What if social media wasn’t about chasing millions of people, but about connecting with the right ones?

That’s the lens I bring — micro-influence. A smaller audience, but a deeply connected one.

At Katha Munch Inc, our 501(c)(3) theatre and digital storytelling nonprofit, success isn’t measured by views alone. 10,000 passive views don’t matter nearly as much as 100 people who deeply connect with the story — the ones who come to a show, volunteer with us, perform with us, or are impacted by our content positively.

I recently had the opportunity to present this perspective to women founders during International Women’s Day at The Collective Table (by Aarti G Kopuri), alongside Shweta Mehta (@thecoachshweta), an international beauty pageant winner, model, and fitness instructor. Her inspiring journey — growing from nothing to 20K followers quickly — is a very real path.

For us, understanding our goals shaped the micro-influence strategy that works for our theatre community. Here are the three strategies I shared:

1. Be intentional: focus on your goals, the what, and how much you post! Social media moves fast, but you don’t have to clutter your feed. We keep content approachable but intentional, and follow a 70:20:10 approach:
• 70% Audience Experience – what people feel and get when they come to our shows
• 20% Awareness – who we are, why we do what we do, and the impact we are bringing to the community
• 10% Behind the Scenes – rehearsals, fun banter, and creative process

2. Invest in visual storytelling
Working with our visual designer Kasturi Karle , and leveraging AI and tech, has been a game changer — helping bring imagination to life even before audiences enter the theatre. Professional visuals let people step into the story, and I can’t emphasize enough how much thoughtful visual storytelling transforms audience connection.

3. Embrace vulnerability and personability: Strike a balance. When audiences feel like they know you, they care more deeply about what you create. Authenticity connects, and sharing lived experiences, empathy, and sensitivity to others’ perspectives creates deeper connection. So we share behind-the-scenes moments, rehearsals, conversations with actors, and glimpses of the lives of the people building this work.

Sometimes we value good enough to go more than professional editing and flawlessness. A small example: for International Women’s Day, we made a quick, raw reel asking some of our our male performers a simple question – https://lnkd.in/gfyGER5q . It wasn’t polished, but it resonated deeply. Sometimes raw, vulnerable, good-enough-to-go content builds connection even more powerfully, when placed at the right time and space.

For us, social media isn’t just promotion — it’s another stage, where storytelling begins far before the curtain rises.

How do you approach social media to connect deeply, not just widely?