Paddy Donnelly

How I got Gary Vaynerchuk to Follow me on Twitter

After reading ‘How I Got Shaq to Follow Me on Twitter’ at Moller Marketing, how could I not challenge myself to a celebrity follow?  Nate Moller talked us through the steps he went through to complete the challenge from a fellow twitterer.

There were several methods @mollermarketing used to get @the_real_shaq to notice him.  One technique was to contact someone who Shaq regularly interacts with, and persuade them to give him a nudge.  This eventually worked and Nate even got a reply from the big man himself!  I commented on the article asking Nate to challenge me to a celeb follow.  He bet me a pint that I could not get @garyvee.

Being a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuk already, I was glad to accept the challenge :)  [You should definitely check out garyvaynerchuk.com for some inspirational videos].

I had it all planned out. I would first ask @garyvee himself to help me win a bet for a pint.  After that I could perhaps research into the Jets, [which he is obsessed with] and comment on the latest game or even email him.  I knew it would be difficult as Gary get thousands of messages and emails every day and states that he doesn’t read DMs.

I started with step one.

And a few minutes later this happened.

Damn it! Gary Vaynerchuk ruined all my hard work and planning by being such a legend!  He came through for me with a follow instantly!  So now I don’t have any advice for you guys on getting a celebrity to follow you on Twitter. Sorry :(

Seeing as it’s not possible to mail a pint yet, I guess I will have to wait until Nate rolls through Belfast or I hop over to the states for my prize.

Not that I believe the number of twitter followers indicates your real popularity but it was an interesting challenge to partake in.  It was more about seeing if Gary Vaynerchuk pays attention to the thousands of messages thrown at him every few seconds.

In many of Gary’s videos and talks, he stresses the importance of interacting with your consumers and actually caring about them.  So many businesses fail to do this.  They may be aware of their customers but they don’t listen! Gary goes the extra mile for them, actively searching out people who are blogging about him and personally replying to every email he receives.  I also know this to be true as I have emailed Gary myself and received a great reply. :)

I guess this little challenge demonstrates that Gary practices what he preaches.  A note to everyone out there.  Listen to this man!