Ignoring your audience may go against the ‘Know Your Audience’ convention. But when in doubt, make yourself your own target audience.
Start sharing something you will come back to read and say ‘I wanted to hear this. Would you give yourself bad freelance advice? No.
Are you following a trend in your industry obsessively? Share it as a reminder to yourself.
People don’t notice but a good percentage of my posts on LinkedIn (where I have an audience of 36,200+ followers) are just a reminder to myself. I do that on X and doing it on Medium.
Most of the time I treat LinkedIn as my note-taking app, dumping thoughts from my daily learnings. When I write; “If you come from a low-income country or a poor family, make sure you earn in dollars on the internet”. This is me advising myself. I come from a poor country with a weak currency against the US dollar. You just happened to relate to the message.
Abdulrazak Gurnah, a Nobel Prize winner in Literature, resists “the idea that a writer represents”. “I write for me”, he says. If you hear an echo in your own experience, that’s great.
But he did not set out to represent society, person, or country.
Let’s hear some wisdom from Lang Leav an Australian novelist and poet. On what to write, she says:
You want to write for the world but you can’t figure out what the world wants. If you write for a trend, it will be over before you can get a word out. If you write for fame and fortune, your work will lack authenticity. So, remember, writing is a journey inward, not out. Write for yourself. That is what the world wants.
Lang Leav
Jordan B. Peterson once said that there’s no such thing as an audience. An argument I explained in this piece; you only talk to one person.
So whenever you find yourself struggling with “topics” to write. Whenever in doubt. Make yourself your own target audience. It works.
Kuwa makini kuhusu Followers na Engagement unayopata. Kuna mwamba pale LinkedIn anafollowers 155,300+. Ni wengi si ndiyo?
Post zake ni zile za Agree? —si unazipata zile? Yaani mavichekesho, post za huruma na mambo kama hayo.
Likes ni nyingi kupita maelezo. Sometimes zinafika hadi 54,000+ kwa post moja.
Niambie, how do you get qualified leads kwa kupost hivi vitu?
Unaweza sema huyu mwamba kashatoboa si ndiyo? From the look of it sidhani. Kwa maana hadhi ya jina lake bado DHAIFU na Hawezi Kuuza. Ana followers. Hana influence.
Huyu akisema auze bidhaa atajikuta anashangaa kama Yesu, “wako wapi wale kenda?” Anaweza asiuze kabisa kwa wasifu ule alionao. Unajua ni kwanini?
Anajitambulisha kama Expert in Digital Marketing lakini watu wanamjua kama jamaa anayepost vitu flani funny au motivating. Hawajui anaweza kuwasaidia nini. Kwasababu ukishuka kwenye post zake, post ya kwanza hadi ya ishirini huoni post kuhusu ujuzi na maarifa yake. Yaani yeye kama yeye hana cha kuongea. Siyo creator. Ni msambazaji wa yale anayokusanya huko mtandaoni.
Akijaribu kupost huduma engegement inaporoka kutoka likes zaidi ya 20,000 hadi likes chini ya 20. Yaani amejikusanyia audience ya watu wenye attention span ya TikTok. Hawa ni kama wale walioponywa ukoma wakaenda kimoja bila kurudi kumshukuru Yesu.
Usiende mtandaoni kukidhi mihemko ya watu. There is what sells on a particular platform, and there’s WHY you are there. If you’re there to entertain the ramblings of incoherent masses then fine.
Kuwa na followers 100 wanaojua nini unafanya na nini watapata kutoka kwako ni bora,
KULIKO kuwa na 10,000 followers ambao hawajui ni nini hasa unafanya au watapata nini from you.
Penye nzi, fisi na mwewe wengi pana bidhaa ambayo walaji wake wana uwezo (read kipato) mdogo. Yaani hawana uwezo kama simba au chui kukimbiza swala, kumuua na kumla.
Kundi la simba wakiwa wanakula nyama ni dogo tu. Kundi la wala mzoga ni utitiri.
Kwenye biashara, masoko yote ni pyramids. Wapo walaji walio juu ya food supply chain. Na wapo walio chini. At the bottom.
