I’m No Influencer, But I’m Proud of My Followers

I’ve never planned to be one of those people with millions of followers on social media. A MrBeast I am not. But in this video, I explain why I’m happy with the follower count I have.

In a previous social media post archived at wandathibodeaux.com, I asserted that building a follower count by borrowing the sway or influence of others (that is, sharing their content with no contribution of your own) is like going to a party and making friends with cookies you didn’t bake. And all I’m saying here is that I’m glad that my influence is my influence, even if that influence is smaller. I get to share my content knowing that people who follow me are following me for MY contributions.

The other thing about this is, don’t let anybody tell you building your own following without depending on others is easy. It isn’t. If you’re not willing to be totally yourself and show up every single day, it’s not going to happen. That’s the hard truth about it. But I do it because 1) I have thoughts I genuinely want to share and am tired of being quiet, and 2) I know a platform that’s truly built on me is stronger in the eyes of other professionals, such as agents. The big picture is that that platform is necessary to do the work I want to do to make a difference.

Again, I’m not saying you can’t occasionally share insights from others, use a guest creator, etc. I’m just saying that having your own legacy is worth having your own content be the cornerstone.

[Transcript summary]

So, I was looking at my follower count across my social media platforms. And that’s not something that I do a ton of, but it is something that I keep track of.

And I just noticed that I had happened to reach a couple milestones. And I just kind of felt really happy. Because it’s not like I have a ton of followers. I’m not this huge influencer or anything. But I was just so kind of proud of myself, because every follower that I have, every person who follows me, they’re not there because I paid my way, or because I had some big-name influencers that were working with me. It was solely because the things that I said, the content that I put out, was worthwhile to them. And so, that just made me feel really good to know that I have enough people that think that the content is worthwhile. That’s really encouraging to me.

And so, as a writer, all I want to say to you is just keep at it. I know it is a long game. But keep putting your voice out there, because the people that you will attract, they will be YOUR followers. That is valuable, rather than trying to network all over the place and not really know if they’re following you or everybody who surrounds you. There’s a difference. And I’m not saying you can’t work with people. But it’s just that there is a different sense of pride in knowing what attention is really yours and what is in the periphery. So, that’s all I’m getting at. So, just stick with it, even if it’s a slow going, if it’s a slow burn, it’s worth it. Take care, everybody. Bye.