Social media has become widespread throughout this generation and businesses now see it as a main channel to reach their customers and supporters. They often judge their success by how many people “follow” them and respond to their posts. Social media platforms like Instagram even reward users with extra features if they have 10K followers, so this has become a de facto goal for many companies.
But do you really need 10k followers?
That's the question. Kami’s Smart Social Secrets discusses followers — numbers and what constitutes real results (ROI) from social media.
Engagement is everything
What do we mean by engagement and why is it more important than a follower count?
Engagement is the likes, comments, and shares you accumulate on your posts. More importantly, it reflects to brands that your followers are active on your account, looking at what you're sharing. But engaging should not be a one way street.
Engaging with others on Instagram is a great way to help build your account. Even though influencers may have been building their following for a long time, how one interacts with other users can make a huge difference. Finding others in your niche both cultivates new followers and encourages activity on your posts.
One way some influencers choose to artificially increase engagement on social media is by joining “pods”. The people in pods interact with each other in order to increase their engagement. This might increase your overall engagement, but it can hurt your results. Unless the members of your pod are also your ideal customers,
Whatever someone engages with the most, the algorithm will send them more of that content. One way that can hurt an influencer’s engagement is by buying followers. It is not in their best interest because there will be less interaction with followers, resulting in influencers possibly not getting the reciprocity that they want.
How to build engagement
Having a plan is very important as well as building a community. Kami refers to a 2×2 plan, which is to ask two questions a day and to reply to at least two comments a day.
Get a free copy of the 2×2 Build a Community of Super Fans Mini-Course when you sign up for our email list. (zoeticamedia.com)
Ask questions to your users, create a conversation within your community, or even message an individual. Making posts conversational can increase interaction. Reply to posts and share your own thoughts. Doing this will allow you to understand what your followers like to read and engage with while growing your business, brand and platform.
Overall, having a community-focused attitude toward building your audience on a social media platform is the best way to see results. The number of followers someone has is not important if they are not engaging.
Don’t worry about how many followers you have, focus on engaging with your community and inspiring action.