Kama unapata utitiri wa engagement kwenye post zako basi, kama tulivyoweka bayana hapo juu, umegusa kundi la wenye kipato kidogo. Yaani watu WOTE.
Maudhui yenye chembe za hisia, mihemko, mzaha na upuuzi wenye kuchekesha huvutia watu masikini. Kundi hili linapenda burudani kwasababu huwasahaulisha uhalisia wa hali zao ngumu.
Hapo sahau kuhusu kuwauzia bidhaa. Unaweza kuongelea matatizo yao na ukawagusa, lakini pesa yao inaenda kwenye mahitaji ya lazima.
Labda kama content yenyewe ndiyo bidhaa. Yaani unalipwa na YouTube kwa views za masikini hawa. Yule jamaa yetu kapotea njia maana LinkedIn hawalipi mtu. Bora angekuwa X kwa maokoto ya Elon Musk.
Ukitaka kuvutia attention ya watu wenye kipato cha tarakimu 8 usiandae maudhui yanayovutia watu wenye kipato cha tarakimu 5.
Maudhui ambaya ni ‘ngumu kumeza’ yaani high tech, high intelligence —haya huvutia kundi dogo tu la watu. Hapa hatupo tena chini ya pyramid. Hawa wanaweza kununua.
Ok, turudi mbugani; unakimbiza swala au utakula kilichosazwa?
Kwenye post hii pale LinkedIn, kuna watu kadhaa wamejaribu kukosoa lugha niliyotumia. Huwa napata critics hizi mara nyingi. Watu hawa hawajui mimi ni mwalimu wa lugha na fasihi na kwa miaka mingi nimethibitisha umahiri katika eneo hili la uwasilishaji. What they miss is why nimechagua aina hii ya uwasilishaji.
Moja kati ya sanaa zinaogopwa na mamlaka dhalimu ni mziki wa kufoka. Nay wa Mitego akiimba kuhusu uongozi mbovu lazima nyimbo ifungiwe. Roma yuko mafichoni.
Kwanini? Ukitaka kupata mrejesho kwa watu, ukitaka watu waamke na wachukue hatua, lazima ujumbe wako uibue hisia za kero na mshituko. The average mwananchi is docile. Ukiwasilisha kipole, kizembe, na kitakatifu utaishia kupata “Well said” na “Spot on”.
Yesu mwenyewe inafika mahali anaita watu wapumbavu, wanafiki, na waongo. Anaenda mbali anakuwa violent anavuruga meza za biashara ndani nyumba yake. Kama Yesu hakubembelezi, itakuwa mimi?
Most people have barely scratched the surface of effective delivery.
Wengine wasomi kabisa. Sijui wanapataje hizo Dr. na PhD bila kusoma rhetoric. Au ni za “kutunukiwa”. Tatizo la wengi, hasa wazee ni wamekua enzi za Nyerere zilizotawaliwa na uoga pamoja na maonyo makali.
Waliosoma kitabu changu wanaelewa. Nimetumia kurasa nyingi kueleza saikolojia ya maudhui na kitu kinaitwa “signaling”. Mfano wa signaling; mimi siwezi kusema kuwa nina ujasiri. Ila nitaongelea kitu ambacho wewe umefyata mkia kukiongelea. Hapo ndipo utakiri kimoyo moyo “this guys is confident.”
The best way to convey reality in a way that will shock people is to weave it into art and fiction.
Yesu Kristo na kushtua watu
Halikuwa jambo geni kwa miungu wa zamani kupata shida na matatizo ya kibinadamu. Mengine kupelekea kufa kwao. Lakini walipata matatizo hayo wakiwa kwenye hali ya umungu. They remained in their god ranks. Hivyo, ikawa vigumu kwa watu ku-relate ni kwa kiasi gani miungu hao waliteseka. Kama mtu si sehemu ya uhalisia wako, unakosa muktadha unaokuruhusu uhisi shida zake.
