WELP. I'm getting ready to make video content about social media marketing and creators. I've had a mental block on it for whatever reason, but it's just time. Made an intro video of sorts on my personal Instagram (follow me there?), with plans for YouTube on the horizon. Coming soon.

Until then, let's talk about

Why Followers Isn't A Vanity Metric

Remember the opening scene of The Newsroom? Where Jeff Daniels, with perfect Sorkin smugness, rants about how America isn't the greatest country in the world? That's how I feel when I talk about this topic:

Follower count is not a vanity metric.

I can already hear you screaming in protest, so let's dig in.

What's a vanity metric?

Let's start with a few definitions so we understand what we're debating.

Business intelligence company Tableau defines vanity metrics as "metrics that make you look good to others but do not help you understand your own performance in a way that informs future strategies."

Okay, that's conceptually clean. I'll spare you the other definitions I dug through, but the gist of it is that to most, vanity metrics feel more showy or braggadocious, less helpful. And follower counts have long been lumped in there, which I think is very silly.

Why does everyone say follower count is a vanity metric?

Because a long time ago, back when social analytics were brand-spankin'-new and social pros mostly worked on Facebook, social just wasn't as scientific as it is now.

Senior executives knew they had to care about social media, but weren't sure what that meant. And to be fair, neither did social media professionals! Social was a new field. We all made up best practices on the fly, then adjusted 15 minutes later when the algorithms shifted or a new network emerged—because that's just how social works.

So, when those execs needed flashy numbers to pop into presentations, they turned to their usual: growth. It's always the go-to metric—sales growth, subscriber growth, etc. Followers never have been the full story, but that was the easiest metric to understand way back when.

Social managers needed a way to battle back, and that's where the "vanity metric" designation came in handy. By calling follower count a vanity metric, we tarnished its reputation for the greater good, in favor of better, more actionable metrics that show the power of social media at every stage of the consumer journey.

It helped foster a better generation of social analytics, but now we've overcorrected to disregard follower counts.

Follower count is not a vanity metric, it's an important metric that you should absolutely care about. No, it shouldn't be viewed in a vacuum, but it absolutely should be considered when judging the effectiveness of a full-scale social media strategy.

Why should a brand put effort into follower growth?

This one's just the plain and simple marketing funnel.

A brand will only ever convert a certain percentage of your followers into purchasers. A wider marketing funnel means more followers to create content for, to engage with, and to push to purchase.

If we, as social media marketers & managers & agencies, are saying we shouldn't be held responsible for growing the social accounts, we're basically saying we can only service the existing follower base… and I hate to break it to you… but a huge % of the people who follow the brand already have already purchases from the brand… so we actually make ourselves far less valuable if we're just engagement machines.

How can a brand optimize organic content for growth?

Good news, friends—organic reach is back! And if you optimize well, you can appease both your current followers and potential followers!

Optimizing for growth does change a bit depending on which content you're making for which social network—we live in a weird age where the same networks have multiple algorithms. Let's break it down by content type.

Optimizing content for growth in social-graph algorithms that go primarily to followers

For static content like Instagram Posts & Carousels, Tweets, Facebook Posts, and any social content that goes out on a social-graph algorithm (aka, to your followers, not a For You Page), you've gotta optimize for shares first, with an eye towards proving why the brand is worth following within the content.

Take the Washington Post's Instagram account. While its amazing TikTok wins all sorts of creative awards, the Instagram operates off an entirely different social strategy and creative tone that earned 1.2 million new followers in 12 months.

An interview between Adweek and Travis Lyles, the Post's deputy director for social and off-platform curation, speaks to a growth and share focused strategy:

"First, rather than fixate on likes, comments or other indicators of engagement, the Post treats shares as its north star metric."

"When an Instagram user shares a piece of content, that suggests they found it useful––a powerful signal and one that the Post attempts to evoke throughout its reporting, Lyles said. To encourage sharing, the publisher actively considers how to make each post as shareable as possible, a strategy that leans into the ease of discoverability that the platform is known for."

The important takeaway: They're optimizing for shareability over likes, comments, and other engagement. Some might argue that's not a strong community-building stance, but I'd suggest if content has high shareability, it means it's eliciting a strong emotion, which will take care of generating user comments.

Optimizing content for growth through interest-graph algorithms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts

This one's pretty easy. You know from your own Insights that a significant number of short-form vertical video viewers are non-followers. That means every time you post a Reel or TikTok, you've got a chance to make someone hit that follow button, earning the right to show them ~even more content~.

One of the best ways to convert non-follower viewers into followers is through Series content—a consistent content type where you're including "on the next episode" type of language or thinking within the content.

I'm doing it for myself on my silly little basketball Instagram account, @HowToHoopForever. My basic content strategy:

For example, my current series is my mission to build the perfect rec league basketball team. I knew that concept would resonate with hoopers—it's tough to find teams in your adult years, much less one with guys you'd grab a beer with, that wins games, that gets you the play time you want. So I made an announcement video and told people to follow along to build their perfect rec league team:

I had 35,000ish followers at the time, but I knew I nailed a hook that'd resonate with my intended audience—the video ended up earning 599,000 views, primarily from people who don't follow me, with 6,000 of them converting to followers. From one video!

Here's the dashboard data.

After that video, I started posting within the series—game recaps, introducing my teammates, highlights, and how to form your own rec league team. I'm averaging over 100,000 views a video for the series, from an account now at 46,000 followers! And it's all from thinking series based.

The big keys to launching Series via Reels or TikTok: continually pay off the premise you've offered your audience. You need to tell them within each piece of content why they should follow for more. Don't be clever about it. Say it with your full chest.

Aren't there better metrics for social media effectiveness than growth?

Every brand has different immediate needs, different budgets and bandwidths, and different directives for their social media managers. Ultimately, the goals chat should be between a social media manager / team and the brand team, giving the social folks the chance to align or suggest different goals.

I'm essentially suggesting that organic content teams who fight against follower growth as a metric should cool their jets. Growth is important. Of course it is.

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Social Cues

There are so many social big thinkers out there, writing all kinds of amazing strategies, analysis, and breakdowns. All ships rise with the tide, so here are a few reads from other places I think you could learn from.

How To Get More Budget For Social (Hootsuite)

I was sponsored to promote the above whitepaper on my social, and Hootsuite didn't pay me to promote it in this newsletter, but the content's so good that I'm sending it your way here, too. All of their resources are top notch.

How to simplify your digital life (Sara Dietschy)

I felt so seen in this video, especially the bit about the highs of using new systems… that you ultimately will abandon for another new system. Trying to find my forever system. It's hard.

Unpacking Instagram's Focus on Sends Per Reach (Lindsey Gamble)

A nice follow-up to today's newsletter on the importance of shares as your primary metric. Sends Per Reach is probably a new phrase for ya, but you've gotta learn it.