- On this episode we talk about
Snapchat updates and Facebook likes.
Actually, dislikes.
- You ask questions.
And I answer them.
This is the #AskGaryVee Show.
- Hey everybody, this is Gary Vay-ner-chuk,
and this is episode 139 of the #AskGaryVee Show!
I don't even, you know,
I was going to say I'm focused but I always say I'm focused.
Let's just default into that I'm always focused.
Vayner Nation, good to see you.
Sorry I didn't bang out my wine show yesterday.
Clearly by my tweet I thought I was going to.
Sometimes, especially when I'm at Wine Library,
I don't really have control,
there's no DeMayo to run around and keep me on time.
I appreciated your "hey" text.
- [Steve] We tried.
- Which had no shot.
Good to see everybody.
I guess that means you three physically,
but all of you behind this lens.
Statement of the day, real curious,
well actually I was going to,
yeah, no, that doesn't make any sense.
I was going to say are you
watching this on YouTube or Facebook.
I assume that they would then just reply
by saying I'm watching it.
Actually, here's a good one.
Just leave a comment.
In one or the other places.
Just trying to do a little data search
on how people are engaging across those two platforms
and enjoying the split life on both platforms.
Stunwin!
Let's get into
- The!
- Show!
Yeah!
There's still a few more episodes before--
- Yeah, you need to get the cadence down.
- [Voiceover] Andrew asks "What do you think
"of Snapchat's move to charge for re-plays?"
- Great question, I'm sure it's on everybody's mind.
I'm sure, you know, Staphon real quick,
I think we should settle this out into its own video.
This is a very intriguing thing.
This charging for the replays on Snapchat.
To me, this feels tactical.
What I mean by that is I do not believe
that the powers at Snapchat,
I have no knowledge of this,
think this is a big time revenue source for them.
I think what Snapchat,
I'm so impressed with Snapchat
that they know they need to stay fresh.
Right, we've also got that.
Are you going to ask the question later
about the new selfie thing?
- [Steve] No, I was just going to leave it--
- Cool.
So I'll use that in my answer.
I think technology companies need to have updates.
Need to stay fresh.
And I think Facebook did that extremely well.
And honestly, over the last half decade,
you know especially the last three or four years
I think Twitter did that poorly.
I think Instagram's showing that capability.
Different filters, different size.
Even if it's not a big deal.
And Snapchat is showing that ability.
With Snapcash if you remember.
And that's not the biggest thing in the world.
I think it's a quick little play.
Clearly look, they're trying to position towards an IPO,
and so here's what I think the strategy is.
One, we make the users of Snapchat
feel like there's still things going on, right?
The new selfie filter thing which is wild.
I mean, we might as well just do it here.
I know you've got rainbows coming out of your mouth.
I get it.
But you know, I think that's part of it.
And look, and I think what's really smart about the replay,
what is it, three for 99 cents kind of thing?
What I think is super smart about that is
I don't think they expect, I don't buy anybody at Snapchat
thinking this is going to crush.
Right, here's a good example.
Watch this.
Staphon, you going to do any of it?
- [Staphon] No.
- DRock?
- [DRock] Maybe not.
- No, no, don't say what I'm leaning to.
I want to know.
- [DRock] No, no, no, no, no, no.
- [Steve] I'm going to do it once.
- That makes sense.
- [Steve] I want to have them
standing by for emergencies.
- Would emergencies be that a lot of female
Vayner Nation people find you more attractive
with your new facial hair and may send you
the kind of snap that gets you
to want to maybe replay it.
- [Steve] That's exactly what I mean.
- That's what I figured.
So you know, I think that's the cliche joke
that people are going to make about the replay.
What I just did, that was on purpose.
I think there will be a small subset
that will do it one time.
Which wouldn't be hard, I mean listen.
If everybody on Snapchat does it one time,
you got a 150 million people spending a buck.
That's 150 million dollars.
It could add up really quick.
I don't expect that to be the case, but to the point.
God forbid that's the kind of play.