Lakini aliyekuja kuwastua wanadamu na kuwakera baadhi ni Yesu. Yaani akajishusha hadi kuwa binadamu wa kawaida. Tena maskini. Huo mshitko wa kwanza. Na kero kwa Warumi maana walitarajia mfalme dikteta.
Isitoshe akauawawa na wanajeshi watumwa wa Roma. Mshituko wa pili kwa watu. Kilichofuata ni wafuasi wake kumwanini zaidi na kufanya msalaba kuwa alama ya utukufu na utakatifu. Huu nao ni mshangao na mshituko kwani msalaba ilikuwa alama ya mateso kwa watu wa chini kabisa katika jamii. Watu wa kutupwa.
Hapa ninajaribu kukuonyesha umuhimu wa kuchombeza mshangao, kero, mshituko na sanaa kwenye ujumbe wako. Yesu aliingia kwa kushangaza watu (Mungu gani anazaliwa zizini?) na kuondoka kwa kustua wengi. Mpaka leo, neno la Yesu linatamkwa katika kila kinywa. Waamini na wasioamini.
Uwasilishaji fanisi umekaa kichokozi
Wale wanaonikosoa ndiyo uthibitisho wa hoja yangu. Kwa maana huwa siwaoni wakishiriki kwenye post zingine. Lakini ujumbe wangu umewastua kiasi cha kuacha comment. Ningetumia lugha ya kawaida wangepita tu. Post zangu nyingi zinazoanzisha mijadala ya maana ni zile ambazo nimetia uchizi na uchokozi kwenye uwasilishaji.
Fitness expert Doug Brignole wrote in his book, The Physics of Resistance Exercise;
“Complete forward flexion of the spine and deliberate contraction of the rectus abdominis, is much more likely to produce muscular development of the abs.”
While he could have said.
Bending forward to make full contraction of abdominal muscles will give you six packs.
Then mention the two exercises for that;
Seated cable ab crunches
Incline bench ab crunches.
But no. The expert fancied the idea of making exercise sound like classical mechanics and complex biology. Yes, exercise is biomechanics. But no one in my year of gym going has uttered things like “rectus abdominis” or “forward flexion”. Me and my gym bros we say abs, packs, or six packs.
His book is the best fitness book I ever read. You should read it. Only that his delivery limited it to a few learned, pro bodybuilders. Maybe that was his target. A book for trainers, not for the DIY rest of us.
But the point stands. There are more lies in the fitness industry than in romantic relationships. This book could have saved many. If you have something to say, and you have expertise in it, it would be irresponsible to make the message difficult to read.
Difficult, specialized words disengage people.
Unless you want to prove that you also went to school, jargon doesn’t help you much. You will look smart but also make people feel like they don’t belong.
We are wired to respond to content and stories written in clear, simple language. If you want to engage people, plain language is your friend.
With plain language, more people will read and understand your message. And act on it. And if you said something valuable to people, what impact would that be? Plain language is inclusive.
And please do not confuse your message not being for everyone with your message not being effective.
If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself
The best way to dilute your perceived brand authority as a writer is commoditizing your work. AI is tempting everyone writing on Medium to enter the quantity trap. You see some author publishing every day and feel like you’re being left out.
You start thinking maybe you should start publishing more. Please don’t.
I will tell you why
You can never compete in the quantity game. That is turning your work into low-priced fast-moving consumer goods. That’s the worst thing you can do to your brand. Writers ought to have some self-respect.
You can only compete on:
Value and proposition.
Having soul in the game.
Being relevant and relatable.
Like I said in this piece, we are past the time of sharing five tips to do this or five tips not to do that. With AI in the mix, it is no longer about what is posted, But who posted it.
You should worry more about what the writing reflects about you than a 30-article-per-month goal.
Growth doesn’t even work that way. Frequency is one thing. Quality and TIME are other crucial factors. Fast writing your way to success is as rare as a green dog. Resist the urge to break your great idea into three fluff-filled pieces.
Oh, is it the Medium money?
