If You Are A Creator On The Internet This Is The Reason People Will Care About You
People spend too much time on numbers when parasocial relationships are the secret sauce.
There are two growth vectors regarding your audience:
Number of people following you
Depth of your parasocial relationship with them
What is a parasocial relationship?
A parasocial relationship is a one-sided relationship that a person imagines having with another person whom they do not actually know, like a celebrity or a fictional character.
Our brains never evolved to distinguish between people who we see and hear through media and those we see and hear in our real lives.
Parasocial relationships are completely normal and can even have a positive impact on a person's well-being.
While it's ok to have parasocial relationships, they shouldn't replace real-life, in-person relationships and interactions.
You should develop a parasocial relationship with your audience
You will experience more growth if your personality shines in the content you publish.
It makes sense, we relate and emphasize with human beings.
You can have a very large audience, but they won’t care about you if you don’t have a parasocial relationship with them.
Publish personal things even if they underperform compared to your other content.
If you say personal things, you are no longer just a random face, people can relate to you.
That doesn’t mean you have to share your whole life. Or tell the world your relationship status. Or all the other very personal things.
You just have to let your personality shine through.
When you're just a face, your audience will go find similar content somewhere else if quality dips, if you stop the cadence, if you make a mistake, etc.
But if the content is cool and they feel like they know you, they’ll stay. Even if you make a couple of mistakes. Even if you take a vacation. Even if your content hits a rough patch! They’ll be there for you. They’ll stick around. They got your back.
And this is not just good for you the creator, it’s also a better experience for them.
Where do you prefer to go for information? A web page that has consistent quality? Or a web page of a person you like that has consistent quality? All other things being equal it’s a better experience.
Let your personality shine through.
I had one of those days that don’t go well. You feel like you are forgetting something. You get into an argument with someone you love. You feel tired.
But here we are, I appreciate so very much that you take the time to read my stuff <3
Hope you liked the article and found it useful :)
Have a wondrous day!