This post came about from two completely different trains of thought. The first was a post Ndubuisi Ekekwe did in 2018. ‘The Best Possible Business Idea in Nigerian Telecom for Entrepreneurs’
These were the posts I liked from Prof. the most, where he wrote very detailed business analysis of multifaceted circumstances and issues, from a position of impartiality and no personal interest.
I reflected on how things have changed since then… firstly in the extent to which business affairs issues have moved on, and secondly the noticeable reduction in Prof’s fielding of this kind of content on LinkedIn.
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These days, his time on the platform seems more limited, and his plate seems full with covering the standard announcements for Tekedia Institute, and doing the needful for the promotion of Tekedia Capital Start-ups.
The second train of thought concerns a poll post from one Clare Caroll who posed a question about what LinkedIn is.
Which I answered like this:
Ultimately it doesn’t really matter how you identify with any product in the ‘Universal Metaverse’
The important thing is that people have a strategy.
While it is important for everyone, it is probably even more important for the young and ‘yet-to-achieve’ because there is so much life ahead, and that is a life that needs a concious effort to self-manage.
This means time spent online should have strategic objectives.
Gaining traction online in itself isn’t an objective. It does not project you forward. It needs to be part of an ‘aggregation strategy’
Aggregation is about consistently doing something which in itself doesn’t generate value, but which then makes something else possible, which is the one that finally delivers the value.
Trying to build huge numbers of connections, and then get loads of followers with the aim of becoming an ‘influencer’ with no ‘aggregation strategy’ plan in place may be a fools errand.
Generic ‘influencing’ is now a ‘Red Ocean’ pursuit. I’ve picked four people to make an illustration. I’ve deliberately avoided celebrities of such profile that their achievements would completely eclipse any additional benefit they could get from online media exposure, such as Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zukerberg, Richard Branson, Michael Dell, Alan Sugar etc.
The featured folk have all invested somewhere between six and twelve years to get their networks to where they are.
There is a great example from Ndubuisi Ekekwe on how Tiktok entered the market and found a USP over existing players in the segment. If your ‘aggregation plan’ has a dependency on weight of numbers then you may equally need to find a USP to outflank competition. On numbers alone, there are so many that are light years ahead, and they are accelerating away from us at exponential rates. Relative relevance on numbers alone, a 5000 LinkedIn network now will have lost 90% of its relative relevance by the time it is at the invitation threshold of 30k, and a 50k network will see a comparable collapse by the time it is 100k
‘Influence’ is rapidly translating from a sellers market to a buyers one UNLESS a very unique USP set can be applied just like Tiktok.
You will also need to build in some flexibility. Keep abreast of new developments in different parts of the Metaverses. Clare Caroll mentions the new ‘Creator Mode’ coming to LinkedIn
Career coach Martin Buckland often warns of behavioral changes that can suggest people have become desperate for a job. Employers often chase what they can’t get, and run a mile from anybody that has an odour of desperation. He says we need to be consistent.
But we also need to define what consistent means.
Returning to the earlier part of this piece, I bring a reprise on the change in Ndubuisi Ekekwe’s contribution behaviour. I may notice these changes but I am not privy to his ‘endgame strategy for your participation in the online metaverses’ The contribution behaviour may not be the endgame strategy itself but just symptoms of it. Sticking to the plan and being consistent may involve an evolution of contribution behaviour.
We also have SMO (Social Media Office) Regimes in global companies that we may serve or work with from time to time. An endgame strategy will need to be sufficiently robust to absorb changes in contribution behaviour dictated by different SMO regimes that we may flow though.
Summary:
- Have an endgame strategy for our participation in the online metaverses
- Develop, know and understand our aggregation plan
- Be flexible enough to absorb technical changes in metaverse elements and contribution behaviour modifications as a result of changing SMO regimes we flow though.
- Do not get caught up in a humdrum like chasing of metrics.
- Set achievable goals that support continuity – be an eternal flame, not a firework.
Ref:
linkedin.com/posts/ndubuisi-ekekwe-36068210_the-lesson-from-tiktok-on-facebook-and-mr-activity-6830583984037117952-CHNv
linkedin.com/posts/clare-carroll-digitalmarketing_contentangel-digitalbyclare-ugcPost-6866363578375528448-M8Ie
www.tekedia.com/the-best-possible-business-idea-in-nigerian-telecom-for-entrepreneurs/