Our Biggest Competitor Is Our Attention (or lack of it)

I always knew there are people with unusually bizarre taste when it comes to their viewer preferences, but yesterday I was invited to take a glimpse of the strangest, most mind-boggling thing. And before you get excited and start visualizing all sorts of unmentionable scenarios- I will cut right to the chase! Imagine going onto YouTube and watching a kid do his homework for six hours- nothing else, just plain old boring homework! Yes, there is a following for this kind of mundanity; his hundreds of thousands of fans prove that. What left me baffled is why someone would opt to watch this. So, I asked the entire room of over 250 people attending the latest motivational and social media educational masterclass by millionaire John Lee, if they would subscribe to this type of channel and not-surprisingly not a single person expressed any interest. Perhaps there were a few weirdos who secretly would, but certainly no one openly admitted to having a taste for this, as I put them all on the spot. But there are over 4 billion individuals with internet access worldwide (approximately 55.1% of the world population) and millions of them use YouTube. This has become the new TV; and even though we thought watching Teleshop or the Fishing Channel or snooker competitions was strange, this one beats them all!

I naturally wondered who would subscribe to such a channel, and even more so- who in their right mind would think that someone (except for their loving mother) would enjoy watching them do their homework. And then it struck me! As a kid, I always loved going over to my Korean-Canadian friend’s house to do homework. The social aspect of having a partner in crime in this obligatory after-school task always made it more fun! And then I started to connect the dots. In the past: regular dating and regular after-school study groups were the norm; now we witness the boom of online, social media and virtual reality dating and POTENTIALLY online homework partnerships. Could that be the reason? And even though this particular genius did not do much talking (unlike the popular online make-up tutorials and cooking advice); it was like having a partner to do your homework with!

Monetizing on social media is all about the perceived value that you bring to people’s lives. What this kid was giving back, was of value to hundreds of thousands. Hence, he was able to create passive and leveraged income through relevant content and influencer power with the help of all his followers. When you have exposure, you have opportunity. What I learned from self-made millionaire John Lee, brought to speak in Dubai by Najahi Events, is that there is a following for just about anything. If someone on YouTube has created a significantly large following from folding linen and towels repeatedly, then surely other more exciting concepts such as how to create awesome high-impact annual colleague parties and one-of-a-kind team building events, as well as positive psychological practices at work, meaningful rewards and recognition ceremonies, would have a strong following too right? This is what my role as Director of Employee Marketing and Communications at Atlantis, The Palm entails. And as part of this role, I keep myself positive, motivated and engaged by intentionally doing activities that make me happy. Oh, come to think of it, that could also make for some interesting live feed! So much to offer- but where does one start? Our biggest competitor is our attention. What we pay attention to, begins to matter. What are you paying attention to?