Having a strong social media presence is crucial for many businesses and individuals today. Two key metrics of social media success are the number of followers you have and the number of accounts you follow. But which one is more important – having lots of followers or following lots of accounts? Here is an in-depth look at the pros and cons of prioritizing followers versus following on social media.
The Case for Focusing on Followers
Having a high number of followers can provide several benefits:
- Increased brand awareness – More followers means more people see your content and become familiar with your brand.
- Social proof – A high follower count lends credibility and can indicate that you are an influencer in your industry.
- Improved sales – Followers represent potential customers for your business. More eyes on your content can drive more sales.
- Reach and influence – With more followers, the reach of your posts and content increases, as does your overall influence.
- Marketing opportunities – Accounts with high followers can potentially earn money via sponsorships, affiliate marketing, etc.
Essentially, followers represent the size of your audience and the direct reach of your brand message on social platforms. For businesses especially, followers are valuable commodities and increasing follower counts is a priority.
Ways to Get More Followers
Here are some proven strategies for getting more followers on social media:
- Post great content consistently – Good content that provides value for your audience will organically attract more followers.
- Optimize hashtags – Using relevant hashtags makes it easier for users to find your content and follow you.
- Run contests and giveaways – These tactics incentivize users to follow you in order to enter and potentially win prizes.
- Engage with your audience – Be social on social media! Like, comment, and reply to build relationships with users.
- Use paid ads – Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms allow you to run ads to gain more followers.
- Partner with influencers – Getting shoutouts from influencers exposes you to their follower base.
- Optimize your profile – Ensure you have an eye-catching and complete profile to convince users to follow.
The Case for Focusing on Following
While having lots of followers is great, focusing on who you follow can also provide advantages:
- Staying on top of your industry – Following competitors and leaders in your field keeps you aware of trends and what’s working.
- Discovering new ideas – By following diverse accounts, you can get exposed to inspiration for fresh content ideas.
- Making connections – Following other accounts is a chance to interact and potentially collaborate with complementary brands or influencers.
- Keeping tabs on the competition – You can gain intel and insights by keeping up with what competing brands are posting.
- Improving your content – Seeing what performs well for the accounts you follow can help you refine your own content strategy.
Following the right mix of accounts makes social media more valuable for researching your niche, monitoring your competitors, networking and building relationships, and generally staying plugged into your industry.
Tips for Following Strategically
To maximize the benefits of thoughtful following, keep these tips in mind:
- Follow leaders in your field – Look for the prominent voices, brands, and influencers related to your business.
- Follow engaged accounts – Prioritize accounts that actively post content and interact with their followers.
- Follow trendsetters – Identify accounts that tend to set trends instead of just chasing existing ones.
- Follow potential partners – Connect with accounts that you may want to collaborate with in the future.
- Follow your competitors – Keep close tabs on competing brands in your space.
- Follow relevant hashtags – Hashtag searches can help you discover accounts to follow based on your niche.
- Follow back followers – If someone follows you, consider following them back to build community.
Balancing Followers and Following
Generally, the best approach is to focus on striking the right balance between gaining followers and strategically following other accounts. Here are some best practices for balancing the two:
- Set follower number goals but also following goals. For example, aim to get 1,000 new followers a month but also follow 500 new accounts a month.
- When following others, be selective not spammy. Follow accounts that are relevant and provide value, not just any account to get your numbers up.
- Use tools like follower-to-following ratios to make sure your account looks natural and not bot-like.
- Schedule time for both engaging with your own followers and interacting with the accounts you follow.
- Track your metrics. Watch both your follower growth and how your engagement changes based on who you follow.
- Find a cadence that works. Post frequently to attract followers but also make time to follow others in your industry.
The ideal balance depends on your goals and audience. For example, celebrities will focus more on building massive follower counts while B2B brands need to follow industry leaders to nurture relationships. Find the right mix for your needs.
Followers vs Following: An Example
Here is a quick example to illustrate the differing strategies of prioritizing followers vs following. Imagine two fictional Instagram business accounts in the kitchenware industry:
Example 1: Kitchen Gear Shop
Kitchen Gear Shop is an e-commerce business selling kitchen tools and accessories. Their main goal is driving online sales. They decide to focus 80% of their Instagram effort on attracting more followers to reach potential new customers. This includes:
- Posting product photos and discounts
- Running weekly giveaways for free products (must follow to enter)
- Boosting posts with paid ads to gain more followers
- Engaging followers by replying to comments and questions
The other 20% of their time is spent following relevant accounts in the cooking space like brands, recipes pages, influencers, etc. However, gaining followers is the clear priority.
Example 2: Kitchen Design Media
Kitchen Design Media is a blog that posts articles about kitchen design trends and ideas. Their goal is to build relationships with kitchen brands, architects, interior designers, and other industry insiders. So they flip the script and devote 80% of their Instagram strategy to following relevant accounts including:
- Kitchen designers and architects
- Home interior influencers
- Kitchen appliance brands
- Kitchenware manufacturers
- Home remodeling services
They engage heavily by commenting and liking posts from these accounts. The other 20% goes to attracting their own organic followers by sharing their articles and videos.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, there is no one right answer for whether it is better to focus on gaining followers or following others. The best approach depends entirely on your goals and audience. Businesses may benefit more from prioritizing followers to reach customers. But industry experts and bloggers often find more value in thoughtful following to build relationships. In most cases, you need a healthy balance of both. Analyze your metrics and adjust accordingly to find the ideal strategy for growing your overall social media presence.