The three ways to grow a following on social media: the PREACHER, the ENCYCLOPEDIA, and the TEACHER

There are three ways to grow a following on social media: the PREACHER, the ENCYCLOPEDIA, and the TEACHER.

(1) PREACHER / VALIDATING [+1]

Focus on the content your followers followed you for, and for which they agree with you. Advantages include that you’re likely to (at least locally) optimize your growth and impressions, and the tenor of the interactions will be mostly friendly. But you’re no longer much affecting people or changing anything, and you’re likely to both get in a rut and be susceptible to groupthink. (+1 indicates the positive feedback loop.)

(2) ENCYCLOPEDIA / ALOOF [0]

Don’t let the interests of your audience affect what you talk about. An advantage is that you can focus on your interests. A disadvantage is that the reason you’re on social media at all surely concerns having an audience or social interactions on certain topics, so why exactly are the interests of your followers irrelevant? (0 indicates content independent of your audience.)

(3) TEACHER / COMBATIVE [-1]

Focus on content that corrects what you believe are mistaken views of your audience. This amounts to being a teacher GIVEN the audience you happen to have ended up with. It ensures you’re focusing on the disagreements you have with your community, making the interactions information rich, rather than redundant. It also makes you even more aloof than in case (2), and even less susceptible to groupthink. You are, however, subject to considerable dislike and slow growth. (-1 indicates the negative feedback.)

(I find that I have features of all three, but I have always tried to aim for (3).)