How to grow a social media group in 3 minutes

In this Ted Talk, Derek Sivers breaks down how to start a movement using the example of a lone nut, dancing on a hill at a festival. The lone nut gets his first follower, who models to other people how to follow, and soon dozens of people are running up to join the dance party. This is a perfect way to explain social media and how to fix the #1 mistake I see businesses and entrepreneurs making on these platforms.

Social Media is SOCIAL.

If you just put out posts and content, you are the lone nut on the hillside. But you don't want to be a lone nut, you want to build a movement.

Your followers are the ones that will change it from one lone nut into a movement.

So what's the answer? Show other people how to follow and engage with your content.

This is insanely simple to do, but might be a little uncomfortable.

No one wants to be first to post or comment on a post.

Whenever you post on your business social media or launch a social media ad - direct message 5-10 people and ask them to comment and share. You can write comments for them to make it easier if you want.

Same thing with Groups - get 10-20 people on the "inside" posting questions, and modeling how you want your group to behave and others will start jumping in to provide content.

Don't forget to also be this person for others - comment on their posts, share their posts, and they'll be more likely to help you out, but it should also be something you just naturally want to do to help out a friend.

Try this out for a few weeks and it will dramatically improve your social media game.