Imagine someone asks you, “How do you assess your success on social media? Or perhaps, how do you know you’re doing well on Instagram?” how would you respond?
When many people think of success on Instagram, there’s a sizable chance that they are thinking of how many followers they can gather. Well, this is a prevalent idea in the past.
Over the years, a high follower count was the primary factor signifying online social status. It was an accessible approach to comparing various brands against competitors or even selects influencers to collaborate with. Not to mention the credibility attached to brands and individuals with a considerable followed base.
However, more recently, times are changing – there are truckloads of opportunities to buy likes and followers, and even grow your account exponentially within a negligible period. Best of all, these opportunities are even relatively cheap. Considering this, followers count is not always the best indicator of your post or account performance.
Now, what is it?
Engagement!
This social media analytics complement denotes the actions and behavior towards your content. This comprises elements such as comments, video views, shares, as well as likes. Using Instagram engagement calculator tools available online, you can access comprehensive statistics of your engagement over a specific period.
Now, should you prioritize your Instagram engagement over followers count? Yes! and here are the reasons;
Engagement propels your content and enhances its visibility
By now, you’ve probably heard of Instagram algorithms – a specific approach adopted by the platform to show your posts to others whether they are following your account, or otherwise. In recent years, Instagram algorithms were programmed to display the content your audiences will more probably engage. As such, reaching more people fundamentally relies on how well your post was engaged within the first few hours. Why? Instagram wants more people to remain on the platform for as long as possible. Therefore, when you have a high engagement you’re informing the algorithm that your content is what audiences want to see, and as such, it shows it more often and to more audiences.
Guarantee that your audiences are real people
Do you know what gives a better feeling than seeing your follower’s base increase? Knowing that real people are engaging your content- not bots. With real audiences, your account and followers’ quality is undoubtedly higher than those that depended on bots to improve their numbers.
Besides, recall that your audiences also have their audiences. As such, anytime they engage your post, their audiences may likely see it, especially if they share your posts on their stories and account.
Establish a relationship built on trust
Engagement can help you develop a thriving community on Instagram. If you focus on engaging your audiences with your posts, you can access an opportunity to facilitate user-generated content. Nurturing a sense of community and trust between your audiences and yourself also offers an option to convert them from prospects to paying clients.
Bottom line
As you probably know large follower base is what most businesses and brands prioritized in the past. But today, which would you prefer: 20,000 followers with only 500 engaging audiences, or 10,000 followers with 4000 followers who constantly comment, like, or share your content?
