Even before I was a blogger, my gut feeling about the “follow for follow” method on growing your social media was that it wasn’t beneficial at all. And gosh, I’m so glad I went with my gut feeling when I started developing my social media platforms, because well, my gut feeling was completely 100% correct.
If you’re not familiar with what the “follow for follow” method is, it’s actually quite self explanatory. People will ask for follows and will follow whoever follows them. This method is all about growing numbers, not connections or community. If you’re not a blogger or social media influencer, I can see where this method is perfectly fine for you, but if you’re any kind of social influencer, you definitely should NOT be participating in this method.
Are you confused at what I’m trying to point out here? Well, let me explain further for you. There are a ton of reasons why this method is pointless for media influencers, but here are the big ones.
[bctt tweet=”Follow for follow is inauthentic growth, meaning that it’ll actually stunt you from real growth.” username=”@SummerTelban”]
4 REASONS WHY “FOLLOW FOR FOLLOW” IS USELESS:
It’s Only Temporary //
Sure, you may get an influx of followers with this method at first, but they’re only going to stay a short while. When you “follow for follow”, the majority of the people will end up unfollowing you within a few days. Where does this get you? Back where you were before. You should want people to follow you who actually want to follow you.
There’s No Evident Community //
Are they engaging with you and sharing your content? Or did they just follow you because you said you’d follow them? While yes, numbers do play an important role in blogging and media influencing, engagement is what’s more important. It’s extremely sad the number of Instagram profiles I stumble upon and notice they have thousands of followers but only 10-100 likes on a photo. Clearly there’s something wrong there. Something I notice on Twitter a lot is that someone will have thousands of followers…but they’re also following thousands of followers. Whenever I see that, I immediately know that your influence really isn’t that strong and that they’re following you only because you follow them.
If you’re not choosey in who you follow, you’re just setting yourself up for fake influencing, which eventually leads to failure.
It Stunts Genuine Growth //
As you focus on this method, you’re essentially stunting your genuine growth as a blogger or social media influencer. When you waste your time on just getting numbers, numbers, and more numbers, you’re really just hurting your influence. There is no real growth in faking community. That’s just fact.
It’s Inauthentic //
This is the most important point that I’m trying to make against the “follow for follow” method. It’s completely inauthentic. And you know what? People pick up on it. If you’re just following for a follow, that’s a reflection on you and people will assume your intentions aren’t authentic. I’m not saying that your intentions aren’t genuine if you do this method, but they can almost always appear to be. Just a thought for you to chew on. While it’s important to know what your real audience thinks about you, it’s even more important to stay true to who you really are. Only follow those who inspire you and challenge you to do better. Only follow those who you support 100% and want to engage with.
I hope you’re able to look at the “follow for follow” method with new and clear eyes after reading my points against it. If your followers aren’t engaging with you, then you don’t have a community. You should want a community that engages with you and actually supports you, not followers who are just there for looks. Why would you even want a follower that doesn’t truly support you?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this! Do you agree with me? I’d love to hear where you stand on this, but please remember the context I am explaining it in. Chat with me in the comments!
