Oct. 26, 2020

Dominate Social Media Like Drake

Dominate Social Media Like Drake

Here is a clip from Nicky And Moose The Podcast - Episode 4 The Drake Breakdown

Nicky Saunders

Alright, so we got how Drake feels about social media.

Drake   
Because I enjoy social media. It's good for so many things. You know? I've met so many great people. So many great songs have come from me being active and me actually checking my dm or me, you know, you know, I've had great friendships form over social media. I've met great women over social media. Just because, you know, a few bad apples want to violate it would be a shame for me to just like, be like, I can't deal with this. And it also is just like, I mean, it builds strength, you know, as as tough as it may be. It definitely strengthens your character. I mean, I've heard it all I've seen it all.

Nicky Saunders  
I wonder how many females slide in Drake's dm's but just anyways Moose start it off! I just...

Mostafa Ghonim  
Oh man. Oh man.

Nicky Saunders  
My bad. My bad. My bad.

Mostafa Ghonim   
Yeah, you know what? This is one of those clips that I think was a great reminder for a lot of those people who don't like social media, he because as you can see, he's not out here saying man, I love social media. He's just letting you know that I understand the power of it. Right? For those who know his story, he was technically found through social media, right? He connected with you said that the guy's name was Young Prince it was?

Nicky Saunders   
It was like Jas Prince.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Oh Jas Prince yep on Myspace who found out who met Drake on MySpace. And he was a part of Lil' Wayne's camp. So like stretching back to even how he was found. It has something to do with social media. So I think he does a great job of continuing to stay engaged, and dialoguing or connecting with his people, so that he can continue to build opportunities. And, you know, I know you'll talk about this here in a little bit, but just the concept of how he's leveraged even the idea around means and how that's helped take his career and his music game to a whole nother level. So I think it's a great reminder for those of us who don't enjoy social media as much is that if you can operate out of that first principle behind authenticity, and find a way to do it, where you can just show you being you and not so much in terms of well, are they gonna like it? Are they gonna receive it are they gonna respond to it? And I know that's part of it, it matters. But don't let that be the driving force behind why you do it. And and, and that's definitely one of those things that I think can be helpful for anyone building right now like Yeah, I don't like it, or I don't love it, but I know how to use it because it's important. And I think it's only going to grow like the world is not about to, you know, a quarantine out of social media, like it's only gonna grow more alive. It's going to revolve around that, like, even when we look at what's happening now, they're saying a large part of companies are pretty much letting go of physical office spaces, because they're not seeing a need for office space. So, like yo, if we just navigated, you know, six, seven months working virtually, yeah, and we did just fine. You know, there are some reports showing that there's almost a 30% increase in the economy over the last few months now. Virtually, then they're like, you know, what's the point of the physical space? Now I understand maybe just once in a while, we can all come together and Kumbaya. But for the most part, I think social media is only going to increase if that shift happens, or when that shift happens, I should say, it's only going to increase especially with our demographic actually wanting more of the freedom and wanting to work from anywhere or work on their own time. So anybody who transitions and pivots into that space is going to have more that opportunity. So yeah, social media is here to stay.

