In addition to launching a new homepage, we have decided to put an official end to the VaynerMedia blog. As you may have noticed, we haven’t produced quality content in some time. We are proud of the articles we have published in the past but have found that we are far stronger in executing on social strategies for our clients than we are producing content on a daily basis. Thank you to everyone who has read and/or commented on our blog posts in the past. The blog will still remain as an archive, but as mentioned, updates will no longer be published here.

The most interesting aspect of this thought is that Twitter essentially used the API and the outside developers as research. These developers created great products, and now Twitter is simply picking and choosing the best implementations of the API for their own product with #newtwitter. Twitter was able to see what worked and what didn’t work without wasting any resources… interesting.

Ten months ago, we launched the VaynerMedia Blog with the main intent of providing a creative outlet for the VaynerMedia team while also serving as a source of insight for our friends and colleagues who follow us. After a few months of figuring things out, we settled into a system where VaynerMedia would produce one blog post per weekday (Mon-Fri). That system worked fine at first, but as time passed, a blog post went from being a creative exercise to just another task on the to-do list. While I strongly believe in consistency, I don’t believe quality should be sacrificed just to maintain consistency.

How we addressed the situation

We have had a few internal meetings discussing the best way to move forward with the VaynerMedia blog. The main takeaway from these meetings was the fact that there are many different ways to approach writing a blog post, and that the best action moving forward is to provide individuals with the opportunity of executing blog posts the way he/she believes will allow him/her to produce the best content. This change means that we will no longer be following the strict daily content calendar. This change also means that blog posts can be 20 words, or they can be 2000 words – doesn’t matter. Finally, this change should mean an increase in the quality of blog posts you see from the VaynerMedia team.

Last thoughts

Even though the blog can be (and will be) improved in the future, I think our team has produced some great stuff over the past 10 months. Here is a small sample of some of my favorite VaynerMedia Blog posts:

(in no particular order)

Redesigning Your Facebook Tabs from 760px to 520px

Build an Application Even if it Already Exists

Extending the Story

Casual Business Relationships

Groupon: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Deal

Early Proof that Geolocation Marketing Will Succeed

What Are You Working For?

Reports are indicating that Lebron plans on announcing his decision via a 1-hour special on ESPN tomorrow night. That’s all well and good (and will surely generate massive ratings), but I think it would be far more interesting if Lebron would make the subtle move of boosting his “following” count for 0 to 1, with the 1 being the team he plans on playing for in the coming years.

I understand that this concept is far less mainstream than a 1-hour special, but wouldn’t it be amazing if Lebron took over the news by simply clicking a single “follow” button?

We’re done, or are we?

A great example of this concept is a project VaynerMedia recently executed, utilizing a Facebook Page tab. The night before the project launch, I made a “final” review to make sure everything looked and worked correctly. It was 11:30PM on Friday night and the project was set to launch at 7:30AM the next morning. Everything seemed perfect, but to be safe, I set an alarm up for 7:15AM to ensure a smooth launch. I woke up the next morning and, of course, the tab wasn’t working*. I immediately notified the client and started calling members of the VaynerMedia team. We were able to quickly diagnose the issue and applied a temporary fix, followed by a complete fix later that day (shout out to Sameer for picking up his phone at 7:30AM on a Saturday).

The lesson learned

Be prepared for the worst. As I was setting my alarm that night I thought to myself, “there is no way anything can go wrong, everything is done, I should just sleep in.” If I had followed through with that initial line of thinking, our client would have had an unsuccessful launch, and would most certainly be upset with our work. Thankfully, I decided to set the alarm anyway and I recommend for you to do the same.

* The issue? Facebook and the client’s website decided to stop working together some time between the 8 hour window of 11:30PM and 7:15AM.

What it is:

Venmo is a SMS-based Payment Platform that helps you exchange money with the people you trust. The company was founded by Iqram Magdon-Ismail and Andrew Kortina and is based in Philadelphia/New York City.

