How to Succeed on Social Networks — Part Two: Knowing Your Audience, Beyond the Social Bubble

This is the second chapter; if you have skipped the first one, please read it here first

Part Two: Knowing Your Audience, Beyond the Social Bubble

In the previous chapter, we explored your identity, personality, and what you aim to sell in the future, whether it’s a physical, digital, or brand.

From a logical perspective, you must answer the following crucial question: “Who do I want to share my content with, and why will “I choose this specific or global audience over another?”

Many people post on social media without thinking about this aspect, simply posting for the sake of it. However, you must understand a major issue with social media: the social bubble.

What are Social Bubbles?

Social bubbles refer to environments that may seem ideal but can become traps. When people seek a ‘community’ or a ‘tribe,’ they often remain in their comfort zones, engaging with individuals who are similar to them and share the same ideas. But is this really what you want?

Many artists I know initially post on highly focused websites like social networks like Artstation or Cara. If these platforms are not social networks, let’s assume they are for a moment.

When you post on these websites, you usually communicate with the same people — the audiences overlap. It’s not hard to receive positive comments and gain followers.

However, if you venture to a similar site like Behance, you’ll notice a difference. The larger audience there includes graphic designers, UX/UI specialists, and marketing professionals from big brands. Suddenly, even though your work reaches a more significant and newer audience, getting likes, comments, and interactions becomes harder.

One risk of staying within a social bubble is that you may never expand your audience (and market). You should understand what people outside your niche are looking for or how to reach a broader market. When facing the challenge of expanding your audience, it also becomes more challenging to communicate with an unfamiliar or wider audience.

Social Bubbles on Social Networks: Limitations and Opportunities

Now, let’s extend this concept to the global social network Instagram and break down the usual steps users go through when creating an account.

Typically, when someone creates an Instagram account, they start by inviting their friends. The account quickly gains followers, and the first posts receive easy likes, shares, and comments — all positive (because they’re from friends). The next step is to follow others; a percentage of these accounts will follow back. This is the first step to expanding your network, but you’re still within the same bubble, following people you know who usually do similar things.

What you think are fans are still friends or people who consider you as peers, not new people discovering your work.

As in the previous example, these people are often the same audience that follows you on other websites like Artstation and Cara. They will give you some likes, shares, and occasionally a comment, but they won’t repeat the same interaction across all channels. It will also become repetitive for them to see the same work posted in different places.

You see the issue — you’re trapped in a social bubble. Unless you want to expand beyond this, selling yourself or a product to an audience outside this one will be challenging. Eventually, your audience growth will plateau or even decrease.

To break out of this bubble, revisit our earlier discussion: What’s the goal? What do I want to sell, to whom, and What’s the audience?

You must expand your social bubble to reach a new level and expand your market. There are exceptions, such as targeting a particular niche, where you might want to avoid expanding, but we will discuss that later in the strategy part.

Growing a Bubble without Bursting: The Algorithm Dilemma

Before diving into how to grow your social presence, let’s quickly understand how algorithms work on platforms like Instagram or TikTok.

When you post content that passes the algorithm’s filters (i.e., it is not spammy or offensive), it is presented to two audiences as a sort of A/B testing. A random percentage of active and less active followers will see your content in their feeds. Simultaneously, based on the content’s perceived topic, the algorithm will show the content to people who don’t know you. This is crucial because the reactions of these audiences will determine whether the algorithm amplifies or stops showing your content to them.

Recall our earlier discussion: if you’re in a social bubble, sharing the same content with people who have already seen it on other channels, the chances decrease over time that even your best followers will react and comment. This is a red flag for the algorithm, indicating that even your top fans are losing interest in your content. This can reduce your account’s organic exposure to your loyal friends.

At this stage, I don’t need to discuss the unknown audience part; the algorithm has already hurt you.

To keep your followers, you need to present content that is different from those on other channels and in various formats. They must discover another side of your work or another way to show it. This is crucial as it will also help reach people with different tastes based on other content they like on social networks.

Enlarging Your Social Presence: Thinking About Your Content

Growing your audience involves understanding how you’ll present your content in the future. It’s one of your first steps in a future strategy. This is about reviewing your account, seeing what you’ve posted, what has worked or not, and understanding you’ve planned your future presence.

You also need to understand formats, as some social networks push certain types of content more than others. You’ll need to adapt accordingly.

I hope this second chapter will help you clear your mind and adopt a different mindset when considering your future social media presence.

The following article will discuss strategy basics, building a long-term audience, and maintaining active communication with them.

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