If you’re a local business owner, you may think that this conversation isn’t relevant to you, but hang in there. The takeaway and weekly tip are helpful for any small business.
At one point in time, having a large number of followers on Insta or Twitter was the secret to success. And so, some shady entrepreneurs decided to capitalize on that idea and sell bundles of followers to the highest bidder. You can purchase followers and grow your account in a variety of shady ways. If numbers are all you care about, go for it.
But in 2020, vanity metrics don’t matter. And the reason is simple: a huge following that doesn’t care about you or care about your business doesn’t help your bottom line.
What if I need a certain number of followers to work with my dream sponsor?
I know there’s someone out there who’s going to say, “But I need 10K followers to work with such-and-such sponsor.”
OK. I get that there is value in a high number of followers, but ultimately, that won’t benefit you.
What happens when you work with that sponsor and your promoted content goes nowhere? What happens when you sell nothing because your followers are fake accounts and bots?
Here’s what happens: That sponsor won’t want to work with you again. Other sponsors will see that your partnership wasn’t beneficial and won’t want to work with you. You’ll potentially ruin your chance to build strong relationships with companies who like your brand, but don’t see any value in working with you.
So, what should you do?
How to Grow Your Instagram Following without Buying Followers
Build a vibrant community around your social media accounts. Aim to follow 5-10 new accounts per week and aim to comment 5-10 times per day.
For local-based businesses:
- Look for other businesses in your town or neighborhood
and follow them. - Search for locality-based hashtags or specific neighborhood
pins. Follow people who use those them. - Follow your followers.
For online businesses:
- Look for others in the same niche and follow
them. - Search for relevant hashtags and follow people
who use them. - Follow your followers.
Your Social Media Weekly Action Plan:
This week, work on putting the social back in social media. Invest 5 minutes a day in building your community. Follow some of your followers. Comment on their posts. Like their picture s. Thank them for following you orshopping with you.
For more Social Media Minute, follow Local-Social on Instagram.