What Personally Excites Me

The people and the platform. This is a classic example of investing in the entrepreneurs (while also loving the idea and the execution of the concept). Gary and I met with Iqram, Kortina, and a friend of theirs, Shreyans Bhansali, late night in NYC back in February. After spending a couple of hours with that group riffing and getting a vibe for their vision, Gary and I were essentially sold. Mind you, at this time Gary and I had little-to-no experience using Venmo. In the days that followed I got to play around with Venmo and showed it to some of the crew at VaynerMedia… that all but sealed the deal in my mind.

How we’re using Venmo at VaynerMedia

Since learning about Venmo I made it my mission to get our whole office on-board. As of today, every employee has a venmo account and I envision this helping the exchange of money for lunch and snack trips in the most phenomenalist (a word?) of ways. Employing Trust between friends is key for this process. Trust, in Venmo terms, is the ability for two Venmo users to freely exchange money without either side approving individual transactions^. Before you run away, it is worth noting that all transactions are reversible and the exchange of money is capped at $500.

^Editors Note (@drzhang): To clarify, you can exchange money on Venmo without “trusting,” but each transaction will need to be approved.  In this example, if Sam had never “trusted” AJ, AJ still could have texted “charge gosam 1.50,” but would have had to wait until Sam confirmed Venmo’s follow-up text before receiving the money.  With trust, invoices will go through automatically and without confirmation texts.

Real World Use Case:

Sam and I made a quick trip to the Hudson Square Cafe to grab some candy / chips / and drinks. During said trip Sam came to the realization that he had little to no cash on him and that the ATM at the Cafe barely works. Using Venmo, I simply bought Sam’s drink ($1.50) and sent this text to the Venmo short code:

Seamless.

* Also worth noting, I would have never asked for that $1.50 before Venmo. I would have simply paid for our snacks and told Sam not to worry about it. +1 for the guy who rarely collects!

What do you think of Venmo?

Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Want an invite to Venmo?

If you would like an invite to Venmo shoot me an email at aj [at] vaynermedia [dot] com with your phone number and I will send you an invite ASAP.

When the average person thinks about a Hippo the following adjectives come to mind: goofy, cute, hungry, fun.

When the average person thinks about a Shark the following adjectives come to mind: dangerous, scary, angry, viscous.

The main reason why the Hippo is seen so positively is the 1966 Milton Bradley board game “Hungry Hungry Hippos.” The Hippo is the main character in a children’s game, has names like “Lizzie,” “Henry,” “Homer,” and “Happy,” and is highlighted on the box as a colorful, goofy, and adorable animal.

The main reason why the Shark is seen so negatively is Steven Speilberg’s 1975 movie, “Jaws.” The Shark is the movie’s villain, has a name directly correlated with its sharp teeth, and is highlighted on the movie posters and DVDs as a mysterious, evil, and cruel sea monster.

Consider the following:

Fact: The hippo is extremely aggressive, unpredictable and unafraid of humans, upsetting boats sometimes without provocation and chomping the occupants with its huge canine teeth and sharp incisors.

Fact: To a shark, a surfer on a surfboard slightly resembles that of a seal or sea lion.

Fact: The hippo is responsible for more fatalities each year than a bear, a lion, or a… you guessed it, shark.

Fact: Peter Benchley, the creator of the Jaws character, spent the last few years of his life trying to dispel the myth of sharks being man-eating monsters.

Fact: According to a list of fatal, unprovoked, shark attacks in the United States, there have only been about 100 deaths in the past 150+ years.

So again I ask: What if Milton Bradley decided to create the game “Hungry Hungry Sharks” and Steven Spielberg decided to feature a Hippo in “Jaws?”

1. Dropbox

Dropbox is an amazing utility that allows teams to share files. Using Dropbox cuts down on unnecessary dialogues (asking coworkers to send files via email or aim) and creates a central location for relevant documents. We use Dropbox to share case studies, client information, photos, videos, design work, and much more.

