Why Your Instagram Follower Number is Irrelevant

I was chatting to a potential client the other day, about their follower count on their Instagram. They were surprised that they didn’t have a higher follow rate, as, and in their words: ‘we have an amazing product and images’. And it’s true, they did have a good product and images. They also told me that other potential social media managers had promised them x amount of followers by a certain date.

I’m here to tell you, why you should avoid that type of person like a social plague.

It doesn’t matter how many followers you have if they aren’t engaged with you.

Was that a bit of a KABOOM moment? Good. Because you could have all the followers in the World, but if they aren’t engaged with you and your product, then you may as well have zero followers.

He also told me that they could ‘buy’ followers. Again, you may as well buy someone stones. Buying followers is one of the biggest mistakes you could make for your social media channels. They aren’t there for you or your product. Don’t do it.

So how do we get followers who do want your product?

Business plan! My two favourite words when it comes to digital marketing. You need to know your demographic before you can market to them. Figure that out, and you are halfway there.

Regular posting and content

Make sure you are posting regularly, across your grid, stories and reels. Drip-feed your company ethos, products and information. Create good imagery, and set a tone and brand for your platform. Canva is a free tool you can use to create simple and effective graphic posts.

Hashtags

A post (including stories) with hashtags, gets roughly 12.5% more engagement than those without, and same as with your client base, research which ones to use. Apps like Tagify are good for this.

When to post

The best time to post is totally dependent on where you are, and who your customer base is. This is where your business insights come in, so use it and study it. Sometimes it’s a case of trial and error to find the perfect mix. That’s OK, no one gets it clinched the first time round.

Engage back

No one likes a one-sided conversation, so get talking to your customers. Like their posts, take time to comment and build up a community. It works.

If you’d like some help with social media management, or would like some training, take a look at my social media manager services.