If you are a business, an influencer or a personal brand, Instagram is one of the most important social media platforms. There are so many ways to connect with current and potential customers on Instagram. However, having many Instagram followers is not enough. You need people actually to engage with your content. So what matters more – the number of Instagram followers you have or your Instagram engagement rates? Let’s take a deeper look.
Why Instagram Followers Matter
There are several reasons why the number of Instagram followers remains an important metric:
Social Proof and Credibility
More Instagram followers make you look more popular, more credible, and more powerful as a brand or persona. Let’s take an example: If an influencer has 50,000 followers, they seem more established, and an influencer with 5,000 followers might not. While you can buy GoreAd Instagram followers, more followers mean social validation.
Reach and Discoverability
The more Instagram followers an account has, the higher they will appear in search results and the ‘suggested user’ sections. This will enable more visibility and a simpler natural approach to acquiring more fans. According to an Influencer Marketing Hub study, influencer accounts with at least 1,000 followers have increased discoverability compared to bigger accounts.
Brand Awareness
Every follower is a potential customer who can see your brand name and posts. More Instagram followers mean more brand impressions and awareness about your products and services for current and future sales. Big follower counts also look impressive to investors and partners.
However, engagement is ultimately more important for achieving business goals on Instagram. Here’s why.
Why Instagram Engagement Matters More
While Instagram followers count for discoverability and credibility, user engagement indicates actual interest and conversion potential. Just having lots of followers who never engage means little. Higher engagement is better for:
Relevance to Followers
The more likes, comments, shares, etc., per follower, the more relevant and interesting your content is to your target audience. For example, 100,000 followers with 2% engagement signal better content than 1 million followers with only 0.5% engagement.
Improved Instagram Algorithm Ranking
Instagram’s algorithm favors accounts with better engagement rates. You’ll appear more on your followers’ feeds and on hashtags/explore pages. Better exposure leads to more followers, shares, and conversion opportunities.
Measurable ROI
Engagement shows real interaction with your brand. Likes and comments have monetary value for influencer marketing. More importantly, engagement indicates followers are moving down the sales funnel by showing interest.
Audience Insights
Seeing what types of content receive more comments or shares provides valuable data about your followers’ preferences. You can create better content that resonates more.
Thus, even if having many Instagram followers is important, giving engagement top priority will assist reach social media targets, including traffic, conversions, and sales.
Balance of Followers and Engagement Needed
Ideally, you want a solid amount of Instagram followers combined with high engagement rates:
More Followers = More Engagement Potential
Up to a point, increased followers offer increased opportunities for engagement. But only if you create content tailored to your audience.
For instance, an account with 500,000 engaged followers has 100 times more ENGAGED potential overall than an account with only 5,000 followers. There is no follower count that will save you if you have poor content.
Higher Engagement = More Followers
Better Instagram engagement will also give you more relevant followers over time. If your content resonates more through likes and shares, Instagram will show your content to more potential followers. Again, it further increases followers and engagement.
Essentially, more followers and higher engagement fuel each other when content matches audience interests. But striking the optimal balance between the two takes work.
Tips to Improve Followers and Engagement
Here are some proven tips to simultaneously increase followers while keeping engagement high:
Optimize Hashtags
Strategically using relevant hashtags helps new users discover your content while catering to current followers’ interests. Track hashtag performance to identify engagement and followers gained.
Run Contests and Giveaways
Contests, quizzes, and free giveaways entice followers to like, comment, and tag others to increase engagement. Offer prizes your target audience finds valuable.
Engage With Your Audience
Reply to comments, ask questions in captions, and jump into related conversations. Directly interacting with your audience fosters goodwill and loyalty.
Use Stories
It is because you post engaging Instagram stories that you look more active. This means more updates = more reactions = more shares.
Partner With Aligning Influencers
To catch the eyes of new yet relevant followers, collaborations, guest posts and shout-outs from influencers in similar niches serve as a great cross-promotion tool.
Improve Visual Aesthetics
Eye-catching, high-quality photos and videos keep existing followers more interested while looking attractive to new potential followers browsing hashtags or locations.
Analyze and Adjust
Check Instagram analytics to identify your best-performing content. Make more of what works well already, further optimizing engagement and follower growth.
Case Studies: Followers vs Engagement
Let’s compare some real brands on Instagram to illustrate the nuances between followers and engagement.
Case Study 1: Kylie Jenner
- Followers: 396 million
- Engagement Rate: 0.46% on average
Kylie Jenner has the 5th most Instagram followers globally. However, her engagement rate is relatively low, considering her enormous follower count. This demonstrates the common challenge of declining engagement as followers increase.
With over 390 million followers, only a tiny fraction needs to engage to produce high raw numbers. However, the engagement rate suggests follower interest is waning as content becomes less tailored from having such a vast, diverse audience.
Case Study 2: Selena Gomez
- Followers: 424 million
- Engagement Rate: 0.82% on average
Selena Gomez tops the Instagram follower rankings yet maintains engagement two times higher than Kylie Jenner. This showcases the value of crafting content aimed at your core audience rather than attempting to appeal to the masses.
Despite fewer followers, Selena Gomez receives more engagement in actual numbers. Catering to her target demographic with relevant content gives better results than having over 50 million followers.
Case Study 3: LeBron James
- Followers: 160 million
- Engagement Rate: 1.91% on average
Comparing LeBron James to Selena Gomez reveals that engagement trumps followers. Despite having 264 million fewer followers, LeBron generates comparable engagement.
LeBron’s content resonates well with his fans and sports basketball fans. That’s why this leads to higher engagement despite having fewer followers.
Striking the Right Balance for Your Brand
How much you want to expand followers and still have high engagement is dependent on your goals and the size of your target audience.
Let’s say a micro-influencer is trying to improve high conversion rates; they might target 10,000 engaged followers instead of 100,000 less interested followers.
Big brands need to scale their followers into the millions to increase visibility and impressions while maintaining 2%+ engagement rates as a benchmark.
Regardless of your business size, the strategies remain similar – just calibrated to different degrees for optimal results.
Besides tracking performance, we should pay attention to monitoring key metrics such as follower growth velocity, impressions, reach and engagement levels. If well calibrated, more followers and more engagement will feed back into each other in compounding returns.
Key Takeaway
The core lesson is that catering content specifically to your target audience matters more than the number of Instagram followers you have. More engaged followers convert better than passive followers.
Of course, increasing your following means that you can potentially reach more people. However, if your content doesn’t speak to followers, they won’t be as likely to convert into customers or clients. You need great content for your niche.