I was watching Gary Vaynerchuk’s talk and Q&A session at SXSW. Been following Gary’s growing online business for a while now and written about him several times. At about 16:25 of the session, Gary talks briefly about his early days getting his video blog up and running. He tells the audience to go back his first 50 episodes. So, I hopped over and took a look at the very first episode of Wine Library TV. It is a night and day experience from watching episodes of late and Gary as an online personality. Here it is:
What struck me is something quite simple: It takes practice. If you are trying to build a serious social media oriented brand, personal or business, it doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve spoken to a number of people who have thought of starting their own blogs or even video blogging themselves. I’ve even thought about doing a few video posts myself. Often (I assume like people early in TV careers but who knows), there is apprehension of getting in front of and speaking into the camera. Writing for me was just easier to jump into, it feels more protected. But video blogging is very interesting and adds a whole different dynamic. It certainly makes it more personal.
Anyway, whether you are writing or using video as your medium, it takes practice. Just like everything else. Because the web makes everything easier, I think we fall into the trap that everything on the web is easy. Starting a blog, building a business, writing an iPhone application. If you want to be good (and gain a comfort) doing something, you have to practice and put in a good deal of effort. And for some, it comes naturally easy and they need less practice. For others, they need more. Just like everything else in life.