Nicky Saunders  
Yeah. I love what he said, because he embraces social media, where maybe other rappers don't. Where, you know, other entertainers kind of just stay very low key, and does like the pictures and the videos. And that's it. But Drake is very, very engaged with social media. He really has the, you know, his hand to, to what's happening on trends on other people's platforms, things like that. These past couple of months, because he's about to drop, any time as Certified Loverboy is about to drop at any moment. Hopefully, by the time this comes out, he doesn't surprise drop, but we never know what Drake, right. And him understanding that people have been wanting his music, they always do. He could drop an album tomorrow, and they're gonna want new music on by the next day, right? That's just kind of the the age that we're in. But as he tends to, like make comments here and be on certain lives over here, he's popped in on DJ DNice and Verzuz battles and popped in The Shade Room 17 million times. Why? Because they know that people are going to screenshot it and send it to send it to the blogs. If he has something coming out. He wants to stay relevant. Right? I think all the way back from I don't think it's coincidence that he showed pictures of his son. I don't think it's coincidence that he let people inside his estate and showed more of that. I don't think it's a coincidence that he did an exclusive Rap Radar interview which that clip came from. So shout out to B. Dot and Elliott right. I don't think he does anything by coincidence. He literally had a battle with Meek Mill and used the whole bunch of memes that was from social media. He totally embraced it and crushed Meek Mill. No offense, Meek Mill, we love you truly do. However, you got killed. You got killed, because he use what was undefeated, which is the internet, you cannot in this day and age, defeat the internet. They have memes for everything. They have jokes for everything. They have a video ready, they have Photoshop ready. They have everything ready for when you mess up. They have a GIF for you. They have a meme for you. They have you in a whole different outfit, everything like that. And Drake embraces that instead of complains about it. He likes it and repost it instead of being like, "Man, they're all trolls" or hides more behind the scenes. He doesn't necessarily do that. Right?. And I think that's what keeps him so high up in the game because where as like I said other artists kind of shy away from social media, he embraces it. So we, on our on our Facebook Live show, we went over 50 Cent one time. And we were talking about the whole G Unit situation. And Lloyd Banks did not want to get into social media. He always said yo if Biggie and Tupac were you know, we're alive would they be on social media? And 50 was like, Yo, I think Biggie would have the most fire Instagram in the world. What are you talking about? Like, I think Pac would be super dope online, like, what are you talking about? Right? And it hurt Lloyd Banks down the line, because he wasn't relevant. So you're good for a certain generation who understood life before social media. But now we're in a time that we don't know anything else but social media. There are kids who've only known social media, right? There's an age range that's done both. And then there's an age range that had nothing to do with social media. If you want to be relevant for all generations, you have to be on social media. All generations, Gen Z, X, all this great stuff...millennials, all that great stuff. You have to be active and relevant and doing different strategic moves to be a part of what's happening and what people are talking about. And it's not even about just let me do pictures and videos. It's about who are you engaging with? Who are you collaborating with in your industries, how could like, it's Drake really, really, really, really like gets it. And I don't think it's a coincidence that he is number one, because he's one of those people that fully embraces it compared to others. That's, I keep repeating it. But I want really, for people to understand that. Because if you are not embracing it, you are going to be average. If you're not embracing it, you're just going to be a typical business person, a typical personal brand, that kind of gets it kind of doesn't. But there's people who really study it, who strategically launches things who are super creative, not necessarily in a style wise, but just from a vision wise, and they execute on it. And that's what people connect with. Yeah, I went off on that one.

Mostafa Ghonim   
I love the collaboration piece, too. Like, if you think about some of the connections that happen organically through social, just because there isn't such a barrier between you and whoever it is right? Again, and I think ... I keep going to this because I think it's so dope, like three episodes into the podcast, Rick Ross posts a clip of what you know, what we did for him, or at least a part of your, your segment, on his own story on his own page. So it's like, just that connection piece. When you're doing things from a pure heart, and you're adding value into the world. It's like that connection, the ability to collaborate with who, whomever it may be. And he's done it like he's collaborated with Toronto comedians and other people on social at least used, they're either certain clips of their voiceovers or parts of their skits. So he's done it on a multiple, multiple levels. So I think that collaboration piece also goes unnoticed, because I think when you're in business, it's very easy to just keep your head down and say, All right, I'm focused on here, that's all I need to do. And I don't need to worry about anybody else. But again, I think if anything, 2020 has proven that more than ever, you need more than just one thing. And more importantly, those relationships, if you keep them strong all throughout, imagine if whomever your greatest collaborator is, or the person you could have had the greatest collaboration with. You don't touch base with them until COVID happens, right? It's like that, even if the partnership and the value exchange is phenomenal, you're more likely to get kind of, you know, blocked or put off to the side, if I haven't heard from you or we haven't really interacted for an extended period of time and you're only reaching out when you need something. I know that's a pet peeve of mine, I'm sure it is of yours. It's like man, don't do that. Don't hit...don't reach out and then 24 hours later, so you know, it's like, come on.

