The Myth of Audience Size
Many so-called experts claim growing your audience is all about posting huge volumes of content. They demand you post every day, use tricks to get people to interact, and flood your feed with simple, machine-generated thoughts just to stay visible. This way of thinking treats professional content like cheap goods, caring more about pleasing the online system than sharing real insights. This leads to boring "How-To" guides that look identical to everyone else's.
The hidden cost of this constant posting is that your Expert Status gets watered down. When you focus on posting often instead of posting deeply, you stop looking like someone who actually does the work and start looking like someone begging for attention. This creates a feeling of Embarrassment Over Posting—the mental stress of sharing surface-level content that even you wouldn't value.
The result is Fake Interaction: you get likes from automated accounts and others who are playing the same posting game, while the real decision-makers and investors skip over your content because it lacks any unique, valuable ideas.
The Information Gain Rule
To get the attention of truly important people, you need to switch to the Information Gain Rule.
This means you should stop teaching general topics and start sharing "Public Problem Solving" and your own unique way of combining ideas.
- Instead of five simple tips on getting clients, you show the real numbers from a project that cost you $40k.
- Instead of general guidance, you share the very specific, unusual situation that finally made a big difference.
By sharing "Proof of Your Work" that can't be copied easily, you stop trying to be noticed and start becoming impossible to ignore.
Summary: Building Respect Through Depth
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01
Use the Information Gain Rule Focus on sharing private data and unique, tricky situations instead of common "how-to" guides. This makes top-level readers see your content as a main source, not just a summary of common knowledge.
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Share Your Public Troubleshooting Show the exact steps of a big mistake you made and how you fixed it immediately. This provides "Proof of Work" that quickly earns trust from executive peers who value real experience over theory.
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Focus on the Hidden Audience Aim for content packed with insight that speaks directly to quiet decision-makers, not just likes from peers who are also posting constantly. This bypasses fake engagement to reach the important people who control big deals.
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Build a Knowledge Fortress Publish deep, thoughtful analysis that requires real experience to create. This stops your personal brand from being turned into cheap content by low-effort, computer-generated noise.
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Reduce Talk, Increase Substance Ignore comments that are just trying to get attention. Focus only on hard, detailed questions from serious experts. This keeps you respected as an expert, not just another creator who is always available.
Industry Content Check-up: Real Authority vs. Just Noise
As someone who checks industry content professionally, I’ve looked closely at what people post today. Below shows the main differences between chasing online popularity (what most do) and actually building authority (the smart move).
Sharing Knowledge Everyone Already Has
Reusing old "how-to" articles, simple summaries from AI tools, and "5 tips for X" lists that you can find instantly on Google.
Sharing your own specific data, talking openly about failures, and detailing unusual situations you handled on the job.
Focusing on Likes and Views
Caring most about high views, fake likes from interaction groups, and sticking to a strict daily posting schedule (The Need to Post Always).
Focusing on "Information Gain": measuring success by how much new, non-obvious knowledge you share, and how many real leaders reach out to you.
Acting Like an Online Star
Pretending to be an "Influencer" by using polished templates and catchy opening lines to appeal to everyone (The General Teacher).
Talking like a fellow expert by sharing "Proof of Work"—secrets and internal data that can't be faked (The Senior Professional).
Worrying About Offending People
Making your content less complex so "everyone" shares it, which results in "Embarrassment Over Posting" where you share stuff you find shallow (Status Dilution).
Embracing complexity and niche details that require real industry involvement to produce. This makes your ideas too good for the masses but essential for top-level peers (Intellectual Strength).
Chasing Popular, Safe Topics
Talking about "safe" or currently trending subjects (like AI hype or daily routines) just to get views, even if you have nothing new to say (Tricking the System).
Analyzing specific failures or successes from your work in the last month, no matter if the topic is trending or not (Niche Depth).
The Information Gain Rule: Moving from Constant Work to a Solid Record
Great content comes from real work, not just sitting down to invent ideas. To avoid feeling awkward about what you post, you must stop trying to come up* with ideas and start *writing down strange things that happen. You are hunting for "The Difference"—what the standard advice says should happen versus what actually happened in your projects this week.
