Having the millions of followers is the ultimate goal for every single content creator out there. And while it is good to set that as goal, but it is also important to identify your buyers from your following. Because that is how you get paid right? So today, we are going to talk about building and growing your following on social media, and how to set your expectation right. ---TRANSCRIPT--- (00:00): Hey guys and gals, welcome back. This is Lik Foon. And today I want to reveal to you, why having a small following of people on social media is all you need to make good money on the internet and what you need to be focusing on moving onwards, when it comes to building and growing a following. (00:22): Every single time when we look at those influencers and celebrities on social media and internet, it is easy for us to think: If only can we get that millions of followers like them, then we can also make a lot of money just like them and having the freedom in life. If only I can get that many followers, then I can also make good money from internet.. (00:52): But you know what's the truth? The truth is most influencers, are broke. That's the hard truth. I remember couple of years ago, probably two years ago, there was someone, there was an influencer from Instagram who has over a million followers. I can't remember remember the exact number, but she has millions of followers on Instagram. And I remember she was running a campaign to sell t-shirts. And guess how many she sold by the end of the campaign? She sold only eight! Only eight from millions of followers. Think about that. It was heart breaking moment for her. Can you imagine having that millions of followers and only get to have eight people who are willing to support, right? (01:55): So what does this tell you? It tells you that having a big following of people doesn't matter if you can't even monetize from them. Just because someone is following you, it does not mean that they are willing to spend money with you. So the lesson here is, it is not about how many followers you have, but how many raving fans that you have, who are willing to pay you and spend money with you? (02:26): I remember there was this article from Kevin Kelly called the thousand true fans. This article has gone viral because what Kevin said in this article is so true and powerful. He said, any business in any industry really only need a thousand true fans to have success in anything. And when he said true fans, he means people who are willing to buy anything that you put out in front of them, they will buy anything that you produce and create, doesn't matter the price just because it is you. Just because they are your raving fans. And they will become the person who spread the words for you and these are the people that who will contribute to your success. And you only need 1000 of these people to have to become successful in anything. I think that is so true when it comes to growing a following. Because think about this. (03:33): If you can get a thousand people, your raving fans who are willing to spend at least $100 with you every single year, how much is that worth? If you do the math, that's equivalent to a hundred thousand dollar in revenue a year, and that is enough for you to live a good life. Do you think it is hard to get your raving fans to spend a hundred dollars with you every single year? No, it is not hard if you have been treating them right. If you have been focusing on building relationship with them and adding values and communicating with them. So I think for any one of us who is building and growing our following on social media, our primary goal is not to grow that millions of followers. Our goal is to identify who are the thousand true fans. Who are the people who are willing to spend money with us and buy anything that we present and produce. (04:44): And those are the people we are looking for. Wouldn't you agree that having a 10 followers who are willing to spend money with you, who are willing to buy from you, is worth a hundred times more than a thousand followers who are just consuming your free contents, but just never willing to spend money with you, right? So when it comes to growing and building our following on social media, understand that the size doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how big of the following you have, if they are not people who are going to spend money with you anyway. Now I'm not telling you to start off the relationship, trying to make money off your followers. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is to become a person of values, coming from the angles of helping and serving your community, to identify your 1000 true fans. And money is the byproduct coming from that, coming from you, helping others in your journey. (05:44): Because when you are constantly going out there helping and serving, some people naturally want to pay you money. They will want to buy from you and pay you for advice. They will become your true fans because they understand the value of what you have, and also what you know. So I think my message for you today is when it comes to growing and building your following, don't chase the numbers. Well, I know that it is good to have that as goal., it is good to have that 1 million followers as goal, but understand that it doesn't matter how big of your following is. The key is, are there people who are willing to buy from you or spend money with you? Are they your true fans? Knowing that the direction that you are going to go eventually is to hit that 1 million mark, but you want to always start small. (06:41): Don't do it for the sake of doing it and always remember, you want quality over quantity. And hopefully this is also a reminder for myself because you know that sometimes it's just so demotivating when we saw that our following is growing slowly. But this is when you need to tell yourself that, it is not about the numbers. It is about helping and serving first and the right people, people who will become your paying customers will come to you, will get attracted to you, when you are coming from the angle of becoming a person who serve. That being said, that's all I have for you today. Hope you get some value today and wish you all the best.