Digital Storytelling with Adetutu Laditan

george grombacher 0:00
out to two that Aton is a marketing lead for YouTube in Sub Saharan Africa. She is a speaker on digital growth strategy brand building and storytelling. Welcome to the show, too, too.

Adetutu Laditan 0:14
lovely to be here. Thank you for having me.

george grombacher 0:16
Yeah, I’m excited to have you all. Tell us a little about your personal lives more about your work and why you do what you do.

Adetutu Laditan 0:25
Thanks. Okay, so my name is to to just T T, easy to call been a product marketing for a publisher, the last 10 years been doing this specifically at Google for the last five. And my role, basically, it’s working as the marketing lead for YouTube in Sub Saharan Africa, which I quite enjoy. Thinking about how the platform and those creative economy is leveraging the power of technology and storytelling and content. So it gives me an opportunity to learn to engage with people to understand users, but more importantly, to connect with that whole creative ecosystem, which I totally love. On a personal side, beyond my work, I, I call myself a creative, right, because I paint so I use my hands a lot, I paint I mowed. I do a lot of creative things. I like to build structures, I like to do events, I started a company, which is into sustainability called green spaces, and it’s all about treating urban green spaces. So I do find time to play, but to be super creative in in multiple ways, which I quite enjoy. And I love food. I love plant based food I eat. I’m not vegan, or vegetarian, but I do eat a lot of plant based food, which I think is very healthy. And help sir, that’s me.

george grombacher 1:49
I like it. So Sub Saharan Africa, that’s that’s a large area with a lot of people. How do you how do you start the job?

Adetutu Laditan 2:03
Ah, Sub Saharan Africa. So in we call it SSA for short. It’s probably about 46 countries, which includes Francophone Africa, probably about a 1.1 billion people on in the side of the world. But it’s it’s it’s a young young population, I think the median age is roughly about 18 to 35. But it’s a young population with a lot of energy, a lot of passion, a lot of creativity. So it’s there’s always a reason to get up in the morning. And think about all the opportunities untapped with this region, especially with the young population that is available, right. So in doing in doing my role, I’m just constantly walk in the shoes of I live in Africa and live in Nigeria. So I am working in the shoes of an African and working in the shoes of an SSA, an SSA person user. And in doing that, that makes my foreign my job fun. Because I can relate, I can connect. I’m inspired by the opportunities here today and the opportunities that technology is enabling. So that makes me sort of wake up every day thinking about what how do I conquer the challenges we currently face now in this region? Or how do I sort of tap into the opportunities available to make this product useful and helpful to the average African?

george grombacher 3:24
And what is what is success? Is it helping people to tap into their creativity and put their work into the world and make money?

Adetutu Laditan 3:41
What is success in this question is in relationship my job or just what is success in general, from my perspective, in both? Okay, what is success in general, from my perspective, I think waking up every day, knowing that you are living your best life, right you are make put in doing the best things you when you when you wake up every day you feel like you own your time you own your freedom, you you’re adding value to the world, you’re growing in many ways you’re not confined, you’re not stuck, right? Do I say those are the things that I feel as long as success and success is its objective? It’s not. It’s subjective, rather, it’s not necessarily one size fits all. So to me is living a life of purpose, living a life that allows me think of my legacy, and just waking up every day with that excitement that there is value in what I do. That’s what success is. And then when it comes to my job, I think ultimately, the How am I being helpful, right? How is what I’m doing being helpful to people how am I creating the opportunities for people to discover that they can succeed? They can become better they can be inspired, they can Be educated, right? And so every day, when I think about the platform like YouTube, one, it’s a search engine. Secondly, it has houses millions of millions of contents, both inspirational, educational. And I feel like a lot of learning wants you, you don’t know what you don’t know. So just taking the time to just go discover new things, connect with a global audience connect with people who are telling their own stories. It’s a great opportunity. So as I think about success every day, I think about how do I help people discover the value of the platform, not just to learn and inspired, but also to think about how they build their own brands, how they can monetize. There’s a concept we use, what sort of concept but you probably know about it, the hustle, right? We are in a creative economy right now, where the average young person can think about technology as a gateway for, for scaling their technology for building a global brand for connecting with users. So I think about how the platform I work with can also be agreed to help people tell stories, find an audience and make money.

george grombacher 6:09
That’s music to my ears. So I appreciate that. The idea of a personal brand. Is that is that commonly thought of in SSA?