- Start a "Trouble Log": Keep a private note or chat where you record three things: 1) A choice you made that felt risky, 2) A common "best practice" that didn't work for you this week, and 3) A specific number or result that surprised you.
- Write "Doubtful Opinions": Instead of declaring a "How-To," write a "Why-Not." For example: "Why we are deliberately ignoring [Popular Trend] even though it promises 20% growth."
- Check for Real Substance: Remove any note that a computer could write. If it doesn't have a specific number, a specific failure, or a specific secret skill, it's just "watering down expertise" and should be cut.
"The process stops being about being a 'Content Creator' on a treadmill and becomes a 'Practitioner's Record Book' that attracts high-level peers."
Trigger: Once a week (Friday afternoon review). This makes content creation match your actual work schedule, ensuring it feels real and is easy to collect.
Aim for depth over wide audience. Since you aren't looking for a new job, you don't need 10,000 likes from beginners; you need 10 nods of approval from 10 top executives. Use "Unique Idea Mixing" to show the "messy" side of your work—the tricky spots and the "Ideas That Go Against the Grain" that only another expert would truly grasp.
- The "Anti-Attention" Opening: Start your post with the actual data or the failure. Example: "We wasted $12k on this one specific system setup. Here is the wrong assumption we made."
- Apply "Unique Idea Mixing": Connect two totally different fields to explain a current issue. (e.g., "What lessons from a complex kitchen brigade can teach us about managing remote software teams.")
- Visual Proof of Effort: Use blurry photos of a spreadsheet, a quick drawing on a whiteboard, or a blurred email instead of nice stock photos. This visual "grit" tells high-level readers this is real information from the front lines.
"We wasted $12k on this one specific system setup. Here is the wrong assumption we made."
This phase aims to create a high "Signal-to-Junk" ratio that filters out fake interactions and attracts serious experts.
Top-level people rarely comment publicly. They watch quietly. To reach them, you need to skip the normal online shouting and use Citing People You Respect. This isn't about tagging famous people for a retweet; it's about starting a real conversation with peers whose work you admire.
- Expert Mentions: In your post, mention a specific idea or framework from a peer ("This builds on the 'Hidden Cost' idea [Name] talked about last month").
- The "Contextual Message": Send your post in a private message to 3-5 peers with a specific question: "I just posted this breakdown of our failed launch. Since you dealt with [X] last year, did you notice a similar pattern in your customer loss rate?"
- Smart Arguments: If a peer disagrees in the comments, don't argue back. Use Questioning to Draw Out More Insight from them. The best ideas often come from disagreements.
"This builds on the 'Hidden Cost' idea [Name] talked about last month."
The goal here is to switch the conversation from "Nice post!" (Fake interaction) to serious professional talk by actively bringing in respected peers.
Don't let the "Need to Post Always" feeling creep back in. As your audience grows, you'll want to post generic stuff just to "feed the machine." This step makes sure you stay a practitioner who writes, instead of a writer who occasionally practices.
- The Self-Respect Check: Look at your last 6 posts. If you read them to a respected mentor or CEO, would you feel ashamed? If yes, you are slipping into "Expertise Dilution."
- Find the "Can't Ignore" Themes: See which posts got the most private messages from qualified peers (not just likes). Focus more on those exact types of "Information Gain" topics.
- Simplify the System: If the process is taking more than 2 hours a week, make Milestone 1 ("Trouble Log") simpler. The system must be easy to maintain without losing the core, valuable content.
"If you read them to a mentor or a CEO you admire, would you feel ashamed? If yes, you are slipping into 'Expertise Dilution.'"
The main goal is to build a reliable reputation as a "Go-To Source" in your field, which leads to job offers, partnerships, and investments that you don't even have to chase.
The Recruiter’s View: Why Building an Audience Adds a 20% Pay Bump
In my twenty years of hiring people, I’ve never told a client, "This person has a great attitude." I tell them, "This person is a known expert with an established online presence." That statement alone usually adds $30k to $50k to the starting salary offer. Here is the harsh truth about why having a professional audience isn't just about looking good—it's a huge financial gain.
If you only rely on a resume, you are a complete unknown until reference checks begin. This means you are competing against hundreds of similar applications based only on what your past job titles were, not what influence you have right now.
