Danny Vegas talks candidly about the evolution of social media on this episode of Leading Las Vegas.

Danny Vegas – Social Media Then and Now [Video Transcript]

Danielle:  Hey there! Welcome! I’m Danielle Ford, and this is another episode of Leading Las Vegas. And you guys, if you don’t know my backstory a little bit, I was born and raised here in Las Vegas. My nickname is Dani. A lot of my high school friends and my family call me Dani. So, if you feel more comfortable just go ahead and call me Dani Vegas. Okay just kidding, this is Danny Vegas.

Danny:  I’m Danny Vegas!

Danielle:  In person! And he’s my guest today.

Danny:  I am extremely honored to be on the Danielle Ford show. It’s taken me five years to get on the Danielle Ford show.

Danielle:  Thank you so much for jumping in here. I have known Danny for a while I think we both kind of follow each other on social media channels and like to keep up on what each other are doing. But one of the things that I love about Danny and the reason why I wanted to bring him on, is to talk about the evolution of marketing. See, Danny has been doing marketing for a long time; much longer than I have, and what we were kind of talking about beforehand is that there are a lot of fundamentals and a lot of things that change. So I’d like to get your perspective on that.

Danny:  That’s right.

Danielle:  As somebody in Las Vegas doing this for so long.

Danny:  Well here’s the deal Danielle, and I’ve always loved your stuff, even before we met. You know, I used to see you on doing social media stuff and I’m like wow! That gal really is doing it right. But here is what I’ve kind of seen in the last 10, maybe even 20, years. I do feel that social media is probably the greatest invention, besides the internet itself.

Danielle:  Right.

Danny:  I really do and I’ll tell you why, because it is the great equalizer. Okay?

Danielle:  I love it.

Danny:  Danielle Ford, if you were born in the 60’s and you were doing business in the 80’s, how does Danielle Ford get to be a household name?

Danielle:  Absolutely.

Danny:  You can’t. That’s unless you, you know, breathe fire and show up on ‘Ripley’s Believe it or Not?’ show; no one knows of Danielle Ford. And the cool thing about social media, and I tell small businesses all the time, there is nothing that Coca Cola, Federal Express, UPS,,, there’s nothing these monster companies can do on social media that you can’t do. They may have someone do it for them, and they may be experts, but as far as posting stuff, creating good content, and distributing it through a social media platform – you can do the exact same thing. And I will tell you, I think in all honesty a Danielle Ford, a Danny Vegas, without social media, I’m working at the counter at 7-11 doing Slurpees.

Danielle:  Right. It’s interesting that you said that social media is probably the best advancement because people I remember even in my childhood, because I kind of grew up with this but I didn’t. I wasn’t a kid with an iPhone, I had to learn it still as a teenager, young adult. But I just remember like my parents and people of that generation saying, “Oh social media is a fad, I can’t wait until kids stop doing this social media thing.” And I’m like here this is my life now. This is how I communicate.

Danny:  That’s right. And I don’t mean to interrupt you. I can talk a lot, you got to boat me off the island.

Danielle:  You’re fine.

Danny:  I feel in all honesty the reason why social media has done what it has done, because I think it tapped into something that was already there. That human beings are just animals but we are extremely social animals. If you look, if you study human beings, I’m a big sociologist guy, if you study how human beings become what they become, they are extremely social. And I think social media just tapped into something that we had within us. We want to be as social as humanly possible. And the only way you can stop humans from being social, is literally you’ve just got to take things away. You literally have to take away rights, you have to put them in prison, and you have to be – you know I’m not going to be political here – but you have to be a government that is Totalitarian. What’s that word? I can’t even spell it so don’t worry about it, but you literally have to stop human beings by force for them not to be social. And I think social media just tapped into something that was just already there.

Danielle:  I absolutely agree with that. Especially at our nature we just yearn for connection. But you know my brand and my whole messaging and reason why I do things is because I believe that visibility can make a difference. I don’t believe in visibility just for the sake of visibility because then you’re just a Kardashian? Right?

Danny:  No comment.

Danielle:  Visibility for a reason is like, ‘What’s gonna change the world?’ But I also, besides the having that yearning for connection which people didn’t have, I feel like everybody has a message. And now social media gives them a platform to be more self-expressive. So now they can post what they feel. They can Tweet it, or they can make a video, or jump on a livestream. Before? What are you going to do? Just be stuck in your room and write notes on your paper? You know?

Danny:  Social media has changed the world. I mean we have seen, and we’ll just go back to it, you know the gentleman that was pulled off the airplane a couple of weeks ago, okay? If that would have happened 20 years ago?

Danielle:  Nobody would know.

Danny:  No one would’ve known. No one would’ve known.

Danielle:  Not to get crazy political, but the government frowns on it because they don’t just take their word for it.

Danny:  Yaah government frowns on it. Some governments

Danielle:  And companies.

Danny:  Right. We literally had an election, and whether you liked it or not, but the gentleman who won used social media.

Danielle:  It was brilliant. Brilliant campaign.