I always say God forbid it does work.
God forbid everybody does want to do it.
99 cents feels right to everybody,
and all of a sudden it becomes a massive revenue stream.
There was no loss.
I'm a big fan of doing things that have no downside.
Now if you do a ton of features,
and notice how both came out.
An amazing selfie feature
that I think everybody's going to love
along with this kind of paid kind of thing.
I think it was brilliant.
A really well executed update.
One of my favorite updates of the year by any platform
and so what do I think about it?
I don't think it's a revenue stream
that is meaningful for Snapchat.
I think when you take it to a higher level
and think about the strategy of a update
for one of the leading consumer apps in the world,
I think it's downright phenomenal.
I also think that was a downright phenomenal answer
and just allowed a lot of people to see
that I think at a different plane
which is why they're allocating their precious time
to watch the show and I appreciate that
and I will continue to try to
think with my God given abilities and bring value to you.
Because I do think that's the smart conversation
that people are not happening as much.
As a matter of fact on that Stunwin,
I want you to work with Andy K and Sid the intern
who's in school, Sid, good to see you brother.
On an article version of this because I think it could pop.
I think you'll be seeing this article pop later today.
(popping)
- What's up Gary, this is Caleb again.
This time I'm not driving.
However, I do have a question for you.
I am developing an app with a partner.
Basically the first time we built it
we had an initial name and branding.
However we discovered that there was
a potential competitor with a similar name
so we decided to go with another branding oppertunity
that we had, however now there's another app
with the same name and a similar premise.
My overall belief is that we have
the superior product and a way better strategy.
My question though is do we continue
to have the same name as our potential competitor
or do we completely rebrand ourselves again
to find a new name.
What is your insights on this?
Thank you so much Gary, you're awesome.
- That was amazing
I love it.
Man, that was amazing.
I don't think it matters.
Next question.
Fine, I'll go into a little bit.
You know, look.
I don't think it's convenient to have
a similar name with a similar premise to a competitor.
I think, you know, if Twitter
came out when Twotter came out,
it would have been awkward.
Especially if there was a company named Twotter.
But I think, I think that, I think at the end of the day
my point of view on this would be
I'd be sitting there and say "You know what?
"I'm just going to out-execute the other person
"and force them to change the name
"because they realize they want to compete with us
"because we were the thing that was winning."
Thought I don't love the situation.
I don't want to also say look how cool I am.
I'm going to beat them to it.
Like, I don't mind you walking away from it
and changing a name either.
I just ultimately don't think it's going to matter.
You're going to have to out-execute.
Angry Birds had a similar situation.
There was a lot of birdy kind of stuff going on.
Like if you're the best and your product's the best
and you can navigate it, you've got the right product,
and you guys are the right leaders,
I don't think it ends up playing out
and so I wouldn't stress about it too much.
I think a lot of times to make it more valuable
as a question to everybody overall,
I think a lot of times people very much worry about names.
I have consistently stayed on a plane
of the name doesn't matter.
You can make a name matter after the fact.
I don't think Snapchat or Facebook or Google
meant anything to anybody
until they actually meant something.
You know, I guess maybe I'm affected
by having a last name like Vaynerchuk.
You know, it doesn't feel like the most brandable name.
I also made an incredibly huge flaw
in my Twitter handle with Gary Vee.
I mean, I have two silent Es at the end of my username
which is not easily to explain in public.
It takes time every time, time is the asset.
You know, people like "where's the ee?"
And it just wasn't a smart move.
Another bad name play by me
that I think I overcame in a Twitter environment.
So execution will always trump your name.
- [Steve] Stephan asks
- Staphon?
- [Steve] Stephan, Stephan, Stephan,
we're going to go with Stephan.
- All right. - [Steve] Asks.
- [Voiceover] Stephan asks "What do you think
"is the strongest differentiator between good content?
"Aesthetics or copy?"
- Both.
You know, the variable of success is creative,
but I think the copy, the words
that you support, you know, I see it a lot on Instagram.
