Social media is everchanging, as we all know – so why all of a sudden don’t followers’ matter? Well, it’s not as a sudden as you may think and there is a perfectly good reason as to why your follower count isn’t as important as it used to be.

Reach, Followers & Engagement

Knowing the difference between these three metrics is essential, and over the years each one has taken it’s turn in being ahead when it comes to importance. Our followers are the number of people who have essentially ‘subscribed’ to our profile, engagement is purely identified by interactions – how many likes, comments, shares and saves our uploaded content is getting – and our reach is purely who sees our content, whether they follow and engage or not.

Likes and follows have always been the most important, even in the early days of social media development, but as the social media scene progresses, it seems people are engaging less and less with content they are seeing online. Instead, consumers view content & scroll on, take TikTok as a great example for this.

Why Reach Matters Now More Than Ever

It’s simple; more reach = more people are seeing your content. When growing your personal brand or business on social media it’s easy to get bogged down on the lack of engagement and new followers, but check out your reach! Even though consumers aren’t physically engaging with your content, they are still seeing it. A piece of content with a strong hook that is educational and has a purpose may even make someone who has scrolled initially come back to your content in the future.

You’ll be surprised to know that algorithms are prioritising reach over raw engagement now too. We mentioned TikTok in the previous paragraph, this platform is the perfect example of where your focus needs to be reach. A video can reach 20,000 people, but only 100 people might like it. It might seem like your video hasn’t performed well, but it has still been seen by a large audience. Stay consistent, keep posting & eventually you or your brand will become familiar with the 20,000 people that keep seeing you over and over, and eventually they may start engaging with your content or even following.

So, How Can You Improve Your Reach?

Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

• Make sure you focus on shareable and save-worthy content – this means having an engaging hook within the first 3-5 seconds of your content and ensuring a consumer comes away from your video having been entertained or educated.
• Experiment with different formats – different platforms now allow for both videos and images to be posted, along with image carousels too. Keep your content varied and have a go at making your content in these different formats.
• Optimize discoverability – Whilst it’s important to have fun whilst making your content, it’s also important to think about who you want your content to be aimed at. Use keywords, hashtags and key-in to industry specific or relevant trends to help your account be more discoverable to consumers.

So, if you’re getting down about why your follower count isn’t going up, delve deeper into your metrics and you may be surprised by how many people are actually viewing your content – and if you’re wanting to grow? Follow our simple tips on how you can improve your reach!