Apply Domain-Specific Strategy
You are adapting general memetics principles to a specific domain.
What This Skill Does
Takes general memetics strategies and adapts them for specific domains:
- Personal Branding - Building thought leadership and audience
- Product Launches - Achieving market adoption and dominance
- Social Movements - Creating cultural and value change
- [Other domains as needed]
Outputs domain-optimized playbook with domain-specific tactics, metrics, and timelines.
Input/Output Contract
Accepts:
- Domain (personal branding | product launch | social movement)
- Classified idea (meme | antimeme | supermeme)
- Fitness assessment (GO-level commitment)
- General strategy (already designed)
Produces:
- Domain-specific playbook
- Domain-specific metrics
- Domain-specific timelines
- Domain-specific risk factors
- Examples from similar domain success
Passes to: Terminal (execution phase for domain)
[NEEDS SOURCE MATERIAL]
Source provides brief overviews for three domains (lines 205-226):
Personal Branding:
- Build memetic library
- Pick villain
- Create rituals
- Niche down
- Secondary channels
Product Launches:
- Meme strategy (short-term)
- Antimeme strategy (long-term)
- Narrative warfare
- Network mapping
- Champion recruitment
Social Movements:
- Assess position
- Follow playbooks
- Network building
- Long timeline
But each needs full detail:
- Step-by-step implementation
- Domain-specific metrics
- Risk factors
- Timeline expectations
- Examples and case studies
Domain 1: Personal Branding / Thought Leadership
What This Domain Is
Building yourself as a recognized authority and trusted voice in a specific domain.
Success Metrics:
- Audience size (followers, newsletter subscribers)
- Engagement rate (people actually read/respond)
- Authority perception (recognized as expert)
- Economic value (ability to monetize)
General Playbook for Personal Branding
Step 1: Build Memetic Library (Create Experiences, Not Memes)
- Collect reusable hooks, frameworks, metaphors
- Signature ideas you're known for
- 3-5 core concepts you repeat
- Examples and stories illustrating each
- Vibes > Memes: Create experiences that resist precise definition rather than trying to engineer replicable content. Focus on community, culture, and belonging rather than formulaic attention-grabbing.
Step 2: Pick Your Villain
- What are you fighting against?
- System, company, idea - not person
- Credibility anchor (you're against X, therefore for Y)
- Example: Fighting "conventional wisdom" ⟹ for "original thinking"
- Note: "It's more prestigious — by mimetic standards — to use proven formulas for grabbing attention than to do something risky and original" — personal brands that take genuine creative risks stand out BECAUSE most people don't.
Step 3: Create Rituals
- Consistent posting schedule
- Regular newsletter/essay
- Weekly podcast or video
- Daily standup or thought
- Frequency builds "symptomatic period"
Step 4: Niche Down
- Target specific domain/audience
- Smart people in your niche value you more
- Easier to become "top voice" in niche
- Don't try to appeal to everyone
Step 5: Secondary Channels (Risk Management)
- Test riskier ideas on alt account
- Experiment without brand risk
- Some experiments move to main
- Keep brand consistent, reserve experimental
- Strategy: Use secondary account for the risky, experimental work while primary builds credibility through proven approaches
Domain-Specific Metrics
Audience Growth:
- Followers per month (trending up?)
- Newsletter open rate (>30% is good)
- Monthly active readers
- Follower quality (engaged vs. passive)
Content Performance:
- Engagement rate (likes, replies, shares / impressions)
- Reach trend (increasing or plateau?)
- Viral posts (which content resonates?)
- Click-through if you link externally
Influence Metrics:
- Are people citing you?
- Are people interviewing you?
- Are people building on your ideas?
- Industry recognition?
Economic Metrics:
- Consulting/speaking opportunities
- Product/course sales
- Sponsorship opportunities
- Community membership revenue
Timeline Expectations
- Year 1: Building foundation, 0-1000 followers, establishing voice
- Year 2: Growing audience, 1000-10K followers, becoming recognized
- Year 3: Authority emerging, 10K-50K followers, opportunities increasing
- Year 4-5: Established authority, 50K+ followers, high influence
Domain 2: Product Launches / Marketing
What This Domain Is
Getting adoption for a new product, service, or company in competitive market.