2. MeetingMix

MeetingMix is a nifty application that aims to improve the meeting experience. At VaynerMedia we don’t have a ton of internal meetings, but when we do, MeetingMix helps us cover topics in an efficient manner. If you didn’t know, meetings can be a waste of time.

3. Action Method

Action Method is a great application that combines to-do lists with vital reference information. I use the actions tab to keep track of tasks and the references tab for contact information and important reference documents.

4. 5pm

5pm is a project management system our design and development team has been using for VaynerMedia related projects. We have found this system to be a perfect fit in terms of how we work and how we manage client projects.

5. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is an application that I have used to manage my calendar for years. Whenever we have a new employee start at VaynerMedia we suggest they use Google Calendar. Sharing calendars has been a major help in project coordination and communication for us.

I then sat there and took a look outside of myself. I saw an individual who was under an extreme amount of pressure and had very little time to work with. I thought to myself, “AJ, you like to think of yourself as someone who responds well to pressure, well now is a great time to prove it.” So again, my mind raced – what was I going to blog about?

Then it hit me. The actual topic of being under pressure is something that has always interested me, and the concept of “live blogging” a situation in which I was under pressure would be something worth reading. I promise this post is not going to be edited, that’s why the grammar is off and the thoughts are so scattered. Another factor playing into this blog post is the fact that I am constantly being pinged on AOL instant messenger and having co-workers approach my desk asking if I have a second… I am respectfully passing in order to complete this post. Then again, these distractions are in fact helping me write this post.

One factor that I find interesting is that I no longer feel stressed. I have a good 5 minutes left to work on this post and I feel like I have already provided something worth reading. My curiosity is peaking at this point. I wonder what others would have done with 13 minute time frame and pressure to get a post out. There are a lot of different options and I wonder if “resorting” to one option or another truly represents the way you handle pressure in general. Is the fact that I am “live blogging” a situation in which I truly made a mistake a cop out? Is it something creative? Is it something lazy? Is it something that was in fact harder than merely coming up with a topic and writing a quick post about? Maybe it doesn’t matter at all. Maybe I just took the time I had, came up with an idea and put out a piece of content the most won’t read. Or maybe it does matter, and this blog post will be read by a large group of people.

Again I apologize for the lack of structure, and time put into this post. Also for reference, the image associated with this post was one of the first things I found via google images when I typed in pressure.

And…. posted, with a minute to spare.

If an account is on the SUL, then the account should also be verified. When I browse the SUL and put my “new user hat” on, the first thing that pops into my head is why is Wyclef Jean a verified user and Armin van Buuren not? Does this mean that the Armin van Buuren account is fake? Does this mean Wyclef is better than Armin in regards to Twitter usage?

Long story short, if the user is worth suggesting, I would have to imagine the user is worth verifying. New users are most certainly shying away from certain twitter users in fear of following a fake or worthless account.

Thoughts?

1. 10 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read – Reading isn’t essential but it can be a great way to relax, yet still work.

2. 10 of the Best Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs – Tools are important, and so is social media.

3. A Dozen of the Best Start Up Pitches on the Web – Good perspective for anyone who likes product and marketing. Also for the start-up in you.

4. 10 Definitive Tips for Writing Captivating Emails – Email marketing is still a great tool for business, and this is a good read.

5. The Eight Best Questions we got While Raising Venture Capital – Always good to know more about Venture Capital.

6. Essential Online Tools for Your Startup – A bit different than #2, worth reading as well.

7. Are You an Entrepreneur? – Just for fun really.

8. Rules of Productivity – A lot of entrepreneurs stress productivity (including me).

9. The First Jobs of 10 Wealthy Entrepreneurs – Just a good read to keep things in perspective. Also shows you why patience is key.

10. Keys to Entrepreneurial Success – Everyone wants to be successful right?

Before the start of any working relationship, we insist that there is an initial strategy meeting. We predominantly listen during this meeting (shocking, I know) with the sole purpose of gaining an understanding of the big picture. Details are important, but details can be outlined in a word document or sent via email at a later date. The story is what matters most, and having a full appreciation of what the client is trying to accomplish with its brand will allow you to execute on individual projects and initiatives at a higher level.

