Your Social Media Has Followers. So What?

You have 2,000 followers.

Your latest post got 137 likes. Fourteen people commented. Someone even shared it.

Excellent.

Did anybody buy anything?

Because unless you’re running a nonprofit dedicated to collecting thumbs-up icons, eventually your social media needs to contribute to the business.

Here are five things to look at before celebrating your follower count.

1. Are they the right followers?

Ten thousand followers sound impressive.

Ten thousand people who will never need your product or service are considerably less impressive.

A local Edmonton contractor doesn’t need 50,000 followers scattered around the planet. A few hundred homeowners in the right service area could be far more valuable.

Relevant audience beats large audience.

2. Do they actually do anything?

Likes and comments aren’t useless. They can tell you whether content resonates.

But don’t stop there.

Look at website visits, calls, messages, form submissions, bookings and purchases coming from social media.

If engagement keeps climbing while business results stay flat, it’s worth asking what all that engagement is actually accomplishing.

3. Are you giving people a next step?

You posted a great tip.

People liked it.

And then… nothing.

What were they supposed to do next?

Visit a service page? Download something? Request a quote? Read your blog? Send a message?

Not every post needs to scream BUY NOW, but your overall content should create paths toward becoming a customer.

4. Can you track what happens after the click?

Someone clicks from Instagram to your website.

Wonderful.

Now what?

Use UTMs, analytics and conversion tracking so you can follow what happens next. Otherwise, you’re basically waving goodbye at the visitor as they leave Instagram and hoping everything works out.

The same principle applies across your marketing. As we covered in How to Use UTMs to Track Leads, proper tracking helps connect marketing activity to actual outcomes.

5. Does social media contribute to revenue?

Social media doesn’t always produce an immediate sale.

Someone might discover you on Facebook, visit your website later, read reviews and eventually contact you through Google.

That’s why you shouldn’t judge social media solely by last-click conversions.

But you also shouldn’t declare victory because your follower count increased 11%.

The takeaway

Followers are an audience, not a business result.

Likes can indicate interest. Comments can indicate engagement. Shares can expand your reach.

All useful.

But eventually, your social media should help create awareness, traffic, leads, customers or revenue.

So celebrate the 2,000 followers.

Maybe even take a screenshot.

Then ask the slightly less exciting question:

What are those followers actually doing for the business?