I've tested the same picture with different words
posting at the same time of day
just for my own education.
And the truth is that's not a controlled environment
so it's not science, but it's anecdotal.
It's fun to see.
I mean clearly the words,
some people are going to react,
and the reason I brought up Instagram to everybody
is we all know that Instagram is massively visual.
But people still read the copy.
I mean this is crazy, I saw somebody at a conference
giving advice that you shouldn't
write long form copy on Instagram.
And I was laughing because it's just a simplistic answer.
I actually think long form copy
is one of the big arbitrage opportunities on Instagram.
And so I think they equally matter.
I think you'll get results predicated
on where your strengths lie.
I'm not very good at the picture stuff.
I'm not really even good at the copy stuff.
I'm really good at the video stuff.
So that's it, you know.
That to me is, the answer's both.
And it will always be both.
And it's happened so much.
Just do it.
What was, you know, was that the three words?
Or was it the awesome imagery that came along
with the initial kind of campaign?
Was it Beau Jackson like this?
Or was it the slogan?
I mean there's always that.
I mean, would priceless from MasterCard pop
if the first video wasn't emotionally rippling and got you?
So the answer is both.
You need both to be, you know,
to really have that massive upside.
And one can drag down the other.
I just realized I did this.
This was good, right?
And this is in black and white.
I wonder if it's better in black and white.
Let's go.
- [Steve] Amazing.
- So Gary, everybody's really excited
that you're speaking at the TAP conference
alongside a United States senator Mark Warner.
You've been a prolific investor
in some of the coolest companies in mobile and Uber.
Twitter, Resy, and my in my humble opinion Button.
Tell everybody a little bit about why you're speaking at TAP
and what you hope to get out of it.
- So this is an interesting question.
Really nice right hook by one of my investments.
Jaconi nice job.
I'm speaking at TAP because I feel obligated to you.
Because I invested in your company.
And what I'm hoping to get out of it
is the realization from other people
that are involved with me in business
is that I'm a supporter of the things that I back.
It's actually very black and white.
There's no PR answer to this question.
It's when you invest in somebody else's company,
it's not just the money that you're deploying.
It's the energy, it's the thought leadership.
There's an arbitrage in having me there.
I'm going to give the best talk at the conference.
People are going to think your conference was good.
They're going to think your product is better.
They're going to see that I'm invested into your company
in a world where I have hundreds of investments.
And in two years I'm going to be competing for a deal
and that person's going to say
"I don't know Gary, maybe you,
"maybe this other person, why you?"
I'm going to say "Well you know what?
"Hit up the Button CEO, and ask him
"what kind of investor I am.
"It's not just the money, it's smart money.
"It's not just the money, it's money that sweats."
So that's what I'm trying to get out of it.
Delivering on my promise, deploying effort,
and most of all continuing to paint a narrative
of what kind of individual I am as an investor,
as a business man, and as a dude.
- [Steve] Money that sweats.
Is that an existing term or did you
just make that up on the spot?
- The funny part about that is I'm not sure.
And honestly, I took note of that too
and I was going to talk to you after
but we might as well just do it here.
Because smart money's got a lot of momentum.
But can you actually Google it up.
Money that sweats is kind of interesting.
You know, I think people throw everything
into smart money, but there's a big difference
into smart money and money that sweats.
- [Steve] Sweat equity.
- Sweat equity's totally different.
Yeah, we might have something there.
- [Voiceover] Derek asks "What are your thoughts
"on Facebook's upcoming dislike button?"
- The dislike button.
This might have to be an article as well.
I don't know a lot about it and I think
you know, Ben Leventhal, the CEO of Resy,
aforementioned in the prior video
and I had dinner last night strategizing around Resy.
Download it if you're in LA, New York, Miami, Washington DC.
R-E-S-Y.
You know what Staphon?
Put a glove on me there when I did the right hook.
Oh, my man!
This wonderful man is going to be shadowing me today.
Hey brother!
- You never said I was joining it.
- Good to see you.
