Last week, Gary Vaynerchuk spoke at ICON, Infusionsoft’s annual user conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Gary is the host of #ASKGARYVEE and is releasing his new book by the same name today! We were lucky enough to score a copy of the book and we are excited to dive in and read his take on leadership, social media and entrepreneurship.

If you don’t know his story, Gary rebranded his family wine business as Wine Library and established himself as a respected expert. As the store’s only wine buyer, he sampled every wine that entered the store. Customers depended on Gary for his advice and within a five year time period, Wine Library grew from a $3 million dollar business to a $60 million business.

The Top 10 Social Media Tips From Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk

1. Snapchat. Snapchat. Snapchat.

The stakes and opportunity is high. Per Gary Vaynerchuk, your hustle on Snapchat now just might pay off for more than usual for those willing to put in the time and effort. Many people are just settling into Facebook or Twitter, not realizing the world has already embraced other opportunities as well. Gary’s bet right now is Snapchat. He predicts in about 2 years, everyone will be on it.

2. Don’t be so concerned with your transactions, conversions and ROI today.

There’s a difference between sales and transactions and branding and marketing. Don’t take the easy route. Build your brand instead. The world will evolve. Don’t get stuck in a math game. There is too much social innovation going on right now. Staying in one place and one social media platform that might be working OK for you right now is a bad place to be. You will be able to survive every shift in technology if you build a brand not a transaction. Math is commoditized, brand is not. Build a brand, not a transaction.

3. The internet doesn’t change you, it just exposes how awesome you are.

This advice was given to a man in the audience who was scared to create a social media account for his business. He was afraid of what his friends would think and he didn’t want to be too salesy.  I love the simple advice Gary gave of how the internet can actually expose how awesome you are. You don’t have to hide.

4. Learn the new social media platforms in parallel with the current ones you are using.

You don’t have to spend every minute on the new platforms but start learning about them now. At least create an account and check out how other people and businesses are using the platform. You might be surprised. Someone in the audience shared he made $10,000 in a week just on Snapchat.

5. People right now are thinking too short term.

Invest your time in building your future.

6. Your desktop traffic is going to be gone soon.

Your website needs to be designed on mobile first. Who cares what it looks like on desktop. For the first time ever, Google mobile searches surpassed desktop searches. This is a trend and it’s not going away. Everything you do online, make sure it looks amazing on mobile first.

7. The past will tell you the future.

It’s happening in front of you. Shifts are happening. You have to adapt to current market behaviors. Don’t stay because you don’t want it to go away. Things in the market are happening fast.

8. Overwhelmed with social media? Just devote more time.

Overwhelmed? How many hours a day are you working? Just work more hours per day. Extra time fixes it all. This seems so simple and the answer no one wants to hear, but someone has to say it. Just put more time into it.

9. 95-97% of the content on Periscope is disastrous.

According to Gary Vaynerchuk, before you start using Periscope, ask yourself if you can bring value instead of just checking the box. Try to replicate TV. What does well on TV? Sports and information. Too many people are just wanting to be doing something live because it is fun. You have to be careful with Periscope. We need to teach content and schedule it if you are going to do it. Teach a class every week and bring a ton of value. You will win. Best advice is to give away everything. You’ll make more with an advertiser than selling a small product. Brand over transaction.

10. Lose money everyday building your brand so you can invest in your future.  

How much value can you bring to your audience? Do this over and over again to build your brand for the future. If you build a brand, you can survive any change in the future social platform or technology innovation that is coming.

But most important….

The most important takeaway from all of this was that you have to feel great about how you get people in the door.

How you make money is more important than how much you make.

Well said, Gary Vaynerchuck. There’s a lot of noise online right now and everyone is selling this thing or the other. You don’t have to do it like everyone else. Instead, do it how it feels GOOD to you. If it feels slimy and salesy, it probably is.