Chasing Followers Isn't a Social Media Strategy - Here's What Actually Moves the Needle

Most companies base their measurement of success on social media on just one metric: followers. It is very easy to calculate, it makes people feel good whenever there is an increase in numbers, and it is completely irrelevant to whether or not the account is contributing to growth. If you have ever celebrated reaching a certain follower threshold without any increase in leads/sales, you know what I mean.

Why Follower Count Is a Misleading Metric

Getting followers is cheap but expensive. One can get thousands of followers using giveaways, follow-for-follow, and virals. However, none of these people may be interested in the products or services offered. At the same time, a small number of followers may work better for the business than thousands of irrelevant people.

The fact of the matter is that many approaches used in social media are aimed at making an account look good rather than being effective. It can make sense when one just needs to build some brand awareness without any revenue goals in mind. However, when someone needs to use social media to grow, it becomes a problematic approach.

What a Strategy Built Around Real Outcomes Looks Like

A social presence that works for a business usually possesses some common characteristics:

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  A unique perspective on things – content that differs from ordinary advice and quotes that can be posted by any company

  
  


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  Consistency of posting – frequent updates, rather than spurts of activity, after which there is silence for months

  
  


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  An opportunity for action – each piece of content has a purpose that lies beyond reading, such as visiting a website, contacting the company, signing up

  
  


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  Real interactions – discussions of content, not simply passing by

  
  


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  An approach that respects the audience as people, not a number to increase

  
  

In terms of creating a social presence, community is more valuable than reach. It is more beneficial to have an audience that interacts with a company than a passive one that ignores the brand.

Where Most Brands Get This Wrong

A few recurring mistakes show up across brands that struggle to make social media actually work for them:

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  Posting the same content on every platform, ignoring how differently people actually use each one

  
  


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  Inconsistent posting, heavy for two weeks after a strategy meeting, then silent for a month

  
  


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  Being overly cautious and not taking a stand on an issue out of fear of offending a portion of the audience

  
  


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  Using repurposed content without adapting it, which results in awkward pacing and tone wherever the content is shared

  
  


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  Thinking of content creation as broadcasting rather than initiating discussions

  
  

Ironically, playing it safe usually produces content that alienates no one and interests almost nobody either. Brands willing to have an actual point of view tend to build far stronger engagement than ones avoiding anything specific.

Building Something That Actually Compounds

The businesses that get real value from social media over time treat it as a long-term asset, not a monthly campaign. Content builds on itself — a strong post today makes the next one land better with an audience that already recognizes the brand's voice. That compounding effect is exactly what gets lost when strategy shifts every few months chasing whatever's currently trending.

How Infabio Approaches Social Media

The team at Infabio follows the same approach in creating their social media strategies – approaching content as a part of the whole growth machine and not just the posting schedule, and prioritizing community building and consistency over increasing followers who don’t convert into anything but numbers.

Final Thoughts

If your followers keep growing but there’s no progress with your leads and sales, maybe it is time to think why you even create content. Your loyal community that knows and trusts your brand voice will most definitely be better than a huge uninterested group of people. Not posting more, but posting with the purpose – that’s exactly what Infabio does to their clients.