these LinkedIn tips and you use them in your own profile.  If you want to learn about how to get more from LinkedIn to increase leads or sales, then make sure to sign up at www.linkedinfluence.com.

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, feel free to share this article on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and also sign up to be notified each time I come out with another post like this one.  Go ahead an subscribe via email here (it’s free!)

image by Nan Palmero

It’s a fact that Gary Vaynerchuk is completely dominating almost everything he is involved with.  He is a NY Times Best Selling Author, runs a killer media agency with cool and collected brother A.J., has a unique wine show, and everything he is passionate about seems to crush the competition (except for his NY Jets, lol).

However, Gary made some comments a while back saying he was going to start taking LinkedIn to the next level this year, and in my opinion he hasn’t done it yet.

I know Gary is one of the busiest people on the planet right now so I understand this may not be a top priority.  I do believe Gary could really start taking all of his projects and businesses to the next level if he implements 13 of the things I noticed wrong with his LinkedIn profile.

This video was created (out of pure love) specifically to show Gary what he can do to improve his profile and start helping that playoff beard fulfill its real purpose, but I want the rest of you to pay close attention to some of the slight changes you could be making as well.   These changes I demonstrate may just give you that extra opportunity you need to take things to the next level this year.

I realized I left one BIG point out of this video, and that was using the events section on LinkedIn.  I know Gary has a number of book signings, speaking gigs, and wine events around the country and he has not used the events section to its fullest potential.

I recently helped promote an event he had during his book signing in St. Louis.  I sent out a few messages and was able to get over 400 people to RSVP on LinkedIn, and there was a great turnout during the event (see 413 RSVP numbers in image).

I don’t think he was able to get that many to ever RSVP for an event on Facebook, and we all know Twitter doesn’t have an option for events.  Using the events section on LinkedIn is the 13th point of this post.  Think LinkedIn isn’t worth paying attention to? Look at the numbers and think again.

Do you see anything else Gary should be changing or implementing on LinkedIn?  Better yet, were there things I mentioned that you should be doing to your LinkedIn profile that you didn’t think about before?  If so, please let me know what they are in the comments below and start crushing it on LinkedIn.