Bragging for Business

Hello, and welcome to the show today. I'm also not in the audio booth, so I expect to hear some interruptions in the background. Today we're going to be looking at whether bragging about your awards on social media can help you grow sales. Now, the reason I want to talk about this today is because I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. So particularly on LinkedIn, you know, people hop on and of course, they're boasting about all kinds of things.

You know, today I got my PhD, today I got recognized by the International, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Today I got this award. Today I got this award, Today I got this award. Next week I'm going to be presented with this award. So I'm going to tackle the question of whether bragging about all these sorts of things can help you grow your sales. And if indeed it can help you grow sales, what is the best way to go about bragging on social media or talking about all of these things?

Now, the context that we're going to look at in particular is a human resources professional who got recently awarded with some international award for nonprofit education. Now, the reason why I'm taking this one in in particular is because I think it's the most least obvious 1. Like you get an award from an international Abbey. Sorry, hold on. You get an international award for nonprofit education, and you're thinking, how can this help you grow sales?

So that's the reason why I'm picking this particular scenario because it's the least one, the least likely one that most of us would think can help us grow our sales. So that's what we'll be chatting about pretty much there on the podcast. Now let's see what else. OK, shout out, listen to shout out. I'd like to shout out. First off, I'd like to shout out Abiola Sampson, who is in real estate. He currently works with Zula Rich Properties.

OK, so he found me on the podcast. He's listened to a bunch of episodes, reached out on WhatsApp, and both of us had, you know, weeping back and forth. And then we had a phone conversation. So he's currently in school. And so he sells real estate during the holidays and whenever he can get back to Lagos because I can't remember where he schools, but he finds it easier to sell real estate when he's back home in Lagos than when he's in school.

So just like with who else, the other guy that I shouted out maybe like 2 days ago, for those of you who are still in OK Usha Usha go, who is still in school and who is doing front end developing. So for those of you who are still in school and trying to run things, I mean like hats off to you guys. I really think you guys are on the right track. And so Usha Abiola Sampson, who else, I can't remember their names, these ladies in University of Ebano.

So you people keep doing your thing. It's going to make that big decision of OK, I'm done with school. So now what? It's going to take away a lot of all that stress because at least, how do I put it, like you finish school and there's something that is bringing in a bunch of naira and there's no existential angst because at least you have something small that you're holding in your hand while you're thinking about what to do next.

And like I tell people in this situation, Abiola Sampson selling real estate right now, even if you decide to go and do something else later on, you decide to be a pastor, you decide to be a doctor, you decide to be a politician, you decide to be an engineer, you decide to be whatever. All these things that you're doing right now is giving you transferable skills, useful experience that you can transfer into whatever endeavour you're going to do later on.

So shout out to Abiola Samson, keep trying to float your real estate. You know we're behind you. We support you. Now the next shout out is going to be a challenge because I have not seen this name before. Excuse me, and I have not heard this name before. So I was telling her that today I'm going to have to speak Ebo on the podcast. So the next shout out is to Miss Summer Aguchuku. I hope I pronounced the name correctly.

Miss Summer is NME, so I'm assuming this May NMESOMMA Miss Summer Aguchuku. So I've heard of Aguchuku before. I've never heard of Aguchuku. So yeah, when we have a child, we national what that means. I did some research, ChatGPT is useful for a lot of things. So I did some research on the name Miss Thomas since I've never heard it before and I think it means a beautiful name or something like that. So you guys had it here first,

ChatGPT and Google Gemini and all those things. It's official. They can speak EBO. So you can go and type in your EBO questions there. You hear an EBO sentence, you hear an EBO word. You want to know what it means? ChatGPT will hook you up and Gemini also hooked you up, so mess on my beautiful name and then I'll go Chuku. Yeah, find out about that from her later. So Miss Oma is based in Anugua. She's a beauty and skin care specialist.