Nicky Saunders   
Right. But in, in, even with COVID. Like, we got to think about what has been the talk of the town which is it hasn't been any of these CNN, ESPN, all the stuff that we used to watch. We're watching Verzuz and we're watching DJ DNice, like artists who really embrace the platforms, they're winning. The Weekend did a whole concert on Tik Tok a whole virtual conference a concert on Tik Tok. Like they're finding different creative ways to still connect with their audience and their fans, regardless if they can go on tour or not, who says you can't do a virtual tour Who says you still can connect with your fans in name in a more intimate way? And like, and I would love one day, and I sent you this in the dm's, all the stuff that Travis Scott did. I mean, my man did a whole concert on Fortnite.

Mostafa Ghonim   
That's fire. Genius move by the way, and let's talk about some of the business investments behind that.

Nicky Saunders  
Right! And, so. And that's the thing, like, top artists are thinking about ways to figure out how to get in front of people where they are...on their phones. Beyonce' did a Disney Plus joint, right? Did a whole movie on Disney Plus, which a lot of people were on especially during COVID. Your like, Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, right? And of course, social media. So, understanding the time that we are in, and that is not going to change anytime soon, like just because some of the some of the numbers may be lower than before then the peak of everything, right? We are, this is our new norm. And so we have to figure out how to be creative and how to really get in front of people using the platforms that we have. And these are free platforms. This is not something we have to pay for. This is not something a paywall of any kind of sort. We just have to be ourselves as well as interacting and embracing the trends and embracing it in our own brand. Right? Because that's the key part. Don't just do a trend because it's a trend, right? Do it that it you incorporated with what your industry is doing what your niche is doing? Right? Drake when you look back at that battle, right, he took all the means and put it into a dish record, he put it as part as his performance. Right? So you're rapping you see all this stuff? You totally put that in your brand. You didn't make it different. You didn't just become the meme. You transformed the meme into whatever you wanted it to be about. Right? And if you could do that, with your brand, the power that you have, and the messaging and the storytelling that you can do is unlimited. If you could figure this whole social media thing out. Whole thing.

Mostafa Ghonim   
Yeah, yeah, and I don't, I don't want us to go too heavy on social media. But it really is a big part of things right now. And the part that I was thinking about is with that whole move of taking those means and adding them to his concert or his performance when he was, you know, having that issue with Meek Mill. I always think about the connection and the relationship he built with his audience during that time, right? Like, just think about one of the greatest artists in the world is using a meme or gift that you created. Like think about, you're gonna go crazy over that. And then you're going to share that with your platform. And, and I use the example of man, regardless of how smart someone is, whenever we're in a mastermind or a large training, the collective benefits because we combine our genius, no matter who's the smartest person in the room is, if we all combine our genius together, we automatically elevate our game. So the fact that he's able to embrace all of those means and all of the people's creativity, he has millions of designers now. He has millions of writers and creators helping him as opposed to just the people on his team, which I think is brilliant. And the critical point here too is and we talked about this during our pre show was he also received a large deal of criticism on social media. So just as he got the help for the Meek Mill thing, you just go type up the memes or the gifs about Drake in your phone, and the Hotline Bling video is going to come up and that was just a crazy thing, right? Like that whole concept and and he embraced it. You know, what's funny is that they were saying, while they were shooting that video, he predicted that the internet is going to go crazy from a meme standpoint with it, and he still had fun with the concept. So you talk about someone who is whatever perceived to be maybe a little bit cheesy or corny and still saying like, screw it. I'm just gonna be me and continue to walk in that confidently. Yeah, like the average person wouldn't have confidence. If they are the way Drake carries himself in the sense right and I don't mean that in a bad way. But he does phenomenal job of like, yo, it's, it's dope being me and as a matter of fact, look at the life that I'm living as a result of it. So yeah, it's that double side concept that I definitely wanted to add in there from an audience standpoint, as well as he didn't just get there because he's liked, he actually received a great deal of criticism. And because he was open to embracing it, and having fun with it, and sometimes laughing at himself when it's necessary, as opposed to getting all upset, you know, that really helped people start to embrace him more and just kind of like fall back a little bit as well. So yeah, I think that part is pretty dope.