Why you don’t need thousands of followers to be successful on social media

Do you ever look at the number of followers on your social media profiles and get depressed?

Do you think, “what if you could get to 500, 1000 or 5000 followers? I would finally be successful on social media?”

Let me clear that up for you….
[bctt tweet=”Big numbers on social media don’t equal success.” username=”michellearbore”]

Social media is about connecting with your current and potential customers. It’s about sharing valuable information and showing your expertise. But it’s about doing all of that to your target audience. I have heard many people say that they have a huge following on social media but their business isn’t growing. When I ask them how many of those followers are their target market, they say they’re not sure.

Now a days, you must be on social media, but you have to be connected to the right people in order to be successful. It’s about building your community where you can have real conversations with and get to know them. It’s about gaining that KNOW, LIKE & TRUST and showing there is a human being behind your brand.

Believe it or not, the smaller your community is, the better. If you only have 50 Twitter followers, it can be a lot easier keeping up with their posts, what discussions they’re active with and what they are working on. By having that small number, you can start the conversation, help them out if you can and connect them to other people.

I’m giving you permission to stop feeling upset about the number of followers you have. If you keep worrying about it, you are going to neglect the followers you do have and possibly lose business.

Here are 5 ideas to connect with your community and leverage its small size:

1. Do a special Follow Friday (#FF) each week highlighting a member of your community. Tell your followers why they need to connect with this person and how they can help them. Not only are you gaining the TRUST of your followers, you are engaging with them.  That engagement is important on social media.
2. Personally thank every new follower and ask them to tell you more about themselves. This shows you are taking the time to get to know them and starting that conversation and engagement. You also want to thank anyone who shares your posts. Just a simple “Thank You For Sharing” goes a long way.
3. Set aside 30 minutes once a month and hold “Office Hours” or “Ask Me Anything” chats on Twitter or Facebook. Because you may have a small following, it won’t be so overwhelming.
4. Make sure to respond to every comment on your posts. It shows your followers you are paying attention to them and you care about what they have to say.
5. Each week, try and make at least one introduction between a member of your community and someone else in your network. Think about what type of value they can give each other.

These are just a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing. If you aren’t comfortable with some of these suggestions, take 10 minutes and brainstorm on other ways you can connect with your community.

The key is to create real connection and conversations with your followers.  It’s also about building that KNOW, LIKE & TRUST and getting the engagement. Because social media is about building relationships, and being social, its success has nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with genuine human connection (showing there is a human being behind your brand).

Something else to remember, you can create loyal relationships with your community. People can tell when they are appreciated and when they’re just a number.