She's currently going through a rebrand and so she doesn't have all her stuff up yet. Once she has the Instagram handle and the website ready, I'll let you guys know so you can go and check out some of her stuff. So that's the listener shout outs for today. So thank you very much Abiola Sampson for listening to the podcast. Thank you very much, Miss Summer. Miss Summer for listening to the podcast and thank you very much for reaching out.

It's always nice to know podcast listeners, what you guys are doing, what you're up to, problems that you're facing, questions that you would like to be answered. So you guys face, you guys are determined the evolution of the show. So please keep reaching out and especially now that you guys get to interact with me directly because I keep telling you guys and you think I'm joking, but when I become a big boy, I am not going to be responding to my messages.

It'll be my Pai. Don't have APA yet. When I become a big boy, it won't be me. It'll be the PA. So while I'm here, take advantage of it. Then let's see what else. OK, I have what I'm listening to on Spotify. So currently I'm jamming out to Rick Ross and that guy Rick Ross the boss as a correct guy. For some reason I forgot about him, but real good music. In fact, there's this song there. Is it God did it or something? Now it is a master jam.

So on that particular song, Rick Ross featured DJ Khaled. He had Lil Wayne, he had Jay-Z, he had who? Again, this guy that sang everyday people, we're just ordinary people. John Legend. John Legend was it was on it and who again as encouraging God did it. So if you're looking for nice motivational, spirit filled hip hop music to start your day, then check out Rick Ross. God did it. But if you haven't listened to rap before, Rick Ross is not a gospel musician.

So don't be blasting it in the house as per you're trying to pump gospel music into the house and maybe Momsy is around and then the thing will finish and then, you know, we're now moving to stripper music. You know, moms will be confused. Like I thought he said this was gospel music. So Rick Ross is not gospel music. But that particular song God did, it is a testament to what God can do in your life, especially if you have hustle.

So I'll say listen to the song and that's one of the reasons why I advocate for people to keep listening to rap music because of the motivational aspect of rap music. That whole thing of we started from the bottom, now we're here as in we're hustling, we go make up, we will make it way, that kind of thing. It's nice things to have in your earbuds. If you have chosen the life of an entrepreneur, if you're the business owner of your self-employed.

So on Spotify right now, Rick Ross, I'm also listening to reach Rich boy, also some good music. He's the guy that they throw some DS on it. Those of you who are born OK, let me stop rising on little people. Let me just say not everybody's going to know who rich boy is, but any good motivational rap music there. So Rick Ross and rich boy, now let's get onto the matter for the day. So like I said, I'm trying to figure out or I'm trying to help you guys figure out whether bragging about your awards on social media can help you grow sales.

And like I said, the context is we're looking at the human resources professional who has gotten an international award for non profit education. So human resources, those are the people who handle payroll. If you work for Zenith Bank, human resources are the people who handle who make sure their salary gets paid on time. There are also people who handle records. So when you get married and you have to change your maiden name,

it's human resources that's going to do that. Then they also handle discipline issues. If you come late and you're abusing other employees, human resources are the ones who have to set up panel and to make sure that you're punished. Then see what else, if you're womanizing people in the office and it's beyond your matter is becoming too much. Human resources are the people who are going to have to either report to the police or sack you or discipline you or whatever.

So human resources, really wonderful profession, really complex profession, and these are the sorts of things that they do. For those of you who are human resources consultants listening to the show, please don't be angry. If I have mischaracterized, I'll be mischaracterized your profession. But I'm speaking from a layman's point of view. And so for we ordinary people, when we hear human resources, this is what we think about.

So to answer the question, I'm bragging about your awards on social media help you grow sales. The answer is kind of a yes. And let me explain the simple rule for bragging about social media or building a brand or trying to build a cult or trying to build a whatever it is that you called it, you know, personality called personality. This personality, whatever. The thing that you guys need to understand is that it's not a bad idea, but remember that it's not about you.

Because you look at all the superstars who have built something big, you know, like LeBron James or Oprah or Oculus and some politicians, let's say Peter will be Antinobu. And then we think that it's about you. We think that if I should build something about me, me, me, me, me, then people are just going to be feeling the boy. People will just be feeling me. And unfortunately, that is not how it works. This is how it works.

