Right off the bat, I’m just going to say that follower count is worthless in and of itself. If you think follower count is a badge of honour or a status symbol, then you’re doing it wrong.
That being said, gaining more followers does have value, and here are 5 reasons why.
1. More followers means more retweets.
Or more shares. Or more likes. Or more repins. And so on. The more followers you have, the more chances your content has of being reshared. Plus, the more your followers share your content, the more well-known your brand becomes.
2. More followers means more engagement.
The more people you have following you, the higher the likelihood people will comment on the content you share. That increase in discussion can provide you with valuable feedback for future content, including blog posts and newsletter topics. Plus, if you follow those people back, it increases the content stream you have access to, which can help you discover great content you might not have otherwise seen.
3. More followers keeps your community fresh.
If your collection of followers never changes, it can affect the conversations within the community. New followers can potentially provide new ideas and different perspectives, thus improving the quality of the conversation, which is great for your other followers.
4. More followers makes up for inactive ones.
Not everyone who uses social media does so religiously. Some social media users log in once then never connect again. Some use it frequently then for various reasons take a hiatus. Plus, despite your best efforts to avoid it, some people will unfollow your social media accounts. Increasing your followers will make up for the accounts that go inactive and for those who stop following you.
5. More followers means more potential clients.
As your followers reshare your content, as you engage more with your followers, and as you improve the freshness of your conversations, you can increase the number of visitors to your website. This is the entire point of inbound marketing and key to getting more people subscribing to your newsletter or more leads coming to your website.
Keep in mind that none of these apply if you aren’t attracting quality followers. Anyone can spend $25 to buy 1000 Twitter followers or Facebook likes, but what’s the point? Most (if not all) of them won’t engage with your content, are fake accounts, are against most TOSs, and will be deleted if caught.
Pump out quality content that people want to share and talk about, and you will increase your followers naturally. Organic growth is always the best policy.
What do you think? Am I of touch, or do you think I’m spot on? Let me know in the comments below.
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