2022 Reflections - Twitter, Social Audio, & NFTs

Newsletter Highlights

1. What are the Biggest questions that came up for me in 2022
2. The Year in Review - highlights, gratitude and people to acknowledge
3. My 3 Thought Leadership Trends for next year
4. My ASK: Share your biggest learning, reflection, or memory of 2022

"Are Newsletters back Bobby?" - said a HUNDRED people to me over several months. Well this one is back today. How often will it be back in 2023? Read on...

Given my work as a speaker, business coach, and content expert, I get asked a ton of questions. I also follow many different events and trends in the world across many social platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and now TikTok. ??

For my first newsletter post in many months, I want to talk about the biggest questions that have been coming up for me, along with some highlights to review. I hope you find this enjoyable and value-add.

1?? Question 1: "Bobby, WTF is going on with Twitter?"

Good question. After Elon Musk threatened to buy Twitter at a very overvalued price, most of us weren't sure it was going to go through. But it did, and then many things happened, some good, most bad. But most people want to know if it will survive.

Here is the story: Once upon a time there was a smart, nerdy, yet lonely billionaire. He loved public attention, and he also loved Twitter with it's unique culture and all the funny, crazy things that go on there and that are said on there. One day he decided "Hey I can fix this! I already have run two very profitable tech companies." So he bought it.

But unfortunately, he started making decisions based on his previous tech experience, without listening to current stakeholders and users. He fired the board, he removed more employees than he needed to, he tried to instill his own tech startup culture there, he removed the 3rd party independent safety and trust council. What resulted was a debacle of poorly made and rash decisions that he thought would work. Most did not.

Elon also found out that the culture of Twitter and the mechanism of this platform was different than what he was used to. People were very vocal and would call him out and make fun of him. Elon didn't like that very much. He started making significant decisions with polls, he tried to get rid of journalists, block competitors (e.g. restricted Mastodon), and say that people couldn't promote other platforms usk was jealous of. He even cancelled Twitter Spaces for 36 hours when people were asking him tough questions. Soon the stock of Tesla lost 70% because of concerns with Elon's behaviours on the platform. Overall this didn't go well.

The real challenge for Elon Musk is that on Twitter he is emotionally compromised, politically influenced, has removed too much accountability and clearly struggles with listening to stakeholders and users on Twitter vs. his own random ideas from high chair throne. This is making him a poor CEO.

Yeah but... Will Twitter survive? Yes. Twitter will survive. But it will evolve. ??

Musk can still own the thing, make money, but he needs to have a solid leadership team in place. But can he let go? Money (i.e. investors) might be the only influence to sway him to do the right thing long-term.

There are many accounts fleeing to Post, Mastodon, Tribel and that is a good contingency. But there is no place near as effective and global as Twitter to amplify voices, to build huge awareness for even the most vulnerable and marginalized people. It would take years for individuals to build their profiles on other platforms for a far more minuscule audience. It would take many more years for those platforms to get to the Twitter, Google, Facebook levels of users. So make your accounts, but keep investing in Twitter brand building.

2?? Question 2: "Bobby, is there a future with Social Audio?"

There is some perception that Clubhouse isn't relevant or that LinkedIn Audio isn't as good as other platforms or finally that Twitter Spaces is at risk because of the Elon Musk chaos.

The truth is there are people and brands monetizing and building community on all three platforms. The Thought Leadership Branding has helped many do this and continues to do so in our membership community.

I admit I was nervous when Twitter Spaces got shut down, but I knew it would come back. It's still one of my best places to share ideas, make connections and sell my programs.

It is still one of the best places to create deep, trusting connection with your audience because of the two-way democratized podcasting feel with the authentic audible voice. It is also the only place on social media where I have sold programs and workshops directly from the room. That is a rarity in digital marketing.

So continue investing in social audio as part of your content strategy. My favourite is still Twitter Spaces, but will continue my LinkedIn Audio rooms.

3?? Question 3: "Are NFTs a bust?"

There was was great enthusiasm for the NFT opportunity earlier this year. I spent time in Clubhouse and Twitter spaces running rooms and learning all I could about them. Some of my friends went all in. But then the crash happened. This doesn't mean there isn't a future with them. It just means we need more time to consolidate, learn and determine the best way to leverage their utility.

So while I have some NFTs and was partnering with a few projects, I was always in it for the long-term benefit. Think of it as buying some Apple stock way back when. Just don't throw in the house mortgage.

The Year in Review - highlights, gratitude and people to acknowledge

May - I did my first in-person speaking event after two years of pandemic cancellations and virtual talks. It was infectious (pun intended) the energy and love in that room. I was so grateful that I did something I'd never done: I gave THEM a gift. Normally I receive speaker gifts, but I was so grateful they stuck with me and reschedule each year for 2 years that I got them something.

July - We finally brought LinkedIn Local Toronto Meetups back after a 2-year hiatus. It was so good to be back. I'm now partnering with Swish Goswami and we delivered 2 more this year and plan another 4-5 next year. If you're in Toronto and want to help us plan these, DM me anytime.

August - My wife Ananda and I celebrated our 20th anniversary by going on our first trip without the kids in 15 years. We sent the kids to a 2-week summer camp and then we went for 9 days to Costa Rica. It was incredible, nurturing, revitalizing and so much more.

