How many followers do you have?
It's a typical question when asked about a company's social media. But it's time to get rid of that question. And here's why. Numbers don't mean the same thing anymore. 5 years ago numbers were EVERYTHING on Instagram and Facebook. The more you had, the more legit you were. They mattered so much that people started buying them. Influencers and businesses were obsessed with seeing their follower count grow.
But then Instagram and Facebook changed the game- and not everyone has caught up. They changed the way people saw your content. They changed the algorithm and then in January of this year they changed it again, in a BIG way. But what does this have to do with your numbers?
Ask any social media "expert" and they will all tell you the same thing. In 2020, ENGAGEMENT is King. Not how many followers you have.
Why?
Because 1,000 dedicated, interested and committed followers are much more valuable than 10K random peeps from the web. It's just that simple.
So it's time to stop. Stop asking your social media managers to grow your account by 1K a month. Stop obsessing on how many followers you're gaining or losing over a small period of time. Stop thinking of all those people you wish were following you and start focusing on the people that ALREADY ARE.
Engagement is the new follower count. If you have 10K followers but only 3 comments on each post (2 of which are random bots saying "awesome!") your account is not doing well. In fact, many accounts with huge followings would do well to clean up that follower count a little bit and work on their engagement. Remember, your content is only being shown to 10% or LESS of your community. If 70% of that community is fake or not interested, is your content getting to the right people? Probably not.