People don't really care about you, they care about what you can do for them. So people who like LeBron James or Oprah or Peter OB or Timbu is not really LeBron James per SE or Oprah per SE or Peter OB per SE. It is what Oprah and Peter, OB and LeBron James, it is the aspirations or the the things that they speak to, how it connects with you. That is actually what people care about. So for Oprah, she's the queen of transformation, personal enlightenment, Zen, you know,

all of that. So that is why people love Oprah. The moment Oprah decides that she's now a born again Christian, I think she'll lose half of her audience because people are not fooling Oprah for that stuff. So it's not really about Oprah per say. It's because it's Oprah. Goodness, oneness, openness to the universe, personal divine transformation, enlightenment. Be one with the universe, be one with everybody. You know all that, you know all those good vibes.

So Oprah should not get it twisted that it's about her because the moment she flips and starts doing a new script, she becomes Pentecostal, born again Christian, give your life to Christ or go to hell. You see, she would just lose half her audience. So it's not really about her because it was about her. If Oprah goes to the left, everybody will follow. If she goes to the right, everybody will follow. But it's not about Oprah.

It's about how Oprah makes her audience feel. The same thing with Peter will be it's not really about Peter OB per SE was because he has this vibe of Buck the establishment. So that's why people are feeling him. And it's the same thing with Chenubu. It's not really about Tenbu per SE, but it's about, you know, people who like this whole thing of take the whole world on your own terms. I mean the core, I'll be easy. I mean local, I'll be how do you say it?

You know, it's my turn, you know, so that's that's the whole vibe. Like I want to capture the world. I'll do it on my own terms. So these are the sorts of things. So it's also the same thing. You turn the wood should now become a born again Christian. I repent of my evil ways. I give up. What is that chaos say? I think Zachary said he would give up everything he has taken from people or he has stolen from people who would give back fourfold.

Let's see what else? So if teenable cause born again, I renounce this, I do this, I do this, I do this. I whatever you see that he would just lose half his fans because people who love him, they love the Jacobin is the Jacobin. What's it called? That Jacobin thing. That's actually what they are in love with. So I guess what I'm trying to say is this. You're trying to build a brand. You're trying to brag about stuff. You're trying to tell the world about things that you've been doing.

Just realize that it's not about you. It's about what you do for people or what that information is going to do for people. So now when it comes to boasting or talking about your accomplishments, you have to talk about your accomplishments or boast in terms of what your audience cares about. So if you have a new accomplishment, yeah, that's fine. Talk about it. Put it on LinkedIn, put it on Instagram, put it on wherever.

But you should always have at the back of your mind, what does that mean for your audience? Because if you don't have that at the back of your mind, you're going to run into a couple of problems. Number one, you're going to come across as boasting and braggadocious, which is why I said that. I even tackled the question from that angle, that kind of boasting about your awards on social media, gross sales, because for some people it just that's like that's all they do boasting, boasting, boasting.

I bought my Jeep today boasting. I got awarded doctorate today, boasting. My child graduated first class from British International Academy boasting. And that is all that this some people do on their social media. They do that and they after a while, people just mentally turn you off because this guy or this babe as all they do, they boast. Excuse me. So if that's all you're using your social media for, then you can see that it's not going to grow your sales.

However, if you think in terms of what that means for your audience, so your child has graduated first class from British International School. If there's a lesson there for your audience or if you can tie it to your product or your service and you start the post from that angle, then you will see that all the things you're talking about on social media is kind of relevant to your audience. And then you're going to build engagement and the following.

And from there you should spark conversations and hopefully from there you should be able to get some sales. So think about what it means for your audience and talk about things in those terms. Are you being given a PhD? No problem. But if you want to talk about it, don't just say I was awarded PhD from Harvard last week, you know, full stop. Yeah, people who come and say congratulations, bless you, you inspire us, you know, blah,

blah, blah. But if that is all you post about throughout the whole year, your accomplishments, your awards, your this, it's not when you do much when it comes to generating engagement or generating sales. So international award for nonprofit education for an HR professional. Is there a way that you can make this thing relevant to your audience? Well, in a way you can, because there are benefits to your international award.