Success Metrics:
- Customer acquisition cost
- Market share in category
- Time to profitability
- Brand awareness in target market
- Customer lifetime value
General Playbook for Product Launches
Step 1: Meme Strategy (Short-term awareness)
- Viral content for broad awareness
- Lightweight, shareable messaging
- Reach new audiences quickly
- Quick decision to try product
Step 2: Antimeme Strategy (Long-term believers)
- Build core believers who evangelize
- Deep engagement with early adopters
- Community building around product
- Long-term loyalty and expansion
- Use private/dense networks to refine before public launch
Step 2.5: Memetic/Antimemetic City Dependency
- Memetic and antimemetic cities depend on each other: the stronger memes become, the more we need private spaces to refine them
- Product launches should use dense networks (beta groups, private communities) to refine before going sparse (public launch)
- Test and iterate in Phase 1 (dark forest / private beta), emerge in Phase 2 (coordinated emergence with handpicked networks), then go public in Phase 3
Step 3: Narrative Warfare
- Control story about your category
- What is the conversation about?
- Position your product as solution
- Create language you want others to use
Step 4: Network Mapping
- Identify dense networks of early adopters
- Who are connected to early adopters?
- Which networks have lowest resistance?
- Where should you launch first?
Step 5: Champion Recruitment (Open Source Lesson Applied)
- Find advocates willing to promote for years
- Influencers, community leaders, experts
- Create program with incentives
- Long-term engagement vs. one-off
- Open Source Lesson: After talking to hundreds of developers, most projects were built by one or a few developers who faced burdensome demands for customer support. Open, borderless communities were a recipe for entitlement, rather than collaboration. Movements and products that go fully open too early face the same problem. Start dense, go sparse strategically.
Domain-Specific Metrics
Acquisition Metrics:
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Conversion rate (visitors → customers)
- Viral coefficient (are customers bringing others?)
- Time to first customer
Market Metrics:
- Market share in category
- Category awareness trend
- Brand sentiment (positive/negative)
- Share of voice vs. competitors
Retention Metrics:
- Churn rate (% of customers leaving)
- Customer lifetime value (CLV)
- Repeat purchase rate
- Net promoter score (would customers recommend?)
Growth Metrics:
- Month-over-month growth rate
- Viral growth rate (word-of-mouth)
- Secondary product adoption
- Market expansion to new segments
Timeline Expectations
- Months 1-3: Private beta, core believers, viral coefficient testing
- Months 3-6: Public launch, meme strategy (awareness), initial adoption
- Months 6-12: Market fit validation, champion recruitment, community building
- Year 2: Scale phase, narrative dominance, market expansion
Domain 3: Social Movements / Cultural Change
What This Domain Is
Creating lasting cultural or value shift in large populations.
Success Metrics:
- % of population belief shift
- Policy influence (laws/rules changed)
- Cultural practice change
- Movement size and commitment
General Playbook for Social Movements
Step 1: Assess Current Position
- Is idea meme (spreads naturally)?
- Is idea antimeme (hard to spread)?
- Is idea supermeme (spreading parasitically)?
- Different approaches per type
Step 2: If Antimeme - Follow Dark Forest → Tipping Point
- Phase 1: Private development with believers
- Phase 2: Coordinated emergence (semi-private)
- Phase 3: Tipping point (public)
- Timeline: 3-10 years typical
Step 3: If Supermeme - Narrow and Reframe
- Don't amplify supermeme characteristics
- Find tractable sub-problems
- Create measurable goals
- Prevent attention consumption
Step 4: Navigate Institutional Bottlenecks
- Social institutions are the bottlenecks through which all ideological demands must eventually pass
- Culture wars intensify when too many competing ideas are jostling for limited paths to change
- Movements must identify and navigate institutional bottlenecks, not just build public support
- Map which institutions control policy, culture, practice in your domain
- Target bottleneck entry points strategically
Step 5: Network Building (Start Dense, Go Sparse)
- Create private spaces for believers
- Develop shared language
- Build trust and commitment
- Create community culture
- Start with dense networks before going sparse
- Movements that go fully open too early face entitlement and dilution
Step 6: Long Timeline
- Plan for 5-10 year effort minimum
- First 2 years: mostly failure
- Champions need to persist through doubt
- Cultural shift doesn't happen quickly
Domain-Specific Metrics
Belief Change:
- % of population aware of idea
- % of population accepting idea
- Belief strength (deep vs. surface)
- Demographic breakdown
Policy Influence:
- Laws/rules changed favoring movement
- Resources allocated to issue
- Government/institution acknowledgment
- Policy implementation
Cultural Practice:
- Are people acting on the belief?
