Right as Rain: Focus on the Followers That Count

Last Friday after Thanksgiving, my family and I were playing a card game called Phase 10.

While waiting on someone to play their turn, I checked my phone and noticed one of my TikTok videos had jumped from 700 views to 1100 that day. It was a video where I talked about an experiment that showed how storytelling could increase value in products sold.

After the next round, I checked again and it was at 1400 views.

“Oh snap! I think your boy is going viral!” I blurted out.

No one responded.

I put down the phone and kept playing the game. But every time I had a break, I checked it again and the view count continued to leap.

The game was taking forever and I was distracted the whole time, feeling that addictive pull of social media luring me back.

We finally finished Phase 10 and I won! No one cared about that either.

I spent the next hour refreshing my TikTok feed as the video jumped from 2000 views to 7000 views to 13000 views within minutes. The comments started rolling in and I couldn’t get enough of them.

But then something happened that gave me pause.

A negative comment. Actually, there were several of them.

“Yawn… do better… this some lazy s***.” “This has no scientific value.” “How to trick someone into paying more than it’s worth.” “This seems suspicious.” “Scam!”

At first I felt that warm feeling of adrenaline rush over me and my anxiety rose. Then I clicked on the users’ profiles and almost all of them had zero posts. Many of them didn’t have any followers (or very few followers) or profile pictures either, but the fact that they had no posts meant that they were just on the app to consume… and apparently critique.

I thought about Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘The Man in the Arena” quote:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Then I realized that it (and they) didn’t matter.

Because for each negative comment, there were 10 positive ones. Not only that, but my followers grew by 2000 people.

This happened before with a video of mine that had over one million views.

But this time, I had my other social accounts and my website linked to my TikTok.

So my new TikTok followers came along with new Instagram followers, YouTube subscribers, and most importantly, a 200% increase in email subscribers.

I reached out to them, started building relationships with them, and providing them with tools that could help them become better storytellers.

My family still doesn’t care. In fact, they probably think I’m being silly for spending time on an app dominated by Gen Zers. But I don’t mind that, because I’m focusing on those I can help.

And that number has grown exponentially over the weekend.

This isn’t just on TikTok or even social media. There will always be “haters,” doubters, and those that just want to spew negativity. Almost always they are people who have nothing valuable to contribute or are even bold enough to try.

So whether you’re growing a brand on social media or out there building physical products, focus on the followers that count — the ones you seek to serve.

And stay in the arena.

Rain Bennett is a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, and competitive storyteller with over a decade of experience producing documentary films that focus on health and wellness. His mission is simple: to make the world happier and healthier by sharing stories of change.