How many followers do you need to be successful?
Let’s face it, the majority of people who start a Social Media account want it to grow quickly. That is understandable. More followers equals more Business, right? Not necessarily. Let me explain. Whilst some accounts have seen huge growth very quickly, that is not the norm for most of us. Building a large, genuine following takes time. I always say that Social Media is a long game, and so it should be. So, is buying followers the answer?
The whole point of Social Media is to be social. It is a platform for you to build relationships with people, start conversations and engage with like-minded individuals. When done right, it can work wonders for your Business. Despite this, there is still a fixation, or dare I say, obsession with so-called vanity metrics. How many followers does someone have? That seems to be how most people identify which accounts are successful and which ones aren’t. But is that really accurate? The short answer is no. It isn’t.
There are ways for people to buy followers. Literally buying thousands of followers to give the impression that their account is growing and clearly successful. But where do all these followers come from? They can come from anywhere. Your Follower count increases, but that’s about it.
So, you buy followers, your account now shows your follower number at 10k. Hooray, you now have a successful account-don’t you? You start sharing content and it bombs. No comments, no likes, no saves. What is going on? You’ve got all these followers and no one is engaging with your content. So you change it up a bit. Start posting at different times of day, experimenting with video, and still nothing. Why? And I’ll ask again, is buying followers the answer?
These followers you have bought are not your people. What I mean is they are not your ideal customer. Some of them might be, but you are now sharing content with people who wouldn’t buy from you. You are essentially talking to an empty room. You need followers who genuinely care about what you say and what you do, who value the content you put out and actually get something from it. Building trust with your followers is vital if you want to be able to sell your products or services. Someone is not going to buy from you just because they can see you have a high follower count.
Take some time to build a strategy. Who are you trying to reach? Tailor your content to speak to the people you want to reach. Actively seek out those individuals and talk to them-be social! Yes, it may take a while, but I promise you it will be so much more effective than simply buying people to make your account look important. Do your research. Make sure your Hashtags are relevant. These are some of the building blocks that make up a successful account and Business.
Experiencing a posting slump? Check out my blog post on the subject here: Posting slump?
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