Why your follower count means nothing if they’re not engaging

I’m just going to put it out there: your follower count means absolutely nothing if your engagement doesn’t add up. And that’s true across every platform from Facebook through to TikTok.

It’s all well and good if you have 10k+ followers but if your posts are getting between 10 and 20 likes, then can you really consider your account successful? The reality is, for you to succeed on social, you need to have an engaged audience, otherwise you really are going to struggle to get your content to a wider audience and grow your overall presence.

 

Scrap the vanity metrics

Let’s use the 10k followers and low engagement as an example – if you’re getting around 10 to 20 likes per post, then you’re getting about 0.1% to 0.2% worth of engagement from your followers, which…isn’t ideal! This indicates that the people who follow you aren’t listening to what you’re saying and, most likely, aren’t even seeing it to be able to engage.

The way the social media algorithms work for most platforms means that if you don’t engage with a page regularly, then you aren’t going to keep seeing its content, which is where the problem arises for those with large followings that aren’t engaging – they’re not seeing what you’re posting.

Long gone are the days when follower numbers were the number one KPI that a brand should be tracking. If you really want to know the impact that your brand is having on social, then your engagement rate is what you should be looking at.

Remember, the time when people were buying followers to get their numbers up? (And that wasn’t all that long ago…) The remnants of this can still be seen with passive ‘eggs’ in the feeds, who never engage and do absolutely nothing for you other than provide a vanity figure (yup, I said it!).

 

How do you tackle this?

Obviously, the overall goal is to have a large following on social, but for this to really matter and make a difference for your brand, you need to make sure the growth comes from people who care. Because when they engage, your audience becomes part of your marketing team.

So, first things first, stop worrying about your follower number and focus on the content you’re producing. Find a niche that works for your audience and use it to create a sense of belonging.

If you’re making content that resonates with your followers and they’re engaging, then the chances are the algorithms are going to start playing in your favour and helping to push your product out to a wider audience – including the people that already follow you to get them to reconnect with you.

Then you just need to keep them coming back for more. Don’t rely on one piece of content to drive change, you need to keep up consistency with regular posts to ensure you don’t fall out of people’s – or the algorithm’s – minds.

Jump on trends that are relevant for your business, offer content that adds value for your audience, provide a behind-the-scenes look at what you do – these are all things that will help you generate engagement as you’re giving people something that they can’t get anywhere else.

Side note – this is also something to consider when looking for influencers to work with. Don’t just pick someone with a large following, look and see what engagement they’re getting on their posts. This will give you a better indication of whether they are truly going to add value to your brand.

So, there we have it: don’t fall for the follower count trap! Now what?

In our last social-media-focused blog, we discussed what the algorithm means and how you can look to try and beat it, so be sure to check that out if you’re looking for some tips on how to make your content go further.

If you want support in strengthening your content strategy, then reach out today – we’ll be happy to help!