Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi

March 15, 2025

SHS #151: The [Right] Way To Build Your Online Audience

Reading time: 3 minutes

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Building an audience isn’t hard. You could be half-naked on the internet and post for a month, and you’ll have an audience. What’s difficult is building a relevant audience that gives a damn about your content.

Only if they find value in your work will a tiny portion of them even think of purchasing your products or services.

Getting people to like your work is easy; getting them to enjoy it enough to want more is the hard part. Here are four ways you can do it.

Start with one and your entire tone will change with some practice.

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1/ Honesty wins

I was speaking to a team I’m working with yesterday and we were discussing how to bring about a brand message. Should we make me sound like the mastermind?

I told them that my audience knows I’m lazy af and I don’t like working, so let's stick to being honest because that always works.

It's easier to be honest. And to align with it, you’ll see the following two points are closely linked with this one.

2/ Be imperfect

A lot of people don’t build an audience because they’re trying too hard to be perfect, look perfect, and showcase their perfect life. The truth is, that’s fake and it's easy to spot fake.

Moreover, people don’t always want to follow those they don’t relate to.

Stop trying hard to be someone you are not in order to seek validation because there’s no endgame to that and your brand will dilute with time.

Do this by…

3/ Embracing your inner weirdo

Listen, you’re probably weird in your ways but instead of trying to fit in, how about you embrace it? I know it's hard because you’ll be dealing with the baggage you’ve had all these years but this is not just better for your brand, it's also a lighter place to be in mentally.

I’m public about my weirdness, and many things don’t come across as an ideal person.

I don’t go to networking events or even do networking calls. I don’t want to work 8 hours a day, 3–4 hours is okay for me. I prioritise family time over everything.

I know people might attach labels to me but I embrace my inner weirdo, which is why I think people around me embrace it too.

Trying to be someone you’re not is very, very exhausting.

4/ Learn > Compare

If you ever compare yourself to me, I want you to know I’ve been writing since I was 7 years old. I made my first $ from writing when I was 24. Do the math and tell me if it was really an overnight success?

Learn from others.

Consume the content of people you look up to. This is important because sometimes seeing their content will give you ideas. Noticing their nuances will help you understand what works.

Instead of comparing or labelling it as fair or unfair, or worse, being envious — just learn.

Because your negative emotions are not going to change their reality, but will largely affect yours. And if you can transition that energy to learning instead, you will win too!

All the best!

Love,

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