A few months ago, we talked about how to step into your dream life by curating a social media algorithm that reflects your goals and dreams—tailored content designed to attract the right audience and opportunities.

If you haven’t read that article yet, I strongly urge you to read it first.

But now that you’ve got that new account foundation, what’s next?

Well, let me give you some quick insight into my journey.

I started a brand-new Instagram account 4.5 months ago, and without trying to blow it up, I’ve gained almost 100,000 followers. No follow-for-follow tricks, no obsessive growth hacks—just posting content that aligns with who I am and what my story is.

Today, we’re taking it up a notch and diving into the practical steps to turn your dream life account into a powerhouse of influence.

Social media isn’t just about posting for fun anymore; it’s a visual representation of your leverage bank. Every post, every interaction, is a chance to make deposits that can pay off in major ways down the line.

If you want to use your account for real leverage and maximum impact, this is where you learn how to do it. This is how you grow, how you connect, and how you position yourself for the future.

Ready to build connections that set you up for life?

Let’s get started.

Why Follower Numbers Don’t Guarantee Success

It’s one of the biggest misconceptions about Instagram: if you can rack up a huge follower count, you’ve "made it."

But this idea is misleading.

While having a lot of followers looks impressive, it doesn't automatically translate to success. Why? Because what really matters is engagement.

Existentialism—the philosophy that encourages authenticity and self-determined purpose—teaches us that success is about being true to yourself, not just achieving what others expect.

If your content doesn’t reflect your authentic self, if it’s all about chasing trends or posting what you think will please the masses, your followers will sense that disconnect.

It won’t matter if you have 100,000 followers—without authenticity, those numbers are hollow and won’t reflect your desired outcome.

Authentic content is what builds a real, engaged community. When you focus on follower count without ensuring your content reflects you, you risk attracting the wrong kind of audience—people who aren’t actually interested in your message or vision.

If you're sacrificing your values to gain followers (or only posting memes), you’re not building a foundation for long-term success. And that’s why so many Instagram users find themselves plateauing: their content isn’t aligned with who they truly are or what their audience actually wants.

Why Even Good Content Isn’t Enough to Grow

Ever wonder why your well-made posts aren’t translating into more followers or engagement? The problem might be that your content, no matter how well-crafted, isn’t resonating with your audience on a personal level.

This is where constructivism comes in—a theory that suggests people learn and engage based on their previous knowledge and experiences. Your audience isn't going to engage with content that doesn’t build on what they already know or care about.

You can post aesthetically perfect photos, highly edited videos, or well-researched captions, but if your audience can’t see themselves in your content, they’ll scroll right past it.

In today’s social media landscape, simply providing information isn’t enough.

People want to feel like they’re part of a story, that your content is relevant to their lives and experiences. If your content feels detached, too polished, or impersonal, your audience won’t engage, and without engagement, your growth will stall.

That’s why so many Instagram accounts, despite great visuals and effort, fail to take off.

The content isn’t speaking to the right audience or isn’t hitting the emotional chords that drive interaction.

The Long-Term Damage of a Disengaged Audience

Let’s talk about the long-term consequences of having a large but disengaged following. On the surface, a big follower count might seem like a success, but if those followers aren’t interacting with your posts, you’re not building real influence or credibility.

From a communitarian perspective, success isn’t just about you—it’s about the community you build around your brand. If your audience isn’t actively engaging, commenting, sharing, and investing in your content, then you’ve failed to build a loyal community.

Without this, your follower count is just a vanity metric—one that will do nothing for your brand’s long-term growth or impact.

Here’s the harsh reality: if your followers aren’t engaging, your content won’t get pushed out to new audiences. The Instagram algorithm thrives on engagement—likes, comments, shares, saves—and without it, your posts will disappear into the abyss.

Worse, an inactive audience signals to the algorithm that your content isn’t interesting, which can result in even less exposure.

Over time, this creates a snowball effect where your posts reach fewer and fewer people, ultimately stunting your growth.

Think about it: without engagement, you’re losing the very thing that makes social media valuable—community interaction.

The Trap of “Consistency” Without Resonance

You’ve probably heard that the key to success on social media is consistency.

But here's the reality: if you're consistently producing content that doesn’t connect with your audience, all you're doing is consistently wasting your time.

