Maximize Social Media & Digital Marketing to Connect With Investors (Adam Gower, Ph.D.)

Adam Gower, Ph.D. of Gower Crowd podcast chats with Dennis Yu of Content Factory. Hailing Dennis as one of the brightest minds in the industry, Adam conducts a cerebral and philosophical examination of digital marketing. The discussion drives the point home that expanding digital presence online is vital in helping raise capital from investors. Dennis explains why it truly works. 

A digital marketer with financial training is a rarity in industry

At London school of economics Dennis studied financial markets and price differences on arbitrage, with excess volatility and the difference in entrepreneurship rates in different countries, independent of capital and labor and other kinds of resources. So basically, in certain areas there you would, you would think based on market data and economic data that you could predict entrepreneurship.

But the most successful people and the most successful communities grew despite the government funding things despite natural resources, despite capital markets. Francis Fukuyama wrote a book called trust and how that was a non-measurable asset yet was the most critical asset, most critical ingredient and putting communities.

Digital marketing is science – not a fad

Some of the strategy behind digital platforms and really, it’s an extension of our networking and it’s not about tools or programming or the latest fad from whatever pundit that you hear. And what I found in the last year in understanding the algorithms that power Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, Spotify. When we understand that. It’s almost like karma where the deals come to us, where the relationships are drawn to us because of what we put out there.

Have you seen the movie inception? The key point of the movie was, the idea that there are multiple layers of the subconscious that you could just go deeper and deeper and deeper to implant ideas that then manifest in the conscious. And I find that it’s even deeper than planting an idea.

It’s that if we understand who we want to reach and they already are predisposed to something that we would like them to believe, we can elevate that all the way up into a relationship where they already want to do business with us. And that sounds esoteric.

Algorithm is a singular formula that helps us decide

The algorithm today is a singular formula that will decide what we need to see and what we do. It’s constantly making recommendations. It’s technically a collaborative filter so that when you are on Spotify and you’re listening to songs, it’s making pretty good recommendations of what you might like. When you are on Netflix and you watch a show, Adam Gar likes this here. Other shows you might like when you’re on Amazon.

I just bought that missing cable that I couldn’t find on Amazon. It’s coming tomorrow morning. When I bought that, then on the side, it said you might also like these other items when you’re on Facebook and you’re scrolling through the newsfeed based on your engagement and who you are and what you’ve liked and whatnot, and other things that they know about you, they know everything about you.

They’re making recommendations that you find interesting to make it stickier for you to stay longer. To serve more ads and buy more products and so forth. Right? And would we agree that it’s the same thing across every one of these sites that are free to use, but they monetize based on your activity.

Right? Then we realized when we go one depth, one level deeper into the matrix or into inception, that it’s the same algorithm that drives all of them. And that’s when we realize that when you take that it doesn’t really matter whether you’re a fan of Instagram or YouTube or Facebook or every day, there’s another digital marketing property.

Now everyone’s talking about tick tock. Tick tock is the same algorithm based on your engagement. And what’s hot in the community. They’re going to show you more of that to keep you there longer, to be able to show ads because they don’t monetize based on subscription. They monetize based on your behavior.

When we understand that several things become true, one is. We need to feed the algorithm, the things that we want because the algorithms, a multiplier, the algorithms are neither good nor evil. Some people love to talk about how AI is going to be evil. It’s not, it just wants to give you more of a. So, if we know that there’s more information out there than we could ever possibly consume exponentially because of the rate of production, the population that’s out there, there’s more people than we could possibly talk to.

More content needs more filter power

There’s more content we could possibly create. There’s more tools and social networks that we could possibly ever be on, which creates FOMO. Then we know that the more stuff there is out there, the stronger the filter power must be of the algorithm to serve us what we want right there. If you’re a real estate investor and you’re looking for deals, you’re looking for other people to be part of your syndication.

You’re looking to find properties in LoopNet. You’re looking to speak at an association. You’re looking at the national real estate forum, right? Then if you are not feeding the algorithm and I’m going to say the algorithm of the capital, a kind of like adultery must print. If you’re not feeding the algorithm who you are and what you care about, the algorithm cannot make recommendations for you.

So, I believe that if you are willing to accept that we are in a matrix and this thing here knows what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter whether the phone is on or off. It doesn’t matter whether you’re on. Well, I don’t like Facebook and Instagram. I’d rather be on Twitter. It’s the same algorithm. The point is if we give Google and Facebook and Apple and these other guys what they want, you know, take your tenfold head off.

It will give us what we want. It will give us relationships and deals. And I know that’s kind of like a karmic secret manifesting. If you just believe in the energy crystals that you know, the world will feed you back. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying the mechanics of the algorithm are, it’s looking for the signals of what you’re putting out there.

Is your lack of expertise being used to take advantage of?

We all have had a mechanic that tried to BS us about the complexity of something that we don’t understand. Taking advantage of your ignorance for us to be successful increasingly in the modern world to get the deals that we want to be able to raise money, to build our brand, to make it so the people are aware of us and our company. You just need to know that you want to amplify the connections that you already know. You want to amplify the deals that you already have. You’re sharing your expertise too. And then allows the system to find the algorithm is so smart. The algorithm will find people in your network that you don’t know that’s the thing. I want everyone to understand before they jump into the latest bad, because they read an article about this tool.

Understand the power of advertising

We could go into a black mirror type situation where all those shows have the same theme of the crowd. In sociology because of what happens at the group level affects behavior at the individual level. And you could be cynical and say advertising, whether it’s through someone like Facebook, because we think Mark Zuckerberg is evil or Google, where now they’re able to, they’re just trying to get your money.

And it’s the things that the advertisers want because it is a public lead. They’re all publicly traded companies that have shareholders. Like I get that argument. There is an enlightened capitalism angle here because we are here. We, collectively, as in the entire e-commerce ecosystem are here to build relationships over time.

So, if a YouTube or a Facebook or Google, or what, or YouTube as part of Google and Instagram is part of Facebook, like it’s Coke and Pepsi. Okay. It’s Google. Let’s just be clear. That’s 80% of advertising in the Western economies is Google and. So, they could do things that are manipulative, but it is a short-term play.

We need to swallow the red pill and go into the matrix and defeat agent Smith. And the idea of black mirror is this negative utopia where the machines are so powerful that it causes all kinds of negative things to happen. The crowd is what’s the word vulgar, right?

Knowledge is power

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Dennis Yu

About the Author

Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best-selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads.  He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations.You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel.You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.