Adetutu Laditan 6:21
Oh, of course, I think every I think everyone whether SSA or not, should think about their personal brand. Right? What am I putting out there? What do I want people to know about me, I think it comes with a certain level of self awareness, firstly, but once you know who you are, and what value you can bring, and what kind of stories you want to tell what kind of engagement and connection you want to build, it helps you build your personal brand. And as you know, it’s what people perceive about you, that is out there. So I think for every young person, and in spite of whatever region, you are anywhere in the world, thinking of your personal brand in this digital age is super imperative.

george grombacher 7:03
Which really makes sense. And when he tell people that you say, well, the personal brand is and want you to think about how people how you want people to think of you and engage with your work. Is that obvious to most people? Or do they need a little bit of help? And say, Okay, have you ever thought about this? What do you want to be doing? Is it? Ah,

Adetutu Laditan 7:26
I think ultimately, there’s a mindset thing that’s important here. So the concept of personal branding, sort of plays into markets in a certain way, right? A lot of people do not see themselves as brands yet because the concept of brand as he has to be something that’s tangible or intangible. So sometimes it’s associated with products, versus how you see yourself as as a brand. So yes, there is a bit more education, that sometimes tends to happen with helping people who see themselves as, as a product as something that you want people to associate value with why it’s the same way you associate, you see, the Nike swash or you know, that’s Nike, right? It’s the same way. You want people to have some sensing with who you are, what you do what you put out to the world. So those conversations tend to happen. It’s more intuitive if the person is already in that space. And it’s brand being deemed storytelling before a lot more younger people come in into the into into the tech space or coming into the content space or looking at life, the there is a bit of education, that definitely tends to happen.

george grombacher 8:39
Which really makes sense. In terms of the structure, systematic business and of being a creative person, how do you coach people on the amount of content to create the volume to release it on? How do you how do you think about that?