The algorithm doesn’t reward you for just being consistent—it rewards you for producing content that resonates. This is where so many creators get stuck. They believe if they just keep posting, eventually something will pop off.

But here's the thing: the algorithm isn't a magical force that will one day decide to reward you out of nowhere. It’s not going to change its mind about your content if it hasn’t worked before.

If your audience isn't engaging with what you're putting out, no amount of posting is going to fix that. This is the treadmill of Instagram: creators churning out content, thinking they’re doing everything right because they’re being consistent, but they're failing to recognize that their content simply isn’t hitting the mark.

If you're posting day in and day out, but you’re not seeing engagement, it’s not because you're not working hard enough—it’s because you're not working on the right things.

Consistency is important, yes, but strategic consistency is what really matters. That means analyzing what works, what doesn’t, and adjusting your approach accordingly.

If you’re not doing that, you're just shouting into the void, hoping that one day the algorithm will take notice. It won’t.

Continuing to put out content that doesn’t resonate will drain your time, your energy, and your enthusiasm.

Worse, it’ll keep you trapped in a cycle of frustration as you wonder why all your hard work isn’t translating into growth.

Audience Analysis: The Key to Knowing What Your Community Cares About

The first step to unlocking these opportunities? Understand your audience.

You can’t build an impactful Instagram presence if you don’t know who you’re speaking to.

This is where tools like Instagram Insights are essential. I dug into my follower demographics: who were they, what were they interested in, what posts were they engaging with the most?

By understanding this, I could craft content that felt tailored to them.

Once you know what resonates, you can start building a relationship with your audience.

You’re not just speaking to random followers; you’re building a community of people who care about what you offer, whether it’s career advice, technical know-how, or personal stories.

When you get to this level, engagement skyrockets. People are no longer passively scrolling—they’re commenting, sharing, and spreading your message, and that’s where the real magic happens.

When your content connects deeply, your followers become your amplifiers, spreading your ideas and pushing you to a wider audience.

Leveraging Instagram’s Tools to Deepen Engagement

Instagram’s built-in engagement tools—polls, question boxes, and quizzes—are designed to boost interaction. I used these heavily to involve my audience in the creative process and ask them for feedback.

It’s about turning a passive experience into an active one. By using polls and questions in Stories, I wasn’t just posting content, I was inviting my followers into a conversation.

This strengthened their investment in my content and reinforced their loyalty.

And this interaction doesn’t just build community—it drives the algorithm to push your content out to more people.

The more engagement you get, the wider your reach becomes. This ripple effect is how you start getting noticed on a bigger scale, how your content makes it in front of new audiences.

When your followers engage with you, they help boost you to the top of their friends’ feeds too, expanding your impact even further.

ManyChat for Automating Engagement and Scaling Responsiveness

As your account grows, it’s impossible to manually respond to every single comment or DM, and that’s where ManyChat comes in.

This tool allowed me to automate routine responses, distribute resources like free guides or articles, and stay responsive, even when I wasn’t actively on the platform.

ManyChat helped me manage my time while ensuring I was still engaging with my audience in a personal way. The automation didn’t replace me—it amplified me.

And this is crucial: using automation smartly lets you focus on what matters—building the deeper connections that truly foster growth.

Think about it: You’re keeping the conversation going, maintaining that sense of community, even when you’re offline. By streamlining repetitive tasks, you free up more time to focus on meaningful, impactful engagement.

From 75,000 Followers to Thought Leadership: How Authentic Engagement Opened Doors

Here’s the thing—before I figured this out, I was stuck with 75,000 disengaged followers.

They followed for modeling posts in the first place, and I couldn’t get them to care about the content I was passionate about.

So, I started fresh. I launched a new account (with my dream algorithm) with a focus on attracting the right audience—people who cared about cybersecurity, career growth, and personal insights.

Within one month, I grew that account to 40,000 engaged followers—people who weren’t just scrolling past my posts but interacting, sharing, and spreading my message.

And with engagement comes opportunity.

As my influence grew, so did the doors that opened. Brands started reaching out for collaborations. I was invited to speak on industry panels, offer expert opinions, and partner with others in the cybersecurity space. I went from being invisible to becoming a thought leader.

But it didn’t stop with brand deals or speaking engagements.

When you focus on authenticity and community-building, you level up your circle.

