The biggest determining factor in building an audience is making the right connections.

Building an audience — getting people who don't know you to know and pay attention to you — is not trivial.

There's a chicken and egg problem when you're just starting out.

Without an audience, how do you build an audience?

It can be slow, grinding work.

Lots of experimentation.

The best way to circumvent that is by making friends with people who do have audiences.

There are three types of people who can help you build an audience:
- Amplifiers: People you and your audience admire
- Allies: People like you
- Friends: People who admire the same people you admire

For example, I'm a marketer trying to build an audience of people interested in marketing.

This is how I built my humble audience and continue to do so today.

1. Gaining Amplifiers

First, I found all the marketers on Twitter with a decent following and DMed them that I loved what they were doing, retweeted their stuff, commented with questions and observations.

I left reviews on their podcasts, mentioned them in my articles and then told them, and basically did everything I could to get on their radar and amplify them.

Eventually, you'll earn the attention of both the "influencer" *and* people who follow that influencer.

Now I have "amplifiers" who I've made friendly with over the years who have hundreds of thousands of followers.

@randfish has many more thoughts and experience with this than I do: https://sparktoro.com/blog/content-marketing-superpower-small-invite-only-amplifier-groups/

2. Gaining Allies

Then I found all the people like me with little followings and introduced myself.

Usually I just asked what they were working on, asked if I could help, and eventually asked if they'd help me in some small way.

Amplify them and they'll amplify you.

This is what makes an ally.

5-10 people like this will give you the kickstart you need to get some traction with building an audience.

You'll make more of these friends over time and eventually, people will share your stuff without even asking.

Join groups of other people like you.

People like to support others on a similar journey.

3. Gaining Friends

Finally, I jumped on any opportunity to engage with someone who was engaging with an "influencer".

Reply to people you disagree with, add on to what others say, like a whole bunch of comments, etc.

It's surprisingly simple but whenever I reply to a popular tweet and it gets a couple of likes, I'll see an influx in new followers.

Gary Vaynerchuk coined the "$1.80 Instagram strategy" which translates to leaving your personal .02 cents on the top 9 trending Instagram posts for 10 different hashtags that are relevant to your brand or business every single day.

Same concept applies to LinkedIn, Facebook, Facebook groups, Reddit, and niche communities.

Engaging with others allows you to piggyback off of their exposure.