Facebook groups. LinkedIn groups. Youtube channels. Instagram pages.

The number of places to grow an audience are endless nowadays.

I see my friends getting millions of views on TikTok. They’re insta-famous after a month of posting.

I see my friends building dope ass Facebook groups. They get hundreds of new members every week.

I see my friends building Youtube channels. They’re getting thousands of subscribers every few months.

My friends, I have FOMO. I have FOMO hard.

I can’t help but feel that if I’m not also on these social media platforms, I’m somehow behind the game. I’m like a 5-year-old kid in a candy store with a hundred dollar bill.

My brain’s short circuiting before it can even make a decision.

Listen to me carefully.. This might just be the most important advice you ever hear about being a social media influencer..

It’s not worth it. It’s not worth it to be everywhere. You don’t need to be everywhere. It is the ultimate hamster wheel that’s impossible to get off of.

It’s a special kind of hell that WE throw ourselves into. Put your shades on when the newest shiny object flashes nearby. You don’t need it. Here’s why..

I’m A Recovering Social Media Holic

I have 500,000 followers on Facebook. I have 140,000 subscribers on Youtube. I have 14,000 followers on LinkedIn. I got 50,000 followers here on Medium. I got fucking crazy amounts of followers.

You might look at this saying something like “Cool Tom! This is great! Aren’t you happy?”

No, I’m fucking not, Ramone.

Ever seen Harry Potter? I’m like Voldemort. I’ve split my soul into a billion different directions — Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Youtube. And in doing so I’ve painted myself into a corner..

I now have to create content consistently on each platform just to not have my audience forget about me. My balls are chained to Instagram.

If I don’t create new stuff, I’m a nobody.

Quentin Allums, a famous video creator on LinkedIn, recently had this to say about content creation:

“One of my biggest mistakes with business was that we built a machine that needed to continuously be fed. New clients, new employees, more attention needed, repeat. It needed my time. My heart. And all of my attention.

Content shouldn’t be like that. At least not for me. It should be play. Not a machine that needs to be fed. I don’t want to have to create more content because I’m afraid I’ll become irrelevant or because I need to please a sponsor or whatever.”

Reading these words from Quentin made me stand up from my seat and start slow clapping..

..at home..

..with nobody around.

Content shouldn’t be a machine that needs to be fed.

And when you split your soul across all these platforms, you build a bigger and bigger machine.

Shiny Objects Should Be Buried

Niklas Gökerecently shut down his paid newsletter and lamented about “shiny object” syndrome. Nik just wanted to write and publish books. He didn’t need a paid newsletter just because that was the new fad.

I applaud him.

I think for you, as a fledgling (or full grown) creator, you need to keep this lesson in mind.

No, you don’t need to create a Youtube channel. No, you don’t need to create a Substack newsletter.

Just do one or two things REALLY WELL. The added exposure, sales, or opportunities you get from being on new platforms isn’t worth the sheer stress of juggling 10 different things at once. Trust me.

I’m actually at fault for pushing a lot of folks to create new channels and groups. I’ve championed LinkedIn A LOT lately. I’ve talked a lot about how writers need to get into creating videos on Youtube. I’ve spoken a bit about Facebook video as well.

I think that, yeah, it’s nice to cover your bases and diversify in case shit really does hit the fan on Medium or any other platform you’re on.

But don’t go crazy hopping on 40 different platforms. Just choose one or two and go really deep on them.

I’ve lost more time chasing shiny objects than anything else over the last four years as a content creator. Don’t make the same mistake.