Building a recognized professional platform gives you current market proof, changing interviews into discussions where you are already seen as a valuable, well-known talent.
The reason for the extra money is based on human psychology—People trust what they see proven (Social Proof) and fear missing out on something rare (Scarcity). When a company sees a public expert, they instantly think you are worth more because the whole industry has already given you a "thumbs up" on your skills.
That 20% extra pay isn't just for skills; it’s an "Insurance Fee" the company pays to be sure they are hiring someone the public market has already proven is good.
What Experts Know
The "Hidden Background Check" Runs All Day
Most candidates think the reference check happens at the end. Incorrect. When a hiring manager sees you have a steady, respected online presence, they check who is actually interacting with you. If CEOs or top experts comment on your posts, it means you’ve already passed the hardest vetting process before you even have an interview. You aren't just claiming expertise; the public market is proving it live.
Content Speeds Up Trust and Value
Hiring someone new is always a risk. A person without an audience is a "Mystery Box"—you don't know how they think until they start working. A person with an audience is "Proven Talent." By reading your content, I can see your thinking process, how you solve problems, and how you communicate over months. This lowers the risk for the company, and they happily pay more for someone they feel is a "safe bet."
The Advantage of Being a "Target" Not an "Applicant"
There's a big difference between people who apply for jobs and people companies try to hire. Applicants are common; targets are prizes. Building an audience stops you from being an applicant; you become the "quiet talent" they have to fight to get. When a company feels they are competing to pull you away from your professional platform, they move your salary offer out of the "Standard Pay" bracket and into the "Top Tier."
Cruit Tools for Your Expert Plan
Plan Step: [1]
The Log ToolThis tool helps run your "Trouble Log." The smart writing assistant pulls out strange events, skills, and creates searchable "Proof of Work" summaries right away.
Plan Step: [3]
ConnectingHelps manage conversations with important peers automatically. The smart guide writes "Contextual Messages" for citing experts, so you never struggle to start a conversation.
Plan Step: [4]
Career Advice ToolYour personal mentor for checking if your content is good enough. It uses deep questioning to check if your posts match your true expertise level and finds gaps in your "Authority Cycle."
Quick Questions About the Information Gain Rule
"If I stop posting every day, won't the system hide my page and make me disappear?"
This is a common worry, but you need to know the difference between "getting seen" and "getting respected."
The Need to Post Always strategy tries to get views from people who just click "like" quickly and will never buy anything from you.
The real leaders—the ones who matter for your career or business—don't care how often you post; they care about the "Information Gain" in your specific, unique lessons. One single "can't ignore" post that a CEO saves for six months is worth more than five daily posts that are forgotten in six seconds.
"What if I work in a field with strict rules or Non-Disclosure Agreements—how do I 'Publicly Solve Problems' without getting in trouble?"
"Public Problem Solving" does not mean sharing secret company information; it means sharing the way your brain works to solve problems.
You can still show high Information Gain by using "Specifics Without Names"—changing names and private details but keeping the actual data, the points of failure, and the logic clear. Your audience doesn't need the client's name to understand the "Proof of Work" shown when you explain how you fixed a million-dollar tracking error or handled a difficult compliance change.
"But aren't simple 'How-To' guides what people search for on Google and LinkedIn?"
Simple "How-To" content has become a standard item, easily copied by computers and new creators.
While a "How-To" might get you initial searches, it doesn't build strong "Professional Status" because it makes you look like a teacher rather than someone who actually performs the job.
By switching to "Unique Idea Mixing," you move from answering "How do I do X?" to answering "Why did X fail when we did it this way?"—which is the exact insight that attracts valuable peers and investors who have already tried the basic "How-To" guides and failed.
Breaking Free.
Breaking free from the COMMON-MISTAKE-TRAP of constant posting is the only way to protect your professional value from being cheapened by endless, simple, computer-made content. By making a STRATEGIC-CHANGE to share high-value, hard-to-find knowledge, you turn your online profile from a desperate plea for attention into a clear record of your actual skills. Stop trying to please the system and start documenting your "Proof of Work" now so that you build an audience of real decision-makers, not just empty profiles.
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