Being in Public
Marketing oneself and my point of view on being strategic : an experiment and reflections.
Marketing Oneself
Published a long pending post on Being in public. I wrote how it will always be work in progress and the most fund part about it.
We like to show a complete version of our selves to strangers.
This is seen in many who have a large following on social media. We all want to be presented as a person who has everything under control. We spend sculpting away our self to become legible for the algorithms first and the followers who come from them.
On the contrary, I believe in the act of bringing our incomplete self and work in progress ideas to the public.
I like to use the word public over followers. It associates with a “1 - n” communication instead of feeling like shouting into a void.
This post of being in public and building in public is to increase our odds of achieving goals and find mutuals who will help us build it better than we alone envisioned.
Marketing is like sending a bat signal to your fellow mutuals who are interested in similar topics as you.
If you are not interested in what you do at work. Being public becomes little tedious.
Marketing Yourself is a post by Kris who writes an investment newsletter titled Moon Tower Meta. He comments on a post by highlighting the important parts of how to think of marketing yourself even if you are not a celebrity.
My journey of being public and posting on the social media started very late compared to when I signed up. I have been on Twitter for 8 years before I took up regular tweeting.
Its now easier for me to write as I write about what I read. Motivation behind doing this is captured in this post.
My entire career is built on me reaching out to people through sliding into their DMs. They shared publicly both their thoughts and work. I have done this for the last 4 years and still continue to do it. Met some fascinating people along the way.
Now, I am also getting the benefit of having my body of work in public. Fellow mutuals are finding me to have conversations on the topics I write about.
Round Up: LinkedIn Experiment
Just to amuse myself and see if I could game the algorithm of LinkedIn and increase engagement. I wrote for 10 consecutive days about various topics. All of them took less than 15 minutes to write.
I gained ~10% new followers as you can see(👆🏽). While the content performed randomly. 300% looks a huge number until you see the graph (👇🏽).
The sample of posts that I have written are all linked in reverse chronological.
The final point being that I shared what I learned across two weeks for my LinkedIn followers. I would have anyways shared but little leisurely if not for this experiment.
So, I am not a good content hacker on LinkedIn. And, can’t be bothered to become good at it.
Links that resonated
This week I linked to articles that talk about two sides of self. The public and the internal lives we live.
How to Hack the LinkedIn algorithm and game your engagement
Kartik who comments on advertising and personal branding quite a lot shares the same sentiment. Hacking the algorithm shouldn’t be the goal. The company and its arbitrary decisions shouldn’t shape what you write.
Jack Appleby’s post on getting started
I find this short LinkedIn post by Jack is a good tactic to get started. Keep it simple and focus on 100 reps. You can think deeper once you are done with first 100.
Book Review of Wild Problems
Russ Robert is one of my favourite podcast hosts. His recent foray into exploring philosophy beyond his expertise of economic thinking is interesting.
His recent book is titled “Wild Problems” and this post is a wholesome review of why I and you should be investing time and money in buying the book.
He offers no silver bullet for our ongoing quiet tragedy of alienation and anomie. He does not claim to offer one. He does, however, provide a valuable reorientation toward the life well-lived that we can share with all in their spheres of influence. Given its lack of pretension, Wild Problems can be both a work of philosophy for the masses and self-improvement for intellectuals.
Who do you really want to be is such an existential dread question. Russ, has a way of seeing that we as an individual view this question’s answers in relations we have. I am also coming around to realising the essence of this lesson and the phrase(emphasis mine) is exquisite.
Our meta-desires are shaped by exogenous forces such as family, community, and a moral code that either is or simulates religious belief. “Whom do I really want to be?” appears self-centered but is in fact a highly relational question. The answer is inevitably something like this: We want to be people who rise to the roles of good spouse, parent, team member, and congregant. We want to be defined in relation to other people. Our fulfillment depends in large part on how well we can choose the proper direction in our path toward being not just loved but lovely, to borrow one of Roberts’s favorite phrases from Adam Smith.
Bringing it to a close
Not everyone likes being public. You will know before you finish your 100 reps. And, it is not necessary to be public. Its a choice. Still, attempt at least once is all I suggest.
For me, I like finding Friendly Ambitious Nerds (F.A.Ns) who talk about their work earnestly. While open to discuss it with strangers in public forums. It helps me stay curious on the journey of learning interesting things.
Signing off till next time,
Vivek, sending bat signals to all F.A.Ns