If you focus on follower count, you’re doing social media wrong. You see, focusing on gaining followers for the sake of having a lot of followers will not provide any long term benefit.
We’re not saying it’s pointless to gain followers. Please, don’t get that impression: followers are great! We want all of our clients to have a massive social media following—but we never make this our main goal.
Why Will Focusing on Followers Hurt my Business?
You see gaining followers for the sake of gaining followers will yield a lot of un-engaged followers. To make your social media efforts successful you need to gain the right followers: people who actually care about what you’re posting. After all, the more people who engage with each post; the more exposure your content will get online.
Only a Fraction of Your Audience Sees Each Organic Post
Every time your business posts to social media, that post is weighed by an algorithm to see if the post is actually good. The algorithm does this by showing your post to a fraction of your followers.
Speaking specifically for one social network, Facebook, the general consensus is that roughly 10% to 15% of your organic audience sees each post. So once you post to Facebook, the Facebook algorithm watches to see how your followers react to your post. If the post is engaged with positively, more of your followers will be shown the post.
This is Why the Right Followers Matter!
Lets put this 10% organic reach into an example. Let’s say you have a Facebook page with 1,000 followers who aren’t overly engaged with your business. The likelihood those first 10% will engage with your content is going to be low; which means your post won’t be shown to much more than 100 people.
On the flip-side, if those people are the right followers, then those first 10% would engage. Facebook would see this and then show your post to more of your followers. In fact, the post would soon expand beyond your follower base. The post could be shown to people outside your immediate realm of influence.
The idea is that, long term, we want to build your social media profile up with followers who actually care about your business. People who like the services and products you offer and want to hear what you’re saying. People who are likely to comment on, or “like” your posts.
How Did I Build So Many Un-Engaged Followers?
Usually, the best way to build an audience of un-engaged followers is to have a contest for something unrelated to your business. An example would be if you are a contractor doing a give-away for a free iPad or Kindle. These prizes are totally unrelated to your business and attract the absolute wrong customer.
Sure, you may end up with a few good followers—but we can promise you the time and money spent on the giveaway could be better spent elsewhere.
Is There a Good, Fast Way to Get More Engaged Followers?
Yes. There is a good way to gain more engaged followers fast. Here are some suggestions:
- Stop focusing on followers. If your focus every week is on how to get more likes, you will end up with an audience who is not engaged. Instead, focus on engagement.
- Create valuable content. Content which is entertaining or educational, or both.
- Pay to play. Take your valuable content, and boost your posts with proper audience targeting.
If you’re in need of help with determining how to gain the right followers on social media, we’re here to help. Advantage Internet Marketing is a full-service internet marketing company offering social media marketing services in Westminster, MD and surrounding areas. For more information on how we can help you grow your followers, give us a call today at 410-848-4737.