As I gained traction, other creators—even bigger ones—started reaching out. The more I put myself out there as an authentic voice, the more I connected with people who were further along in their own journeys.

Suddenly, I was collaborating with creators and industry leaders I’d looked up to for years.

This is how you elevate your network.

When you show up consistently with real, impactful content, the right people take notice, and those relationships propel you even further.

The takeaway?

It’s not just about getting followers—it’s about the leverage that comes with being a trusted, influential voice in your niche.

When you focus on engagement, authenticity, and building a real community, you create opportunities that extend far beyond Instagram.

You become a thought leader in your space, opening doors to partnerships, collaborations, and an elevated network.

That’s how you build real, lasting success.

"Isn’t Social Media Just an Attention Grab in a Self-Centered Culture?"

It’s easy to dismiss social media as nothing more than an ego-driven space.

The idea that it's all about attention-grabbing in a self-centered culture makes it feel shallow, right?

But that’s only one way to look at it.

If we think about it through the lens of existentialism, social media isn’t inherently self-centered—it’s a tool. And like any tool, it depends on how you use it.

You have the power to create something meaningful, to share your personal truths, and to connect with others in ways that actually enrich both your life and theirs.

Or you have the power to let it fuel your rage addiction.

When you approach social media from a place of authenticity and value, you're not just seeking attention. You’re sharing knowledge, experiences, and insights that can genuinely help others.

It’s not about showing off; it’s about building community, fostering connections, and making an impact.

Social media is a reflection of how you choose to engage with it. Use it to bring value, and it becomes a platform for growth—not vanity.

You can create meaningful dialogues, help others learn, and inspire people to take action in their own lives. That’s far from self-centered. It's purposeful.

"Posting on Social Media Feels Cringe"

Ah, the fear of being cringe—one of the most powerful barriers to putting yourself out there.

It’s understandable.

None of us want to feel judged or awkward, but here’s the truth: everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of feeling cringe.

Enter the concept of Cringe Mountain—and yes, it’s as real as it sounds.

Imagine that everything meaningful—success, growth, learning—is on the other side of this mountain.

The climb? That’s the part where you feel uncomfortable, awkward, or "cringe."

theoryofoneclub

View more on Instagram

But without pushing through that discomfort, you’ll never reach the top.

Philosophically, this ties into stoicism.

Stoics teach that discomfort is inevitable, but enduring it is necessary for growth. You can’t get to a place of confidence or influence without first facing your insecurities.

The cringe moments are where the learning happens. They’re where you build resilience and overcome your fear of judgment. The more you climb Cringe Mountain, the closer you get to the success waiting on the other side.

Everything worth achieving requires a level of discomfort, and social media is no different.

People aren’t sitting there waiting to judge you—they’re often too wrapped up in their own insecurities. When you stop worrying about how you’ll be perceived and focus on the value you’re bringing, you’ll realize that cringe is temporary.

The impact you can make by pushing past it is permanent.

"I Don’t Know Enough"

The fear of not knowing enough is a huge hurdle for so many people, but here’s the thing: you don’t need to be an expert to share what you know.

In fact, learning in public is one of the most powerful tools for growth.

If we look at this through the lens of constructivism, learning isn’t something that happens in isolation. It happens through interaction—by building on what you know and learning from others.

Sharing your journey, your questions, and even your mistakes invites others to join you in that process. It’s collaborative, not performative.

Social media becomes a space for shared growth when you’re willing to be transparent about the fact that you’re still learning. By posting what you know, you’re building bridges with people on the same path.

You’re not just offering insights—you’re inviting conversation and collaboration.

Nobody starts out as an expert. Learning in public is about showing that growth is a journey, and that journey is valuable, no matter where you are on the path. By embracing this, you create an environment where you’re learning from your audience as much as they’re learning from you.

The Only Way Forward is Through

So, here’s the truth: Everything you want—whether it’s influence, community, or personal growth—is waiting on the other side of Cringe Mountain.

The only way to get there is to push through the awkward, the uncomfortable, and the fear of judgment. Don’t wait until you’re ready or "perfect"—you’ll never get started.

Start learning in public.

Start building connections.

Because at the end of the day, the only way forward is through.

What are you waiting for?

Stay Curious,

Addie LaMarr