I was initially sad that the Medium Partner program does not apply in my country. But then I realized it was a blessing in disguise. It gives me a reason to focus on why I am here rather than looking at what numbers each post gets. Any platform that introduces a payment model, its users largely become commodities. Few earn actual money. The masses forage on pennies.
If your goal is solely to get Medium money, I understand the pressure to publish more. You write one piece and it flops. You think if I write another it will help. Before you realize it, you have 100 articles on your profile that even you, the author, won’t spend 40 seconds reading. People smell it when you’re writing just for the views.
Joined Medium in 2018 then abandoned it. But this piece I wrote, not proud of it now, gets 250 reads per month. Try having a few pieces like this. Not 100 articles that get 9 reads per month and stop getting any in the future.
Let’s talk business
There are better ways to make money online. Any earning model tied to your activity within a particular platform is unsustainable and not to be relied upon. Unles you’re Mr. Beast, which you are not.
Here is the question; what is your main business? That main business should be your digital home and you use these platforms you have little control over as DISTRIBUTION channels. Whether it is LinkedIn, Medium, or X — they’re at best distribution channels.
Since I write experience-based insights, here is an example; I have a marketing agency that also provides hosting and web design services. I also have an eBook.
I spend ZERO on marketing. No cold DMs, no networking events. My audience of 32,000+ followers on LinkedIn is where I get most of the qualified leads. The combined monthly income is not even close to 10x what most writers earn here per month.
It takes the pressure of speed off if you are not beholden to a platform’s built-in way of earning. I am basically talking about diversification.
The value of trust is raising
The marketplace of ideas has become chaotic. But thanks to one thing. People now come online with an understanding that everyone can easily come up with something. And they also know that the invisible hand of AI is becoming harder to spot. So who did the posting matters more than what was posted. Reputation and provenance will prevail.
Take a look at your articles and ask yourself, “What kind of reputation am I building here?” And when the pressure to publish more comes, ask yourself “To what end?”
I learned very early in my writing journey that the only thoughts I have control over what people think of them are those I haven’t shared yet.
In this edition of Social Rhetoric, we are going to crush your fears. That concern of what people will think of your post. The one that made you leave so many thoughts unpublished. Thoughts that would have made an echo in someone’s life.
Your fears are misplaced. Whenever you ask ‘What will people think of my post’ you ask the wrong question. There is no “people.” Let me explain:
Like I said in this article, when you are writing a thought, or idea (post), you are not writing one post. You are writing 100s of posts.
That’s because many people are going to read and understand it differently. It is going to find people in a different state of mind or environment that may affect their judgment. How can you control that? Should you care?
Let’s say that you care. This means you craft something that succeeds to get everyone to agree with what you have said. Well, then you should not have said it. You just said something so basic that has been said over and over. You held back your thoughts, you were not communicating, you were simply sharing information.
Even when two or three people leave negative comments, it is two out of how many received the message –200? Strangely, we tend to be bothered by the small number of negative comments than the majority of positive ones.
Online discourse is about sharing insights that can be accrued to your name. If it is unique and valuable, society rewards you. If it is bad, you bear the brunt of criticism. The last time I checked, people were still forgiving.
The only thought you have control over what people think of it is the one you have not shared yet. Once you click publish, it is no longer in your control and in most cases not your responsibility what people make of it.
Promise yourself this
If you discover that you have a voice that needs an outlet, then give that voice an outlet. Which is to say post online. If you discover that you have a way of presenting things in a way that people get interested to listen, then it is irresponsible not to do so.
Also what if you are not writing to present-day humans? People who lived 100 years ago are speaking to us through their writings. What if you’re speaking to someone in the future -should you care what present humans think of it?
When I started reading philosophy, I came across Hannah Arendt, a historian and political philosopher whose work has been resoundingly successful at provoking thought and discussion.
Reflecting on her work towards the end of her life, she said this:
“Each time you write something and you send it out into the world and it becomes public, obviously everybody is free to do with it what he pleases, and this is as it should be. I do not have any quarrel with this. You should not try to hold your hand now on whatever may happen to what you have been thinking for yourself. You should rather try to learn from what other people do with it.”
