Imagine yourself at a conference with over a thousand attendees. You’re the big name on the ticket. They came just to support you and they’re eager to hear what you have to say.
But instead of getting on stage, you’re at the door hawking tickets – hoping to pack the space with even more people. You don’t have a particular number in mind, you just need more people.
Why?
Because someone somewhere told you that the only thing that matters is getting more attention. Even when you already have a lot, you still need more.
Sounds familiar?
It’s exactly what a lot of us do on social media.
We have a core following of people who like our authentic posts – they showed up early and they engage with us regularly. We like them and most importantly, they like us for exactly who we are. Yet, the number one goal of so many people on social media is to get more followers.
Why do we do that? What’s wrong with the followers we’ve got? And why is it that 1,000 people in real life sounds so huge, but 1,000 followers means so little?
If you decided to stop pursuing growth and only focus on entertaining, educating or empowering the audience you have right now – whether it’s 20 or 20,000 – what would that look like? What would you change?
Stop trying to game the algorithm. Stop following only in hopes that someone will follow you back. Stop regurgitating generic content with a billion hashtags in hopes of going viral.
Instead, be authentic. Be you. Show people your humanity and all the nuances that come with being an individual with multiple interests. Engage with others who share your passions.
Soon, you’ll find that you don’t have to go hunting for more people. Your amazing audience will do that for you, because they see how much you care about the people who’re already there. In the digital world, that’s rare.