Adetutu Laditan 9:01
Okay, so I think first thing first, I am learning to be a better storyteller. So I’m not necessarily there yet. But I quite understand that it’s important to for captivating and finding ways to deeply connect with people, right? And it goes beyond just telling stories. It has to evoke emotion, it has to spark some level of imagination with people. So I’m on that journey of learning. But as I talk to young creators, I think the first thing is great storytelling taps into emotions, by whether it’s a joy, sadness, hope, fear, you have to find a way to connect with people on an emotional level. That’s what makes you become remarkable and even people remember you based on that, so a lot of people definitely do still struggle with storytelling and one on that relatability is also another thing you need to find how your your your message sort of has a universal theme with people and aspirations as a storyteller, right? Your lens is very, very important. But it has to make sure that people can find themselves in your story in one way or the other. So the first thing I ask people is, what’s your niche? And sometimes your niche, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that fat or you’re confined to one thing. It’s just a starting point of what would you do comfortably, like you if you’re somebody who enjoys cooking, for example, I use cooking as a reference because I mean, food is food is something we all is, I hope, is a good reference. If you’re someone who enjoys cooking on a regular basis, right? It just comes to you, you like hosting, that’s something that could be a niche, right? Because good whether you’re creating or not, you’re cooking, you enjoy. It’s a passion point. So it’s something you would do with very little energy. Right? Likewise, if I love to paint, if as an artist, right, it will come to me naturally to pick up a paintbrush and mix my oil painting and take a canvas and put my put my creativity on a canvas, right, that comes to me naturally. So the first thing is what would you do? That comes to you naturally, you don’t need to over analyze and think about it too much. And how do you expand on that? Then put your story into it? That’s number one. How do you have a engaging narrative? I think it’s very, very important for people to think about the plot, right? How you take people on that journey from the beginning to the end, right? What’s the suspense? At what point do you want to climax the story, you always have to talk about the literature behind your content is very, very important. I think being authentic is another one. Despite the fact that we’re watching you on a screen, as a creator, as a creative, sometimes people can tell whether you’re authentic or not, by just based on how your communication lands. And I think give you room for vulnerability is very, very important. So in doing all of this, how do you immerse people in, in your own conversations by being true to who you are? Just avoiding all those contrived elements, right, and breaking down? Barriers? I think the best storytellers are those that can tap into vivid imagination, by being descriptive. They’re happy to help people paint a picture. And that’s the thing about being a creative other in this in this industry, you you want people to see the big picture, where as you try and land your story, and I even that comes across when you’re cooking, right? A clear message is important. What’s the moral of the story? What are you hoping to get out of it? There’s quite a number of things. So I think it’s sort of has a way which you can actually literature in a certain way, which is what I think about storytelling. So for creators to be successful, that that those are some of the core things, but I think the ultimate thing is consistency. You There are a lot of people who start off the journey, super excited, pumped, or I didn’t know what they want to do, they start but you know, there’s so much distraction going on you thinking about how do I create for tick tock, okay, for YouTube, from Instagram, you’re all over the place, right? And then you get burnt out, or you’re overwhelmed, or you’re looking at what other people are doing, right? And we tend to compare a lot like, how’s she doing, and sometimes those kinds of things tend to sort of demoralize you in assessing where they put you, they make you lose confidence in what you’re doing. So I think it’s very important to think, what is my consistency factor? And how do I build on that? Firstly, it’s a learning curve, there’s no good or bad content, right? What you need to do is okay, the version I did last week, how can I make sure it’s better, right. And to create a shadow creating a shadow means if I am a creator, I find that people love watching my content, or let’s even use a cooking reference. People who cook cook mon weekend. So I want to drop a video every Friday at 5pm. That’s something you have to commit to do. So that your audience knows that there is going to be a video from you every Friday at 5pm. And they look forward to watching those videos. Being consistent is the best way to grow. And then optimizing your content for the different platforms. Right. And that’s that’s what you think about how do I optimize for YouTube? How do I optimize for for Instagram? How do I optimize for tick tock, and you can repurpose, you can put the same content out there. So you would have audience who are following your footprints across the different platforms. But being consistent is probably the only way to grow as a creator, right? And take learnings find inspiration from what other people are doing, enhance what you’re doing. Taking inspiration from somebody else isn’t a bad idea in any way, even if people might think you’re copying but it’s just being inspired to to keep evolving. I think it’s the narrative, right? And then this is some of the things that help I think, find opportunities to collaborate as well. I use the food reference, and I don’t know it’s just an easy reference to continue to use. But as a creator who loves to cook How do you find other creators who Do who have similar passions and love doing it and collaborate with them to create content around food, by explore NSSA, I will say, as a creator to succeed, explore tapping into new markets, like if you’re based in Nigeria, other creators in Ghana, for example, that you can cook something together, their audience will cross over to you, your audience will cross over to them, and then you’re expanding your footprints outside of the country in which you co exist. So are you moving into new markets? That’s the way I look at it. So collaboration is important. Consistency is important. Optimization is important. I mean, the the you have to think about the science behind the platform and the technology behind each of those platforms. How do I make sure I am optimizing for keywords that I want people to find me? Why when they search? For me, this is some of the key key imperatives. So I mean, there’s quite a lot, but hopefully, those ones helped. Yeah,

george grombacher 15:53
100% very much answered a lot of the questions that I had about the consistency of how much I should be producing. And you, you really, you covered most of the questions that I had, so I appreciate it. Because it is a lot. And I know that isn’t lots Yeah, to your point when we are overwhelmed, and we get out of the gate so fast, and we’re really excited and enthusiastic, creating content, and then we slow down a little bit and life gets in the way. And all of a sudden, I’m not posting every Friday. So how do I keep myself doing that? How do I keep myself motivated?

Adetutu Laditan 16:35
Yeah, I think the motivation is something that you have to work on as a curator, right? I think once you start, and that’s why, what’s your goal for even getting into it in the first place, right? If your goal is to make money, for example, or the beauty of brand, taking those initial baby steps and seeing results, which should be one of the things that will motivate you, right? Beauty and a brand. Once you start seeing that people are subscribing to your content, they’re following you, they engage in the sharing your content, that I think it’s motivation. Likewise, if you’re also able to monetize your content, the first dollar that goes into your account, I mean, that should inspire to say, Okay, do you know if I can make $1 and make this $10? Right? And you now start being inspired by that. And then if you’re way stronger beyond money, while you’re passionate about what you do, you want to tell stories, you want to impact lives, you want to inspire people, I think just the comments, the positive energy you put out there should find a way to reward you to continue to do that. So there’s quite a number of things that you take into it. I think it’s also important for creatives to take mental take mental breaks when when they overwhelmed or the burnt out, right. And that’s not a bad thing. You could decide, You know what, I want to make my content, my content, six episodes every quarter. So you have time to do other things, right? And people know that. So but don’t feel compelled to always like crash and burn just because you want to create content and be out there all the time. Yeah.

george grombacher 18:13
I love it. It makes sense. What to do. Thanks so much, so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you? How can they engage with you?