One of the benefits could be that now that you've been given this international recognition, it shows that you now have global appeal or global recognition. And for some people it's a big deal. There are some people who only want to bring in consultants, facilitators or speakers that have international accreditations. So by all means, if you've received this award, talk about it, maybe we can give a post, write a post about how why it would be a benefit to have internationally accredited speakers come and handle this aspect of your problem, this aspect of your program, or that aspect of your program.

So from a human resources perspective, it's not just you putting up a post about how you've been given this international award. You can start to think about international best practice and how it relates to how organizations should be run today globally and also in Nigeria. And then that is how you now shock it in that you've now been given this international award and everything. So you can see that it's the post is going to be, it's not just going to be you beating your chest about your international award or local award or whatever award you've been given, but it's going to be a post that will be valuable to people to say, this is how you should run your organization.

These are the standards that you should be enshrined in your organization. And by the way, if you're looking for a resource person that has met XYZ criteria, I have been awarded so, so, so and so award. And so I would love to work with XYZ kind of companies and everything. And I'm the best candidate to do that precisely because I've been given this sort of award from this international organization and that international organization.

So you see that how it works. You can take this award, this degree, this competition, you've won this, whatever it is. And there's a way that you can spin it and make it not just about you, but make it about your audience. And if you handle it that way, then you're going to be able to create engagement, create a following, start some conversations, and then hopefully get some sales. Because remember, the whole point of us being on social media is not just to boost our egos.

It's nice to boost our egos once in a while. But the main point of being on social media is to boost your sales. If you're on social media and you have big ego 1,000,000 followers, but you don't have 1,000,000 naira in your account, then like what is it profiting you? In fact, I really admire the people who on social media presence is 000 followers. But then if you check the account, 100 million naira, I'd rather have 100 million naira in the accounts than have 100

million followers on LinkedIn. But of course, they're not mutually exclusive. So try and do both. So yeah, so that's the scope for the international award at global Recognition. You can also use it to show up and trust. So the angle might be, you know, should work with professionals that you can trust and professionals like me who have been awarded XYZ degree or whatever. You know, it's a seal of it's a sign of what's that word,

authenticity and credibility, you know, all those sorts of things. You can hype up trust in a post. Then you can also talk about global connections. You can talk about the global connections that your HR firm has, you know, to appeal to people who want to work with someone who has an international contact base. I know some of you might be saying that's not important, but, you know, it's not for you or for me to decide.

There are some people who that is all that they will work with. Or are you a consultant? Sure, no problem. Are you on Forbes? Are you on Forbes? Are you on the Forbes consulting list? No, you're not. OK, We're not going to consider you. I mean, for some people, it's that simple. So whether it's right or not, I mean, that's not up to them then. So these are the sort of things that somebody in this situation should be playing up, the global recognition, the trust, the global connection.

The access to global best practices and then access to innovative solutions, you know, all those sorts of things. So excuse me, if you're interested in growing your sales by being on social media just like I am, then it's not enough to just post about awards. I got this award and then leave it at that. So I am not going back to school. I want no plan to go back to school anyway. But let's just say, maybe I go back to school and maybe I

pursue a PhD. The best belief that when I am awarded my PhD, I'm not just going to say, glory be to God. I received my PhD today. And then I put up my picture. And then a bunch of you come and, you know, do thumbs up and like, and then things like that. Maybe some people will reshare. No, I'm going to find ways to spark engaging content around these sorts of things so that people can see my potential customers, can see that there's a benefit to me having a PhD and how I can serve them and the outsized returns that they're going to get in their businesses if they engage me, especially now that I'm a PhD.

So that is the scope to use when you're putting up these things. So, yeah, keep on bragging about your awards and when your children graduate first class, yet please keep talking about that. If your husband has been made local government chairman, yeah, talk about that. If you've been elevated to the highest board, the highest position in your occupation, yeah, please brag about that. So continue talking about all of these things on social media, on LinkedIn or wherever.

