"Lakers in Five." It's my new all-time favorite saying ever, and of course, it comes from the mothership of all sports media outlets, of which, if it were CNN, Trump would be yelling at them, saying..."You're Fake News!"
But, please, please, please don't misinterpret this as an endorsement for anyone, my political affiliation to a particular party, or my views on mainstream media. Obviously, I'm not afraid to tell you I'm not a fan of ESPN and their propaganda, but that's not what this is about. Well, not technically.
And not that you're paying attention, but the Los Angeles Lakers, hence the phrase "Lakers in Five," don't match up at all on paper (or on the court) with their opponent, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yet, all eleven ESPN analysts picked them to win the playoff series, most of them said in five games.
Currently, the Timberwolves are up in the series three games to one, and they have an opportunity to close the series out on Wednesday night in LA. Oh, and here's a fun fact to chew on: The Timberwolves won game one by twenty-plus points on the road a week ago.
The point is that sometimes the experts are wrong; in fact, sometimes they know they're wrong, and even when we know (because it's so blatantly obvious), they still give us the advice, likely because there's some agenda behind it all. Like, better ratings when it's LA vs. NY. Sorry, was that too much?
Also, keep in mind this is my opinion; I never said it was the Gospel.
I see this exact mentality all the time on social media: "Here's what to do if you want to scale, if you want engagement, if you want to build a brand." It's followed by something the algorithm supposedly told them, and if you're creating content for the wrong reasons, you may be buying the advice. If you are, have you asked yourself why lately?
Do you really want what the offering the so-called experts are claiming to have if you follow their advice?
Do you really?
Suppose you've read my blog and have kept up with my views on social media. Specifically, the contrarian point of view I take on it, knowing that I use social media nearly every day to tell a story, you know how strongly I feel about the authenticity in your story, not the hook, the call to action, or any other "tact" the world tells me I need to get more eyeballs on it.
I tell you that because when you forego the creativity or at least the focus on the story for following the experts into the abyss, remember that you may be placing a bet on a team the experts said would win in FIVE GAMES, that's facing elimination in five games when you knew in the first place probably wasn't that great of an investment.
Lakers in Five...Laughable. Following an influencer's advice on "how to post" is equally as comical because it's never been about "how to post" but rather the significance of what you're saying.
Thanks for reading. Oh, and there's no agenda here. In fact, I removed every single link to purchase something from this entire article to prove to you that there's no agenda.
Years ago, someone very close to me (someone I would pay for their advice) told me that if he had only a dollar to spend on anything related to his business, he would spend it on the solution, not the marketing, because, in the end, the solution is what people pay for, not the clever marketing attached to it.
Oh yeah, can we keep this between us?
Thanks,
Derek
