A few things to know about a social media follower count:&nbsp;

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<ul>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">The more followers a creator or brand has, typically the less conversion or engagement they have by percentage.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

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<ul>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">The more popular someone becomes on social media, the more they become like a celebrity and less like a &lsquo;creator.&rsquo; This commoditization can lead to less relatable content, and less engagement.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

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<ul>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">It probably doesn&rsquo;t need to be said, but, &lsquo;follower&rsquo; numbers are often augmented with fake followers and bots.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

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I&rsquo;ll tell you a short story: 

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In 2015, I worked for a fashion-tech company that was putting blue-tooth technology and other wearable tech into luxury leather handbags. This was even before other brands like Rebecca Minkoff had launched their wearable-tech handbags, so it was very early (and even now, wearable tech still has not caught on in the fashion industry). As part of our launch, we rolled out an influencer marketing campaign with 20 influencers across Canada and the U.S. At the lowest end of the follower count spectrum, the smallest creator we worked with had ~5k followers, and at the highest end, the biggest creator had ~1M followers. We paid each creator accordingly, meaning that the biggest creator earned around $20,000 US for posting their bag a few times, and the smallest creator received the bag as a gift. The bigger creator&#39;s posts were inauthentic, as you might expect. From a follower&#39;s perspective, it was clear she was only holding the bag for the ad, which very likely had something to do with the results; she had a conversion rate of 0%. It was only the creators at the bottom end of the spectrum, 5k-10k followers, that had any conversion for our brand. The big names did nothing for us, meaning that their followers were not high-intent, nor were they very engaged with their content.&nbsp;

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We see this same thing today, frequently. I think we&rsquo;re coming to an end of measuring success by number of followers, because brands who pay creators are realizing that awareness doesn&rsquo;t justify the marketing spend if there&rsquo;s no conversion.&nbsp;

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Smaller creators are coming to the forefront of influencer marketing, with brands recognizing their ability to genuinely influence their followers. But even here, it can be challenging to get paid content in front of followers at the right time &ndash; or at all, if the <a href="https://repose.world/blog/optimizing-algorithms-wastes-your-time" style="text-decoration:none">algorithm</a> doesn&rsquo;t feature the content.&nbsp;

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At Repose, we prioritize conversion over everything else. The question that we&rsquo;re seeking to answer is: how do we help brands and creators deliver conversion? And the answer is simple: connect with your audience in a meaningful way. This means focusing on your highest intent followers, who are easily filtered into a club via membership, and devote attention and resources to them. Offer special perks to your club members, like first access and behind-the-scenes looks that no other platform gets, and they will feel connected. This sounds overwhelmingly simple, but connection really does lead to conversion.&nbsp;

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- Olivia Lovenmark, co-founder &amp; CEO

Social media follower counts don't translate to conversion

Why Follower Count is a Vanity Metric

Algorithms can get you views and follows. But they&rsquo;re not designed to get you engagement and conversion. So, are follows worth anything if they don&rsquo;t convert?

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Social media networks like Instagram and TikTok have become search engines. They show us what we want to see, acting like Google when we tell it what we&rsquo;re looking for. As a creator or a brand, this is the top of your marketing funnel. Getting seen is important, but you already have a base following of people who are interested in what you do.&nbsp;

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Your existing followers are your growth engine. They&rsquo;re your foundation, and it&rsquo;s important that they&rsquo;re not taken for granted &ndash; which can be a catalyst for irrelevance. Nurturing your existing audience to develop high-intent followers is where you&rsquo;ll find the results you&rsquo;re looking for.

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Here are three reasons why chasing algorithms can hurt your success on social:&nbsp;

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Algorithms optimize for views, not conversion

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Algorithms optimize for views, not for conversion. While they can tailor content, algorithms don&rsquo;t provide a genuine or authentic user experience. What&rsquo;s the point, if you aren&rsquo;t converting your audience? Views without conversion to sales are purely a vanity metric; they give the impression of successful content, but often come without the desired follow through.

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Chasing views wastes resources

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As exciting as a viral moment can be, the reality is that virality does not support a business. Having a video blow up on TikTok may gain you awareness and followers, but these are typically unqualified leads.&nbsp;

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Algorithms change frequently&nbsp;

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Social networks see their algorithms as their market differentiator, and are making updates frequently in an effort to keep users on their apps longer. But with this, algorithms are updating for their metrics, not yours. Users may spend more time on a social app, but they&#39;re likely consuming more content, which ultimately adds to the commodification of content and saturation for users. These updates don&#39;t help users go deep on your brand, and can also devalue what you invest into your social content when these updates continuously change how you can be found.&nbsp;

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What if, instead of working to please the algorithms, we aimed to engage and delight followers? Consider what shifts you might experience in your business. For example, if you&#39;re nurturing your most engaged followers, you could increase their spends with your brand at a much lower cost to you. And if you&#39;re speaking directly with your highest-intent followers, then you don&#39;t need an algorithm, but you do need an exclusive and intimate space to connect with them.&nbsp;

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At Repose, we believe that it&rsquo;s time to rethink social; it&rsquo;s not about the size of your follower count, it&rsquo;s about the quality of their interest in you and your brand.&nbsp;Start nurturing your followers towards conversion now. 

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Launch&nbsp;your brand&#39;s Repose club, and see our full Repose for Brands deck now -- <a href="/contact">get in touch</a>.&nbsp;

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Nurture your best followers to conversion in a Repose club

Why Follower Count is a Vanity Metric

3 Reasons Why Optimizing for Algorithms is a Waste of Your Time

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