Hustle & Heart: The Positive Side to Losing Followers on Social Media

Raise your hand if you have ever lost a follower on social media.

If you could look around at everyone who’s read this, you’d see a whole lot of hands!

So, what’s the deal?

Someone saw your profile and thought you were awesome and worth following, but then suddenly decided that you suck and hit unfollow. Surely, this must be it. Was it that photo you posted yesterday that did it? Maybe it was the caption that threw them off? What made them decide that they don’t want to see you, or your brand, show up in their feed anymore?

You know what? You don’t know the real reason. None of us do and probably never will. Nine out of ten times, they didn’t put any real thought into it at all. And I promise you, 100% of the time, it’s never because you suck.

Every unfollow should not determine your likability or make you second guess your business. Seeing a drop in follows should be anything but an identity crisis!  (Even though we’ve all been there!) Instead, there are plenty of reasons why those unfollowers and unsubscribers are doing a huge service for your business.

Believe it or not, there are actually a few reasons why you should be thanking some of those unfollowers.

Social media is not a popularity contest, even if it feels like it is sometimes.

When you post to your social media business page, what exactly are you waiting for? Likes, comments, shares? Signals that what you are posting is worthy of praise or at least of interest to the people who follow you? Remember, while the amount of likes you get on a photo might be a nice ego booster, it really means nothing if none of those people are buying your products and services.

Social media provides us with a direct way to get in front of a much larger audience than we could ever see in-person on a given day. For a business owner there is so much more to get out of Instagram than just the popularity factor. Just like your mama told you growing up, it’s not about how many friends you have, it’s the quality of the friends that matter. Surround yourself with people who want what you are offering and let the rest go.

Quality over quantity all the time.

There’s a reason social media marketing is such a big part of promoting a business these days. Consumers have so much fighting for their attention that platforms like Twitter and Facebook allow businesses to make connections with consumers by meeting them right where they are:  on their phone screen!

What’s important to remember is that having an account filled with followers who are just there because they clicked “follow” or “like” isn’t what social media is all about. And really, this does nothing for you in return but add to your numbers. I will tell you right now that having followers that regularly interact with me and have conversations through comments and messaging is so much more valuable than those who aren’t interested in creating community and just sit in the background.

The more refined of an audience you have, the more you know what you are saying is reaching the people who matter. You want to be sharing your product, services or events with people who are going to be receptive to those things. The ones who are a part of your audience because of those things.

Invest in those worth investing in.

Focus on engaging with your already awesome followers as much as you do on growing your audience. This is so important, and yet so many people forget to put their efforts here. Social media is all about connecting and getting conversations to thrive with your audience. Three hundred engaged and devoted followers are better than 25,000 who are just there because of a giveaway you ran or one photo they liked.

When we think of unfollowers as quieting the noise to get through to the people who need our product and mission, it’s amazing how that changes the game.

Who doesn’t like to be liked? 

We all want to be liked – it’s a natural part of being human I think, especially when we put ourselves and our work out there into the world. You just have to remember the reason you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place and focus on growing community and engagement with the kind of people you want to work with and buy from you. So next time you notice your following go down, remember that it’s helping to get you in front of the audience that matters most – the one that scrolls their feed hoping to see your post each day.

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