- New norms emerging
- Social cost changing (easier to do)
- Intergenerational transmission
Movement Strength:
- Number of active members
- Geographic spread
- Diversity of participants
- Commitment level (what will they do?)
Timeline Expectations
- Years 1-2: Core group formation, message development, slow recruitment
- Years 2-4: Expanding networks, increasing visibility, facing opposition
- Years 4-7: Tipping point approaching, policy attention, cultural shift becoming visible
- Years 7-10: Mainstream adoption, new generation integration, idea becoming "obvious"
How to Adapt to Your Domain
Step 1: Identify Your Domain
- What are you trying to accomplish?
- Personal brand, product, movement, other?
- What's the primary success metric?
Step 2: Understand Domain Dynamics
- What accelerates in your domain?
- What slows things down?
- What are standard timelines?
- What resources matter most?
Step 3: Customize the Playbook
- Which steps from general playbook apply?
- Which need domain modification?
- What domain-specific tactics matter?
- What are domain-specific risks?
Step 4: Set Domain-Specific Metrics
- What can you measure?
- What indicates progress?
- What indicates problems?
- How often to measure?
Step 5: Plan Domain Timeline
- How long will this realistically take?
- What are phase milestones?
- When should you reassess?
- When should you pivot vs. persist?
Output Template
## Domain-Specific Strategy
**Domain:** [Personal Branding | Product Launch | Social Movement]
**Your Goal:** [Specific outcome you want]
**Timeline:** [Realistic duration]
---
## Domain Characteristics
**What accelerates in this domain:** [Specific factors]
**What slows things down:** [Barriers and resistance]
**Standard timelines:** [Industry expectations]
**Key resources:** [Money, people, visibility, etc.]
---
## Adapted Playbook
**Step 1:** [Domain-specific version]
**Step 2:** [Domain-specific version]
**Step 3:** [Domain-specific version]
**Step 4:** [Domain-specific version]
**Step 5:** [Domain-specific version]
---
## Domain-Specific Metrics
**Metric 1:** [How to measure, target, timeline]
**Metric 2:** [How to measure, target, timeline]
**Metric 3:** [How to measure, target, timeline]
---
## Domain-Specific Risks
**Risk 1:** [What could go wrong, probability, impact, mitigation]
**Risk 2:** [What could go wrong, probability, impact, mitigation]
---
## Implementation Timeline
**Phase 1 (Months 1-X):** [Domain-specific goals]
**Phase 2 (Months X-X):** [Domain-specific goals]
**Phase 3 (Months X-X):** [Domain-specific goals]
---
## Success Looks Like (End of Timeline)
- [Specific outcome 1]
- [Specific outcome 2]
- [Idea is established/dominant in your domain]
Common Domain Application Mistakes
Mistake 1: Wrong playbook for domain
- You use personal branding playbook for product launch
- Different dynamics, different success factors
- Fails because it's misaligned
- Fix: Understand domain dynamics first
Mistake 2: Generic metrics
- You measure reach instead of domain-relevant metrics
- Track wrong things, miss real progress
- Fix: Define domain-specific success metrics
Mistake 3: Wrong timeline expectations
- You think personal brand can scale in 6 months
- Actually takes 3+ years
- Burnout and abandonment
- Fix: Research domain-specific timelines
Mistake 4: Not customizing tactics
- You copy playbook exactly
- Domain-specific context matters
- Generic approach doesn't work
- Fix: Adapt to your specific domain
Mistake 5: Ignoring domain opposition
- Every domain has different opposition
- Product domains: competitors, distributors
- Movement domains: institutions, opposing beliefs
- Underestimating opposition kills progress
- Fix: Identify domain-specific opposition early
When to Use This Skill
- After design-strategy → apply-domain: Adapt general strategy to domain
- During execution: Refer to domain playbook for tactics
- At reviews: Check domain-specific metrics
References
See /references/source-summary.md:
- "Practical Applications by Domain" for domain overviews
- "Strategic Playbooks" for general playbook adaptation
- "Examples" for domain-specific case studies