I'm live by the way.
- Oh.
- You can just sit.
I'm finishing up the show.
So the dislike button introduces some interesting stuff.
Ben's point was when negativity comes into the ecosystem,
it can really crash and burn a platform.
He was talking about how Twitter got more negative
after the Kumbya moments of 2007, eight, nine.
And there's a lot of truth to that.
To me the dislike button allows Facebook
to make its algorithm even stronger.
But that was kind of how I first thought about it
as if it was a hide, you wouldn't know.
But it seems to me, and this is where I think
Facebook may have a problem.
It seems to me that they want to,
in the quotes that I read late last night.
It was two o' clock in the morning
when I wanted to read it real fast.
So I haven't invested in a very smart answer yet
on this Steve or Derek, thank you for asking the question.
It seems that they want to allow people
to express other emotions.
To me where I think they're going with this
is we see a lot of people post, for example,
we see my friend Drew is an incredible friend.
And his father passed away.
And he wrote an incredible piece
and it was a beautiful picture of his dad
and a wonderful peace about how hardcore
of a Philly sports fan he was, which kind of struck me.
I kind of already even thought about my own demise
and how my kids were going to talk about my Jets fandom
of how he was a fan and then he bought the team.
What an amazing man he was.
But that's not what makes him amazing.
He was the best dad.
I'm giving you guys some material Xander.
So I think that what Facebook
is trying to figure out a cadence around
is you look and a lot of people are hitting like.
And there's all these life events
that maybe you wouldn't in real life,
in real communication say I like that.
There's other things.
Now I don't know if you're going to say dislike to that.
But I think what Facebook is starting to show with this move
and clearly has a enormous upside
in its continuation of evolution.
Very similar to my first answer on the Snapchat question
is I can see an environment where multiple buttons exist.
We have a much stronger way to express our actual thoughts
on the content we're seeing in front of us
and that intelligence becomes the backbone
of making a much better product for Facebook itself.
Anybody who's into data science
or understands how these things work
and even if you just deploy common sense,
you recognize that the like is too broad
for Facebook to do enough with that data
to make the product better.
So if they had more options to create more context,
they'd be able to create a far better curated experience.
So I think that's what they're up to.
It's intriguing to me that it's a dislike button.
You know, if my thesis was right,
my intuition is that they would
go with a different kind of button
and that's why I'm not so sold
that I'm right with my point of view there.
But those are the curiosities
that are running through my head.
So what do I, to answer it black and white,
what I think about, actually turn me into
black and white here even though
it's part of the official show because
I think that's funny to answer it black and white.
Thank you Staphon.
Actually, no, go back to color
because the show's always full time in color.
But in that one little weird period make it black and white.
I think it's a very clever and very important step.
One that I do believe has major impact.
And one that this market will look back at
five years from now and recognize
it was a massive moment in Facebook's,
you know, lineage, including it became a chip aaway
at becoming more negative
and not going in the right direction
or started creating the framework
for even smarter better experiences
for all of us on their platform.
And don't forget that platform
deploys to Instagram so a lot of you are saying
"Yeah, but I'm not there any more."
Oh yes you are.
It's called Instagram.
You live there.
And so I think it's important.
I'm excited to see what happens with it.
That's it?
Good show.
Felt tight!
Felt good about it.
No statement today.
Leave your thoughts.
We'd love to get, you know, what are the big things,
why shift it from question of the day
to statement of the day is I want more feedback.
I want you Vayner Nation to critique the shows
because with that feedback
I will continue to make it better for you.
That is the plan.
Have a wonderful day.
We're not taping Friday because
I'm heading out to a wedding.
Are we filming tomorrow?
Tomorrow's Thursday?
Tomorrow's Wednesday?
- [Steve] Yes, we do have a show tomorrow.
- Is tomorrow Thursday?
Yep, so we got a show tomorrow.
So tomorrow will be my official Jets-Colts prediction.
I've got a good one.
I've got a good one!
You keep asking questions.
I'll keep answering them.