Why so few people actually build Followings Online

How you convey information isn’t as important as the information you’re sharing. You can be the best non-fiction writer in the world, but if you don’t have anything of value to say then you won’t grow a following around your work.

Go Where the Attention Is

Take a look at Gary Vee, why do you think he’s obsessed with Tik Tok right now? Tik Tok is where the attention is right now. If one platform is getting increasingly harder to get eyeballs on than maybe it’s time that you focus your efforts on a different medium. This doesn’t mean that you change your message and your niche and everything that you’re promoting, just that you share your message and start your movement wherever people are putting their attention.

Money

Making money in our modern economy involves adding value to people’s lives. An online business is a process of creating value, especially in the form of information, and then receiving value in the form of money. But I’ve always struggled with defining value.

But you have to be genuine and you can’t see money as the end all be all. By focusing on money alone I learned that you’ll quit for a few reasons. First, that you’ll lose motivation (the dip.) And Second, that people will sense your money-driven motives because you won’t be genuine or charismatic.

Add Value

Value isn’t tangible so how can I know if I’m creating value or just ranting into the void? I think testing out ideas is the biggest indicator of value vs. useless information. Jordan Peterson tested this out in quora before he became widely recognized. He would post lengthy answers to the questions he found interesting and see which ones got upvoted the most and which ones didn’t. After he wrote a response that blew up in terms of upvotes he then decided to write a book based on this response. This is now a widely popular book titled 12 Rules for Life and was based on his response about his 42 Rules for Life, which was removed on quora recently.

What’s necessary is finding a message and a movement that people can truly resonate with, one that you’re constantly refining and making more applicable and then spreading with a passion.

Start a Movement

I think the answer lies in starting a movement. If you keep posting a bunch of random and mediocre content that doesn’t have a strong underlying theme then it’s going to be harder to build a following.

A movement that I’ve followed since I was 12 has done this particularly well, they call themselves The Minimalists. They’ve published books, starting creating YouTube videos, have a successful blog, created a podcast (204 episodes in right now) and have a social media influence. They have a devoted following with local meetup groups all around the country and tours every year. Did they get this popular from performing Instagram hacks or watching “how to grow your YouTube channel in 20 days” videos? I doubt it.

They grew their following because they created a movement that people could stand behind. Their audience knows they’ll receive regular content on how to live a better life with less and how to practice minimalism on a regular basis. Joshua Fields Milburn started out as an avid writer and still writes to this day, but he’s expanded out to podcasting and other mediums because of how strong his message is.

Find a movement and tribe that you want to build and pick a medium at random. Start with a niche/vision and then start creating within those boundaries until you build a tribe (even just 1,000 true fans is great), and by that point, you might consider expanding.

Seth Godin is another person that truly embodies what he taught in his book Tribes. Seth Godin has run his blog for over a decade and now creates podcasts and courses and other types of content. Yet he has a devoted tribe and a central message behind everything he puts out. He focuses on marketing in a non-traditional way and provides valuable ideas that no one else has ever put out before.

Be Original

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” Haruki Murakami

Another trap that’s common is to try to create a movement where one already exists. I’ve spent my creative career failing because I was a small fish in a big pond. I was creating where content already exists.

The antidote to this is reading what no one else is reading, to think like no one else is thinking, and then to something truly original.