Your number of Instagram followers doesn’t matter. We hear this phrase everywhere. Myself, I repeat it all the time to the members of my community. If the number of followers isn’t important, what’s the point of investing time, money and resources trying to gain more social media followers? Why, the same influencers who say this (the number of subscribers is not important) earn their bread by creating content and trainings that explain “how to gain more subscribers”? In today’s article, I’m going to share my opinion on “Gaining More Social Media Followers”.
Gain social media followers – search growth
Despite social media coaches repeatedly saying that “follower count” doesn’t matter, Google search trends prove that social media users and content creators are still concerned about size of their subscriber base.
For what ? To say that the number of subscribers is not important is a bit hypocritical coming from people who already have a large subscriber base. Moreover, I think that instead of stigmatizing creators who want to grow on the internet, we have to tell ourselves the real things: having more subscribers on social networks offers several advantages.
Social networks have become an essential communication and sales channel. Any business that wants to succeed – regardless of its target customer – invests in this channel to acquire, convert and retain customers.
The average Internet user recognizes that it takes a lot of time and effort to create a large subscriber base. Therefore, established and successful brands should normally have no trouble building a community of happy customers on social media.
The number of followers as social proof
How many times have we bought a product from an unknown brand that has few social media followers? Very few times I guess. This is partly because these companies lack social proof.
Hubspot defines social proof this way:
Social proof is a psychological and social process used to influence consumer behavior by communicating a positive perception of a product, service or business. It is one of the oldest marketing concepts that relies on the satisfaction of previous buyers to reassure subsequent consumers, by creating a relationship of trust.
A consumer who plans to buy a product or service from a company he does not know is initially suspicious. He will research the company to try to find positives to reassure himself that the company, product or service is legitimate and meets his expectations.
The number of followers, the number of positive reviews, and the popularity of a business or product all help increase that social proof. Social proof is important to convince. It represents in a way a certificate of quality.
Social proof is especially important for companies that are 100% digital. Internet users are increasingly suspicious and they are even more so towards companies that do not have a physical location. Indeed, it is difficult to verify if these companies really exist. Moreover, in the absence of a physical location, one cannot touch or appreciate a product before deciding to buy it.
Have more followers on social networks to access certain features
Before the arrival of the Instagram story link sticker , most content creators aimed to reach 10,000 followers to unlock the famous ” Swipe Up ” story link.
Although the number of followers is not officially a requirement to get verified, the fact remains that the majority of verified accounts have a relatively large follower base. These accounts, in addition to gaining credibility, are often among the first to test new features. This gives them a head start on other users since they have more time to refine their strategy by using the new features available on social networks before everyone else.
Algorithms on social networks present our content first to our followers before deciding whether it is relevant to other users. The more subscribers we have, the more likely we are that our content will be seen by a large number of people – provided that our subscribers interact with our content . The more our content interests these subscribers, the more the algorithms will promote it on the newsfeed of potential customers. The number of followers can thus increase the chances of going viral and gaining popularity.
Followers attract followers
How often do we follow accounts that have few followers? If these are not profiles of people we know, chances are that you will not subscribe.
As I explained in the previous points, the number of followers can become a guarantee of quality and credibility. It can also convince Internet users to subscribe to a page. It is for this reason that the number of new subscribers tends to increase more quickly as the follower base increases. That is, it takes on average less time for an account that has 10,000 followers to gain 5,000 followers than an account that only has 1,000.
Increase your number of subscribers to earn more money
Having a lot of subscribers does not only provide a psychological advantage (through social proof) and in terms of visibility. It can also have a tangible impact: making money.
Indeed, as I said above, you must have a minimum of 1,000 YouTube subscribers to start monetizing your channel.