November Social Audio Awards: Winning the Gold Medal in the Education and Knowledge division for my work with LinkedIn Mastery and the Thought Leadership Branding club was a very nice accolade. Our own fellow TLB Club leader Roy Kowarski also won Social Audio Person of the Year.

Coaching - this is the first year in 17 years of entrepreneurship that coaching and online programs surpassed speaking as my primary business revenue. While speaking will excel even more in 2023, I am grateful to have had some amazing one-on-one clients, delivered a new group coaching program for my TEDx Speaker program, and building and supporting the Thought Leadership Branding club membership community with out weekly calls.

People - I made a list last year of 100 Thought Leaders to follow. These were folks who I had met or built a deep connection with last year. That list took a VERY long time to create. So today I am going to focus on a smaller list of NEW people and KEY people in my life in 2022.

TLB Leadership: Ilia Francis, Lynne Williams, Roy Kowarski, Angie Alexander, Juliana Bolden, Tom Knoble, Leanne Calderwood, Heather Epstein and especially Melanie Mitchell-Wexler, who became a Commander Riker to my Captain Picard.

Social Audio / Livestream collaborators: People I hosted Clubhouse, LinkedIn Audio and Twitter Space rooms with or did livestreams this year - Rachel Simon, Deanna Russo, Tuomo, Sweta Regmi, Mike Tomasello, Samantha Postman, Indra Bartona, Carmelia Ray, Brenda Meller, John Espirian, Kevin D. Turner, Amber Mac, and Richard van der Blom.

LinkedIn Local Toronto volunteers: Ramneet Brar, Ritik Bheda, Denish Malviya, and Swish.

TLB Club Members: We also welcomed new members in our TLB Club such as Toni McClelland, Manny Bhakri, Roseann Higgins, Caryn Clopton, Amolia Gardner, Michele Baran, Alex Minor, and Alex Bishop.

BEST Content Engagers: huge thanks to Jamie Myerscough, Greg Gillies, Tracey Gillies for always commenting on my posts. It is greatly noticed and appreciated. Also appreciate Cristina Iosef, who is often the first person to like my posts and La-Renda Jones who is a consistent re-poster of my content.

NEW Connections: Building a connection with this year and meeting or talking in person with them has been awesome - Caryma Sa'd, Ramon Ray, Simon Hodgkins. Pat Chaisang, Sujala Balaji, Lisa Wardlaw, Charlotte Clymer, Dan Shaikh, Candyce Edelen, Elizabeth Lindsay, Justin Konikow, Samantha Glover, and Eric Sim.

Obviously I can't remember everyone, but hopefully I captured many from this lovely year of clients, connections, community members and more. Thank you all for inspiring, teaching, and sharing with me.

3 Thought Leadership Trends for Next Year

In my regular weekly coaching room for the Thought Leadership Branding club, I shared a training to discuss trends in thought leadership. Here they are:

1?? Real, human-anchored opinions on current trends.

? 64% of business executives said they’d rather have thought leadership that has “a more human, less formal tone of voice”.

2?? Content Strategy matters most: invest in Video, Audio rooms and Storytelling.

? 65% of buyers say thought leadership significantly changed the perception of a company, for the better, due to a piece of thought leadership.

3?? Multi-Platform portfolio balance

? Reach new audiences, cross-platform growth, repurposed content, and can leverage automation tools like IFTTT.

There were many more trend I had considered. But happy to discuss them with you in the comments, if you are willing to ask the question. ????

What is My Ask for Today?

As we reflect on the past year, I would love for you to share a photo of something you are grateful for, something you learned, or something that was meaningful to you. ??????

UPCOMING EVENTS

Here's what I'm up to in the month of January.

1. 5-Day Thought Leadership Branding Challenge - Jan 16-20, 12pm-1pm ET

I ran this event 2 years ago and it was a paid thing. But this one last time, I am doing it for FREE. You basically get 5 one-hour training sessions from me each day where I will share LIVE some of my signature content and learn more about you and your brand journey. I even added some incredible bonuses for those who actually commit and show up. Learn more HERE.

2. 2023 Multi-Platform Expansion to Monetize & Land Clients: 3-month Mastermind Group starting Jan 27

Expanding your digital presence to multiple integrated platforms AND monetizing is the focus of this group coaching program. We have 3 experts helping you build and grow on LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. This is a mastermind group for 8 people max. What you get is below:

• We meet 3 times, for 1 hour each, monthly. You can also message us 24/7 with any updates or questions via our group chat we will create
• Outcomes: Double your revenue, expand your reach and followers, and generate more leads per month, get more speaking, coaching, and consulting gigs
• BONUS: 12-month membership to the TLB Club ($250 value)
• BONUS: 1-hour training on “How to Land Your First TEDx Talk” ($297 value)
• BONUS: Networking Mastery Modules (all 12 modules, $897 value)
• Replays of all training sessions
• REGISTER HERE

3. How to Skyrocket Connections into Clients Using LinkedIn Social Selling - Jan 26, 6pm ET

We are running this free training to help you focus on your social selling on this platform. We have 3 experts taking you through their personal methodologies.

Learn more HERE

Thanks for reading!

Take care, Bobby

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