Adetutu Laditan 18:22
Okay, so I am a storyteller. I’m going to continue to be a storyteller. Right now I do work and I’m walking on the website, but you can engage with me on my LinkedIn, it’s my name added to ladipo shopping on LinkedIn, and also called Dear at 82 on Instagram, right, um, so that I do share quite a number of things, but LinkedIn definitely is the best place to engage with me right now.

george grombacher 18:49
Excellent. Well, if you enjoyed as much as I did show to to your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas. Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram and I will link both of those in the notes of the show. Thanks. Good to to.

Adetutu Laditan 19:05
Thank you so much. Till

george grombacher 19:07
next time, remember, do your part like doing your best

george grombacher 16:00
So if I want my iPhone, and my Tesla and my Bitcoin to work, we need to get the metal out of the ground.

Pierre Leveille 16:07
Absolutely. Without it, we cannot do it.

george grombacher 16:13
Why? Why is there a Why has production been going down.

Pierre Leveille 16:21
Because the large mines that are producing most of the copper in the world, the grades are going down slowly they’re going there, they’re arriving near the end of life. So and of life of mines in general means less production. And in the past, at least 15 years, the exploration expenditure for copper were pretty low, because the price of copper was low. And when the price is low, companies are tending to not invest more so much in exploration, which is what we see today. It’s it’s, it’s not the way to look at it. Because nobody 15 years ago was able to predict that there would be a so massive shortage, or it’s so massive demand coming. But in the past five years, or let’s say since the since 10 years, we have seen that more and more coming. And then the by the time you react start exploring and there’s more money than then ever that is putting in put it in expression at the moment for copper at least. And what we see is that the it takes time, it could take up to 2025 years between the time you find a deposit that it gets in production. So but but the year the time is counted. So it’s it’s very important to so you will see company reopening old mines, what it will push also, which is not bad, it will force to two, it will force to find a it will force to find ways of recalibrating customer, you know the metals, that will be more and more important.

george grombacher 18:07
So finding, okay, so for lack of a better term recycling metals that are just sitting around somewhere extremely important. Yeah. And then going and going back to historic minds that maybe for lack of technology, or just lack of will or reasons, but maybe now because there’s such a demand, there’s an appetite to go back to those.

Pierre Leveille 18:33
Yes, but there will be a lot of failures into that for many reasons. But the ones that will be in that will resume mining it’s just going to be a short term temporary solution. No it’s it’s not going to be you need to find deposit that will that will operate 50 years you know at least it’s 25 to 50 years at least and an old mind that you do in production in general it’s less than 10 years.

george grombacher 19:03
Got it. Oh there we go. Up here. People are ready for your difference making tip What do you have for them

Pierre Leveille 19:14
You mean an investment or

george grombacher 19:17
whatever you’re into, you’ve got so much life experience with raising a family and doing business all over the world and having your kids go to school in Africa so a tip on copper or whatever you’re into.

Pierre Leveille 19:34
But there’s two things I like to see and I was telling my children many times and I always said you know don’t focus on what will bring you specifically money don’t think of Getting Rich. Think of doing what you what you like, what you feel your your your your your, you know you have been born to do so use your most you skills, do what you like, do what you wet well, and good things will happen to you. And I can see them grow in their life. And I can tell you that this is what happens. And sometimes you have setback like I had recently. But if we do things properly, if we do things that we like, and we liked that project, we were very passionate about that project, not only me, all my team, and if we do things properly, if we do things correctly, good things will happen. And we will probably get the project back had to go forward or we will find another big project that will be the launch of a new era. So that’s my most important tip in life. Do what you like, do it with your best scale and do it well and good things will happen.

george grombacher 20:49
Pierre Leveille 21:03
Thank you. I was happy to be with you to today.

george grombacher 21:06
Damn, tell us the websites and where where people can connect and find you.

Pierre Leveille 21:13
The it’s Deep South resources.com. So pretty simple.

george grombacher 21:18
Perfect. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show up here your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciate good ideas, go to deep south resources, calm and learn all about what they’re working on and track their progress.

Pierre Leveille 21:32
Thanks. Thanks, have a nice day.

george grombacher 21:36
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.