2. What Are The Goals?

Now that you understand the global vision, it is important to understand the goals being set for your working relationship. By knowing what the client’s goals are, you and your team will have the ability to focus your energy on what is important. Do not allow the client to deliver vague and unclear objectives. This does not mean you should ask for numeric measurables, in-fact we advise against simple numbers – but that is a different blog post for a different time. If the goals are clear, you and your team have the ability to over-deliver.

3. Why Do We Want To Accomplish These Goals?

After receiving your identifiable goals, ask the client why (exactly) do they want to accomplish these goals. Understanding the reasoning behind each goal will allow you to either accomplish each goal effectively or adjust misguided goals to an objective that falls more in line with the global story the brand is telling.

4. What other marketing initiatives are currently in place?
Our belief is that social media can assist in any marketing plan for any brand. With that in mind, we ask that the client to keeps us in the loop with every current or future marketing initiative. By being aware of other initiatives you have the ability to be a major asset beyond your hired role. This shows the client that your involvement may be more valuable than they may have originally thought and that you are willing to over-deliver if the opportunity is there.

5. What Can’t We Do?

Ask the client for a list of don’ts / can’ts ( I know that you shouldn’t make those two words plural, but it works here, at least for me). Knowing what you “can” do is actually limiting and a waste of time. Believe it or not, knowing what you can’t do gives you creative freedom. Every client will have unique rules and regulations. The best way to over-deliver is to respect their boundaries and brainstorm ideas for every other angle imaginable.

Do you work with clients? If so, what questions do you ask during the discovery phase of your working relationship? Share your ideas below:

The round included Sequoia Capital, Ron Conway’s SV Angel, Betaworks, Digg co-founder Kevin Rose and Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake.

VaynerMedia is also proud to announce that we were also a part of this round of financing. We are excited to be working with DailyBooth co-founders Ryan Amos and Jon Wheatley and see a bright bright future for the company.

Congratulations to Ryan and Jon. If you haven’t heard of DailyBooth or aren’t signed up, it is absolutely worth a look. For reference, you can find the official VaynerMedia DailyBooth account right here.

A few more accounts you might find interesting:

Kevin Rose, Ashton Kutcher, iJustine, Brittani Taylor, and our very own Gary Vaynerchuk.

Social Media

• TechCrunch – A top tier blog that covers the tech scene in a big way.

• Mashable – Another top tier blog that does a great job putting out useful content while also covering the latest in social media.

• ReadWriteWeb – One of the best when it comes to covering technology in an in-dept and unique style.

Aggregators/Social Bookmarking Sites

• popurls – A great snapshot of the web. For one reason or another, this has been a mainstay in my daily reading.

• TechMeme – When it comes to covering the tech industry this is the quickest way to get headlines of what is important.

• Hacker News – A great mix of technology, entrepreneurship, design and development.

Web Design & User Interface

• Smashing Magazine – My go to place for everything that makes the internet “pretty.”

• Design Newz – I haven’t read too much from this site, but one of our (awesome) designers swears by it.

Personal Blogs

• Fred Wilson – A great blog that covers the business side of entrepreneurship and start-ups by NYC Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson.

• Mark Cuban – A great blog by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban which focuses on business with some tech mixed in.

• Seth Godin – A blog written by author and web entrepreneur Seth Godin covering marketing, advertising and all things web.

• Gary Vaynerchuk …Maybe I’m biased on this one, but my brother Gary Vaynerchuk does a great job talking business and web on his personal video blog.

Mixed Bag

• AdAge – A great website / publication that covers a lot of mainstream advertising and marketing news.

• LifeHacker – One of the most popular blogs on the web dedicating to making your life better, more interesting and more efficient.

• Mixergy – A great video blog run by Andrew Warner that interviews entrepreneurs with business tips and success stories.