Danny:  You know? So. Yeah? So and that’s the way politics work it’s like, ‘Oh what they did on this one? And that means we’re gonna do it on this one.’ And it’s just going to ramp up to where social media,,, and it is. You wanted, we wanted to talk about going back to where what’s different from 40 years ago. Here’s the thing with social media, if you wipe away the frosting off the cake, it’s just a way to distribute a message. Just like a billboard. Just like a blimp. It’s just a way to literally get in. Danielle Ford has this sphere around her. She guards, you know, who comes close, who doesn’t.  Social media can get in to Danielle Ford’s phone faster than any commercial, billboard, anything. All they have to do is find out ‘Danielle is an expert at this’. What does Danielle like? Well, Danielle’s an advocate on young mothers. Wow, all I’m going to do is I’m going to punch this in and I know that chances are Danielle Ford is going to see my message.

Danielle:  Exactly.

Danny:  And that’s what I think the world is, whether good or bad, is going to. You talk about Big Brother, I don’t, Danielle Ford is a young lady, I don’t know if she ever read “1984” but at the same time, it’s coming true.

Danielle:  Yes. All of it is totally creepy. The way that our phones are being tapped in, it was all laid out for us.

Danny:  You know advertisers know exactly what Danny Vegas likes. They know what Danielle Ford likes. And they literally, you know, things pop up on my computer like, ‘Wow, how did they know? You know I shop at Smith’s, how come I got a coupon for cat food? Because I bought cat food two weeks ago.

Danielle:  How come I just googled ‘what’s the best cat food’ and now I’m on Facebook and there was an ad for cat food. And I just got pinged. Or now I was playing a game or an app and all of a sudden it’s giving me a coupon for cat food.

Danny:  So I would think if you are a person who, and some of us are more into it than others, you know privacy, I think that’s going away. I think it’s just slowly but surely going away. I mean my goodness gracious, I mean I could literally click my phone and it shows me where I’m at.

Danielle:  And it shows everybody else.

Danny:  Danielle Ford is 2 miles away from you, like really? What is she doing on this side of town?

Danielle:  Right.

Danny:  You know? So. Very interesting! I know we kinda got off the topic Danielle, but it’s great. Advertising, marketing, the one thing that has stayed the same is, you have to get people to see your brand, like your brand, feel comfortable with your brand, and that’s the whole genre now. Is not only, ‘I have to get Danielle Ford to see my brand’ but, ‘I have to build a relationship with Danielle, I have to like her stuff, I have to build a rapport with her, I want her to get information about what we’re doing,’ Because that’s what social media is. At the end of the day it’s still social.

Danielle:  Right. Absolutely. A lot of brands and bigger companies forget that.

Danny:  That’s right, they do forget that. They just scroll to your feed and there’s Staples. Okay. Hmmm. Who cares?

Danielle:  Buy our staplers. Buy our printer.

Danny:  That’s right. Like anything, social media is a science. It’s so easy to describe. And it’s just a place where human beings interchange being human. But it is a science how to make it work right.

Danielle:  Absolutely. And it’s different for whatever brand you have, whatever messaging you have, and it really is like trial and error.

Danny:  That’s right. You know, I always say that if you have the ready means available, certainly social media managers are great. They all have different styles, some are more content queens, ‘I need that content!’ Some are more reaction engagement queens.

Danielle:  Some are more analytical.

Danny:  Some are more analytical.  You‘ve got to find someone that you like and make sure you work together well, because they have different ideas. Some are just glorified posters. Some are like, ‘Hey, give me a case of beer. I’ll post for you.’ You know, that’s something you can do yourself. But the main idea is, social media is a distribution network that you can use to build relationships, create a relationships and give people who want your information the great new content that’s out there.

Danielle:  I love it. You know we can talk about this all day long. But time’s a’ runnin’ out so I want to make sure people know where they can connect with you or reach you online.

Danny:  Well, Danny Vegas is a marketing platform which includes WCOBM. So World Center Broadcast Media that’s where we create all this great content, that are related to social media or social media meets TV, you can take that content and distribute it the way you want. Danielle Ford is an expert at that, we do it here at WCOBM. So, that’s where you get to see me pretty much nowadays, World Center Broadcast Media and Danny@wcobm.tv is my email address.

Danielle:  Thank you so much. Yeah you guys like he said, he is a producer. Content curator.

Danny:  I am the Operations guy for WCOBM here in Las Vegas and I create great content so that you can distribute that great content to the world.

Danielle:  And he walks his talk because this is the future of television and broadcasting – being able to come into a studio, film a show, have viewership and not have to get past the gate- keepers. So if you guys are interested in having a show like this, hit me up or hit Danny up and we can talk about how we can get you more visibility so you can make a difference and start spreading your message. This has been another episode of Leading Las Vegas my wonderful guest here is Danny Vegas and I’m also Dani Vegas, but I guess I’ll stick with Danielle Ford. . . that’s just creepy.

Danny:  Danielle Vegas. People are gonna think that we’re married.

Danielle:  That’s just creepy.  Thank you guys for watching and I’ll see you guys on the next episode!