Gary Vaynerchuk Treats People Like Goldfish

August 18, 2009 By 8 Comments

I bet if you were just cruising through your tweets or feeds, this probably caught your eye huh?  You might be thinking that I’mgoldfish just trying to create a catchy title to get you to stop on by, right?  Well, if that’s what you thought then you’re partially correct.  Of course, I love it when you stop by here and am incredibly humbled by it.  However, in a recent tweet Gary stated that you should treat everyone like a goldfish.  So, what did he mean by this?

Check out Gary explain what he means by that statement and why YOU should be treating everyone like a goldfish as well.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Viddler video.

I completely agree with Gary and think that his analogy is perfect.  This is what Gary lives by each and every day and one of the reasons why he has such a dedicated group of friends, fans, and supporters.  Sure, it’s hard to scale that as an individual but as long as you’re connecting as often as possible with as many people as possible, others notice and are appreciative.  Also, it doesn’t have to be long connections.  Just a simple “congrats” can make someone’s day (trust me, I know)

But, I think you can and should take it one step past Gary’s concept.  Instead of just connecting with someone like they were a goldfish in a bowl by themselves, how about connect with them and if possible, help them jump into a fish tank where they might have an opportunity with other fish that they may not already know.  Be that connector and help others with no selfish reasons behind it.

You know who does this really, really well?  Gary definitely does.  But, also, others like Chris Brogan, Jason Falls, Amber Naslund, Brian Solis (all of whom YOU can connect with at the Inbound Marketing Summit) and many, many others, who spend most of their time connecting and helping others just because.

Are you treating everyone that you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to connect with like a goldfish?  Are you connecting with and helping your network as often as possible?  Know someone that is doing it really well and want to recognize them for it?

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Photo by: a_trotskyite

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  • http://twitter.com/justinlevy justinlevy

    Do you treat everyone like they’re a goldfish? http://bit.ly/AjKu9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://www.facebook.com/shauna.b.peters Shauna Berman Peters

    Great post. I love the expanded thoughts on Gary's statement. Connecting people is the essence of social media and so extremely important in gaining visibility and loyalty to your brand.

  • http://thelostjacket.com Stuartfoster

    Excellent analogy. I'm working on trying to do this on a more regular basis. However, as a newer member to this larger social media community I don't have quite as much leverage as a Chris or Amber.

    Excited to help people when I can though.

  • tonilamb

    Great video blog post and I couldn't agree with you anymore about treating everybody like a gold fish. Also, what I liked about your post was the fact that it was short and to the point with one hell of a powerful msg! So Thank YOU!

  • http://primecutsblog.com justinlevy

    Keep up the great work! Be as helpful as possible as much as possible.
    People notice ;)

  • http://twitter.com/swoodruff swoodruff

    Gary Vaynerchuk Treats People Like Goldfish | Justin Levy http://ow.ly/kGFQ Worth watching the quick video.

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://primecutsblog.com justinlevy

    Thanks so much for the awesome comment! I hope you're having an amazing
    day! :)

  • http://primecutsblog.com justinlevy

    Thanks so much for the awesome comment! I hope you're having an amazing
    day! :)