Just remember, it is not about you because people don't really care about you. They care about what you can do for them. So always talk about these things from the angle of what is it going to do for my audience. So if you're a motivational speaker and your son or your daughter graduates first class, that is the angle. It's not just a matter of you saying my son and my daughter graduated first class from British International College,

Leckie. It's a matter of, you know, cropping up with some motivational post about how with hard work and perseverance and faith you can achieve and blah, blah, blah. And this is how you've been helping your children. And that is why they have Excel and Excel and Excel. And if people are interested in breaking down barriers and moving forward in their business and blah, blah, blah, following these principles will help you grow your business and do this and do this and do that and then call to action.

Then of course, people should reach out to you. Yeah. In fact, that's one thing that is missing, Call to actions. A lot of us are putting up posts on social media and we're not even putting call to actions. So you put up this post, you put up that post, but you're not asking anybody to do anything. The call to action basically is just that next step that you want somebody to take. Because remember that social media, at least for those of us who are in business, is not just about big egos.

It's about big profits. It's about big sales. And the good book says ask and you shall receive. If you keep on posting, posting what you ask enough, you will receive. If not, what will you receive some what you will receive for more if you ask. So once in a while be asking people subscribe to my newsletter. Click this link to book a call. Come to the off to the studio space on lucky you know, blah, blah, blah. Or click on this to receive 20%

off or click on this link to book time. Now with me, you know, whatever we need to come up with some sort of call to action because if you ask, you shall receive. Let's see what else. So that's it pretty much. So the answer to the question is yes, bragging about stuff, talking about all this personal stuff on LinkedIn, it can work. It can help you grow sales. Yes, in fact, you should be talking about stuff like this because I've noticed that the more personal you get on social media, the more traction your things have.

But any I'm not comfortable talking about these sorts of things anyway. And that's why if you're following me on LinkedIn, my LinkedIn is dry. It's just me talking about business things only, sharing links about business things only. But yes, I've noticed that there's a difference. If you start talking about yourself, your career, your professional accomplishment, your husband's accomplishment, your wife's accomplishment, your children's accomplishment, the personal struggles that you've gone through or struggles that you've gone through as a family or whatever.

You talk about all those sorts of things, then yes, your stuff does get a lot of traction on on social media. But when you're talking about these things, whether your marriage collapsed or whether it's something good, you've been recognized by the UK government as a global resource, talent for tech or something, or you've gotten an international reward, just remember it's not about you. So you should always be talking about it in terms that are relevant to your audience.

If it's relevant to your audience, you spark a bunch of engagement. If you spark a bunch of engagement, hopefully you should have a couple of conversations. If you have a couple of conversations, hopefully you should get some sales. So that is the whole idea of being on social media and using social media, and that's how the whole thing is going to work. So if you need some help with optimizing your social media messaging from a sales and business development perspective, then call me, hit me up.

The phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, you send me a message on WhatsApp like Miss Summer did and also like Abiola did. I'll be in touch with you. It won't pass 24 hours, but you definitely will hear from me. Then also connect with me on LinkedIn. The name is Tavishima Aidi, you check the link, we're listening to this episode. You see it there, Highlight my name, copy it, paste it in LinkedIn and then my handsome face will pop up and then click connect and then we can also have a conversation over there or please do not look for me on other socials.

Don't look for me on Facebook, don't look for me on Instagram, don't look for me on all those other places on TikTok because I am there. But those accounts, I checked them maybe once a month. So if you send me anything there, I will not see it. I checked Instagram yesterday and there was somebody who sent me messages two months ago. And yeah, I finally responded to him, but then told him that really we should be on WhatsApp and give him the WhatsApp number.

So don't check me on all those other places except if you're OK with me replying to you three months later. So that's all for today. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys in the next episode. And thank you especially to people who keep following, engaging and reaching out like Miss Soma Aguchuku and Abiola Samson. So thank you very much guys for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.