Is follower count a vanity metric?
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 5:51 am
But, in the past few years, a debate has canada business email list emerged about its real significance considering how often today’s algorithms surface content to non-followers. Sentiment shifted as many social marketers began to see follower count as a stat that looked impressive on the surface, but lacked any meaningful business value and didn’t guarantee reach.
No matter how you slice it, follower count alone doesn’t tell you the full picture of your social performance. Yet, there’s a lot that you can uncover about your audience, ability to forge community and convert by looking at an often-overlooked, related metric: follower retention.
First, I want to give follower count the flowers it’s due, and walk back the assertions the industry has made that it’s completely insignificant. If your goal is growing your presence through broad reach and awareness, follower count is an excellent indicator of your results. It shows your brand’s capacity to instantaneously reach a large group of people, and, the more followers you have, the more likely you are to be discovered.
With that in mind, measuring follower count alone has its limitations. Ideally, you want to grow a lasting community on social and keep your followers eager to engage with you. If your follower count is growing, but your engagement rate is steadily declining, you have a problem.
The same is true for follower turnover. When you have legions of loyal fans in your follower base, you’re more likely to increase your discoverability, grow your audience and reach the right people with your content.
But the wrong followers—even if you have a lot of them—aren’t going to move the needle on larger business goals. For example, if you partner with an influencer for a contest or giveaway where contestants have to follow your brand, you will probably notice a steep dropoff after the winner is selected.
No matter how you slice it, follower count alone doesn’t tell you the full picture of your social performance. Yet, there’s a lot that you can uncover about your audience, ability to forge community and convert by looking at an often-overlooked, related metric: follower retention.
First, I want to give follower count the flowers it’s due, and walk back the assertions the industry has made that it’s completely insignificant. If your goal is growing your presence through broad reach and awareness, follower count is an excellent indicator of your results. It shows your brand’s capacity to instantaneously reach a large group of people, and, the more followers you have, the more likely you are to be discovered.
With that in mind, measuring follower count alone has its limitations. Ideally, you want to grow a lasting community on social and keep your followers eager to engage with you. If your follower count is growing, but your engagement rate is steadily declining, you have a problem.
The same is true for follower turnover. When you have legions of loyal fans in your follower base, you’re more likely to increase your discoverability, grow your audience and reach the right people with your content.
But the wrong followers—even if you have a lot of them—aren’t going to move the needle on larger business goals. For example, if you partner with an influencer for a contest or giveaway where contestants have to follow your brand, you will probably notice a steep dropoff after the winner is selected.