I dabbled in thought leadership for a while, with a PR agent, and its nice to have a voice and really awesome google results but I didn’t/don't like being considered like a journalist on rare occasion
In unrelated anonymous profiles (lifestyle/wealth/meme/model pages) I have used followers and engagement as currency. As in used to obtain goods and services. Its great because you never spend it and it works worldwide.
But I prefer just having access to experiences without undermining my ability to obtain goods and services, food and shelter in the future. I mostly have that, and there is very little limitations I will consider in achieving that. It sounds like you have that.
They got thousands of followers, people actually engage with them, their opinions are valued, etc.