Love child of MC Hammer and Gary Vaynerchuk
My blog is about “where personal and professional branding meet” because whenever I talk with someone about social media, inevitably the conversation turns to the topic of where the line between a personal brand ends and a professional brand begins. Clearly, some people are more inclined to participate actively in social media than others, and according to the recent study by San Diego State University those people go by the name of… ahem, eh, um, narcissists. (Damn, I knew there was a clinical term to explain my condition!)
At the Gravity Summit at the Harvard Faculty Club I had the chance to see in the flesh some of the so-called “social media rock stars” for whom there is no dividing line between the personal and professional. MC Hammer recounted how when he was growing up in Oakland, he would walk several miles to the Coliseum to reach the 60,000 fans attending the A’s games, because “I knew one of them would buy something!” Hammer realized even as a young boy that the key to finding an audience is being where the action is, and he has transformed his natural salesmanship into a full-time job managing his Twitter presence. He acknowledged that at home his flat screens are constantly streaming with tweets (I pictured this like Neo looking at the bits and bytes of information in the Matrix, but set to the beat of “U Can’t Touch This”).
Ever the salesman, Hammer slyly talked about his various business deals and how he was “getting a piece of the back end.” But he really hit the mark when he said that “perception has trumped reality” today. If we’re not careful and honest, then we’ll be called out for it. Anyone brave enough to put out their thoughts and opinions had better have a thick skin.
Gary Vaynerchuk was the real draw for the assembled crowd. If you don’t know Gary yet, imagine what would happen if Joe Pesci portraying Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas was really into wine and vlogging instead of throwing dismembered corpses into the back of Cadillacs. Then, picture the salesmanship of Zig Ziglar embodied in a Mets-loving Jersey boy with an F-bomb infused rapid-fire delivery. Then, you’d get a better sense for Gary. But that’s really not the complete picture. He is a true self-made entrepreneur, a fighter who “would sell rocks” if he lost everything, and he came from humble beginnings to eventually make millions with Wine Library TV. His advice to all attendees is to follow your passion and never give up. Take that love of ketchup and start a ketchup blog, because “Corporate America has money and Heinz will eventually pay you as a consultant.” I can’t wait to read Crush It.
The contrast of Hammer, who was already famous before becoming a social luminary, and Gary, who made himself famous via persistent social activity (and answering 600+ emails a day), demonstrates that stardom in social media can either be easily won by being a famous early adopter or earned by Herculean efforts, but it is a TON of work to maintain. All this activity is a full time job for these guys. And for everyone who aspires to their level of notoriety, keep in mind that you may never see your significant others again while you scale the social ladder. For every success story, there’s a Josh Harris, whose tragic fate was recently reported in the New York Times.
The last two significant speakers became famous because they worked from within Corporate America to expand their social presence. “Dunkin’ Dave” Puner might well be the Forrest Gump of Twitter. I say this because he got Dunkin’ Donuts to jump in feet first and start tweeting, almost by accident as Forrest would have done. At one point, he showed the famous photo of Fonzie jumping the shark on Happy Days to express that even when we get wet with the best intentions, there’s always the risk of failure. I was waiting for him to say that “life is like a box of donuts, you never know what you’re going to get” but he never did. (Maybe at the next conference.)
Andy Mitchell of CNN was also on hand to demonstrate that, contrary to public opinion, the rumors of the demise of mainstream media are greatly exaggerated. It was CNN that made the Obama Inauguration a Facebook fiesta, and made Mitt Romney answer a question from a talking snowman in the YouTube debates. Andy was a great speaker, and based on his hints we can anticipate more social media work from CNN.
I’ve blogged before that social media is making brands more like individuals and individuals more like brands, and these four speakers underscored this point. At the intersection of company and individual, there’s the bloodbath of mainstream media, the victim caught in conversation crossfire between individuals and other individuals, and individuals who are brands. This much was clear from Gravity Summit: change is here to stay, content and ideas are still king, the modes of communication will morph, and social media evangelists are evangelists because, like Hammer, they believe fervently in this new religion. To quote Hammer, who is a preacher: “That’s why we pray!” Amen.
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