Wine Library's Gary Vaynerchuk Shares Secrets of Social Media Success

The New York Times bestselling author and social media powerhouse behind Wine Library, Gary Vaynerchuk, attributes much of his success to being both intuitive and authentic. 

Speaking before a standing-room-only crowd Thursday morning at UBS Financial Services Inc. headquarters in Manhattan, the man who helped take his family business from $3 million in 1997 to $45 million eight years later, said while he didn't own a computer before launching Winelibrary.com, he instinctively knew e-commerce was going to be a game-changer.


He was right and before long his video blog captivated as many as 80,000 viewers daily. The New Jersey native's offbeat style of wine commentary also led to him yucking it up with the likes of Conan O'Brien and Ellen DeGeneres. Being true to himself is still one of the main ingredients in his recipe for success.

"I continue to bet on the future of what I think is going to happen, learn it, use it," said Vaynerchuk, whose Twitter feed has garnered the interest of close to 1 million followers. "Plenty of people told me that my style of wine communication would never work but it did because it was authentic, it was real, it came from a place of knowledge. I understood the context. I understood the new places to tell stories, this place called youtube."

Those who attended 'Jabbing With Gary Vaynerchuk,' presented by Westfield's Slater-Trainor Group and LinkedIn not only had a chance to ask the social media maven questions but also will receive a complimentary autographed copy of his latest book, 'Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy, Social World,' upon its November release. 

Mitch Slater, who was raised in Springfield and currently resides in Westfield where he works as a financial advisor and senior vice president of The Slater-Trainer Group, said Vaynerchuk has been his mentor when it comes to using social media. 

"He was the keynote speaker at SXSW in 2011; he's a big deal," Slater said. "For him to do this, to speak to a room of 120 people, and believe me, we had triple that many who were interested, we had to turn people away at the door, for him to do this, it's the equivalent of Bruce Springsteen playing at your high school." 

The event was free, Slater added, and marketed entirely through social media. 

The message Slater and others came away with was: when it comes to social media and business, it's all about giving, not selling. 

"How do you win?" Vaynerchuck asked attendees. "Start with the other person. Think about what's good for them and then give it to them."

For more information, visit Vaynerchuk's Facebook page, follow him on Twitter or view videos of his presentation here.