Want to draw attention to your brand? Here's the most important thing to understand, according to Gary Vaynerchuk:

“Actual attention versus potential attention,” he says.

Vaynerchuk is in the attention business. his company, VaynerMedia, works with the world's biggest brands, helping them gain attention through advertising and social media campaigns. And of course, he has created a huge following for himself.

Here's the big problem he sees: Most brands follow POTENTiAL attention – spend thousands of money on advertising, even though most people ignore the ads. That's why Vaynerchuk says brands need to focus Latest attention, to engage people who are actually engaged.

How to do this? Vaynerchuk's new book, Day Trading Attention, breaks down a strategic process of attracting attention. He broke that strategy down into my podcastwhich you can listen to here.

Below, we break down the six social media trends we discussed on the show — three that Vaynerchuk tells you about MUST do, and three must stop it right now

6 Social Strategies to Stop and Start

STOP: Pouring Your Heart Out on LinkedIn

A company lays off people. Then its CEO posts a tearful video on LinkedIn, explaining how difficult the decision was.

Versions of this story have played out many times on LinkedIn, as executives seek to humanize the difficult decisions they've made. Sometimes it's an action they took, like a layoff. Other times it's a mea culpa for a mistake.

Stop, says Vaynerchuk. Performative emotion will always come across as insincere. “You're not fooling anyone,” he says.

Instead, he suggests that CEOs be brutally honest about the unpopular decisions they make. Just be open and say something like, “I've had to lay off these people because I want to make a certain profit margin,” he says. It may sound cold, but at least it's the truth.

START: Dance on social media, even if you're the boss.

TikTok is full of jumps, so should company executives join in? Many have done it, and many have made fun of it – like when then-Microsoft CEO Steve BALLMER did it.

But Vaynerchuk sees nothing wrong here. Have fun and leave the haters alone.

“Jumping is always the right decision, even if you screw it up,” he says.

STOP: Running giveaway campaigns to drive audience growth.

How do you build your social media or newspaper following? Lots of people do a giveaway – basically saying, “If you follow my page, you'll have a chance to win this MacBook!”

“This is complicated,” Vaynerchuk. “Perception is reality, so I understand why people want more followers because it makes them feel like the brand is stronger.”

But while a free MacBook might attract a lot of new followers, Vaynerchuk says you shouldn't — because those followers don't care about you and almost certainly won't stick around.

“The type of user that you get that came as a free Tesla doesn't stick with you anyway. So the lifetime value of that user is very low,” he says.

START: Using chatbots with AI

Yes, AI chatbots are everywhere. Yes, they are very imperfect. But according to Vaynerchuk, they're still worth the effort—if not for their value today, then at least in building toward value tomorrow.

“AI is oxygen, it's the Internet, it's one of the deepest technologies,” he says. “You have to start getting used to it, because it's going to consume you most of your life.”

START: Posting long-form content on social media

Did you know you can post 10-minute videos on TikTok? Most people don't — but Vaynerchuk thinks they should.

“Go with anything long,” he says.

First of all, it can help you cut through the noise—sharing deep, thoughtful content in a sea of ​​quick hits.

But more importantly, social media success isn't about length, he says. It's about quality. If you create something great and compelling, length doesn't matter.

Twitter threads are another great example. (“I'll always call it Twitter,” Vaynerchuk says.) “Some of the best stuff I've ever consumed was a 40-tweet rant from someone who really knows something about something and we're able to articulate it. In form written, though, obviously a lot of people stink.”

There's also a long-term reason to post long-form content, Vaynerchuk says: He believes it's where social media is going next. “My prediction is that one of the major social networks will become one of the most important streaming services in the next decade,” he says. “The attention is there. Why wouldn't they?”

STOP: Having bad jobs

Is this a social media thing? Yes, says Vaynerchuk — because great offices get featured on social media and facility tours make for great content.

But a word of caution: Don't be cliche. A foosball table in the corner won't cut it.

“There are a lot of great businesses doing the right thing,” he says. “Something unique or clever will attract a lot of people's attention.”