Gary Vaynerchuk

Social media strategist and wine expert

Gary Vaynerchuk is a self-taught wine expert who has been highly successful due to his social media strategy and his novel take on wine review video blogs. He has authored three successful books and co-founded a social media brand consulting agency.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a 35 year old self-trained wine and social media expert who has revolutionized the wine industry. Vaynerchuk is the Director of Operations of the Wine Library, his parents’ 3-story, New Jersey-based wine store. His webcasts attract over 90,000 viewers each day and his email queue typically holds 1,000 messages from die-hard fans, self-named "Vayniacs". Vaynerchuk’s cult-like following is the result of his unconventional, often irreverent commentary on wine, combined with his business acumen and foresight to use social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to reach an untapped audience. Recently, Vaynerchuk’s podcast became the most downloaded show on iTunes in the Food category, beating out venerable names in the industry including Martha Stewart and Jamie Oliver.

Known as the "King of Social Media," Vaynerchuk is one of the first Facebook users that maxed-out his friend limit, with over 17,000 requests pending. He also has close to a million followers on Twitter and was included in BusinessWeek’s list of the top 20 people every entrepreneur should follow. He has been the keynote speaker at notable events such as the 2009 South by Southwest Interactive conference and the New Media and Web 2.0 expos. Vaynerchuk is regularly asked to consult on social media for some of the world’s largest and most recognizable companies like Google and Domino’s. As a result of his social media expertise, Vaynerchuk recently landed a 10-book deal with HarperStudio. The first title, Crush It! Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion launched in October 2009. The book maps out Vaynerchuk’s road rules for how to "Crush It" in today’s business market by following your passion and building your own personal brand.

Speech Topics:

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World: From figuring out how to effectively communicate on modern platforms - through a picture, through a SnapChat, or through an animated GIF on Tumblr, Gary’s latest insights and information promises to become tomorrow’s standards.

The Thank You Economy: In his session, Gary Vaynerchuk teaches entrepreneurs how to take advantage of the current business environment, while also preparing them to succeed as it changes and evolves into what he’s termed "The Thank You Economy." With the rise of the Internet and the power of the common consumer, businesses must look backwards and scale the caring their grandparents’ businesses exhibited towards their customers, or watch the competition pass them by. Today, individuals and brands that out-care and out-love their competition - those emphasizing quality, value, responsiveness, and attention to detail, among other essentials - see the biggest returns.

CRUSH IT! Cash in on Your Passion: Everything has changed. The social media revolution has irreversibly changed the way we live our lives and conduct our business. There are billions of dollars in advertising moving online, waiting to be claimed by whoever can build the best content and communities. Despite this change, most people keep working at jobs that don’t make them happy and businesses continue to ignore the major marketing and public relations benefits that can be found online.

Why Smart People Dismiss Social Media, and Why They Shouldn't