I discovered Dhar Mann in mid-2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. As of January 2021, this entrepreneur has more than 20 million followers on Facebook, 5.1 million subscribers with over 13 billion views on YouTube. Dhar is best known for his motivational videos. Yes, some may say they are a bit campy, but since 2018he has been building an empire as a filmmaker and a cosmetics mogul. Dhar started with his last bit of money, $600, and by the end of 2018, he created an eight-figure business. Not bad for a man who never went to film school.

In a 2018 article for Business Insider, Dhar mentioned how he was not a filmmaker, and his first motivational video posted on his Facebook page only received 125 views. Then he mentioned, fast forward a year and a half later he has four billion views and has half a million followers, (pause), a week.

So how did this non-filmmaker do it? Dhar is camera-shy, his videos don’t require a large budget and he is not a huge social media guru. Does this sound like you? And of course, you say to yourself, “if he can do it, I can do it!”. And maybe you can. Just understand that video is part of a larger creative mechanism called storytelling. This is the key element to video viewing success.

Dhar Mann realized very early on that influencers and celebrities that ranked high on social media all had a story to tell. And we as humans enjoy stories for the time of birth. Remember how you loved bedtime stories or great storybooks at storytime in elementary school. Stories stir our imagination and capture our hearts. So imagine if you can, your favorite celebrity, (actor, musician or, athlete), what is it that truly draws you to them and makes them your favorite. In most cases, you will find it’s their backstory; who they are and where they came from help draw you in. But the best part is if your favorite has overcome obstacles in their life.

So as a business owner, author, or want-to-be influencer the first step to grow your following and create engagement is to really focus on and figure out your story. People love to follow a winner. So ask yourself, what struggles in your life have you faced? How did you overcome them? Did overcoming those obstacles make you successful or cause you to grow emotionally, mentally, or spiritually? Dhar Mann seems to have tapped into this formula and created a huge following and a bank account creating video shorts that tell these stories.

The formula for creating viral content is not an easy one. Once you created your own unique story now you must decide on a style of content that you are most comfortable with. Is it writing, if so blogging, Medium, Reddit, or Twitter maybe your path? If photography excites you then use Instagram or Pinterest. And there is our favorite, video, so if making videos gets your creative juices flowing then explore Vimeo, YouTube, and for younger followers use TikTok.

Perseverance is key. Your content will probably not go viral immediately. But if you follow Dhar Mann’s techniques and formula you could end up with a hit. This means studying your data. Create a digital trail on the web by posting articles on various platforms and websites. Doing podcast interviews and link all of these back to your website and videos, wherever they are hosted. You don’t need to be a star to become an authority or influencer. You only need to know your story, decide your style of content, build a digital trail, and, track your data. Sounds like a lot of work? It is. But we at I.M.I. love this kind of work and would love to help you grow your following.