Why Follower Count Matters Less Than Ever

It took Lex Dieck eight years of creating content online to reach 100,000 followers on Instagram. So when, as TikTok exploded in the early days of the pandemic, she saw countless new creators rack up that same number — and many times, more — on multiple platforms in a matter of months, she was, understandably, frustrated.

At the time, an influencer’s follower count was not only their most public symbol of success, it was also their primary currency for attracting brand partners. But over the last few years, her attitude has shifted. Today, Dieck said she’s less focused on growing her following and more on deepening her connection with the followers she already has.

“Earlier, I felt like reaching the next follower milestone meant I was successful. Now, I see success as longevity,” she said.

Across the industry, creators and the brands they work with are pivoting away from follower count as a singular measure of efficacy. As the influencer marketing sector has matured, follower count has gone from being, by far, the most important metric to one of several factors that carry equal importance. New benchmarks include follower demographics, engagement (particularly shares and saves), quality of content and audience trust.

There are several reasons for the shift. For one, it’s increasingly clear that follower count doesn’t necessarily reflect cultural relevance. As Chloe Sappern, co-founder of social media agency Darlington Social, noted, Alix Earle may have a fraction of the followers that Dixie D’Amelio, one of the first to pop off on TikTok, does on the platform — 8.5 million to 53.8 million — but Earle undoubtedly looms larger in the zeitgeist.

Plus, micro and nano influencers (those with under 100,000 followers), long an important part of the creator economy, are more in demand than ever, recognised as more powerful than their macro counterparts when it comes to conversion. The rise of TikTok also changed the game, essentially democratising content creation thanks to its algorithmically-curated “for you” page. On TikTok, and later Instagram too, any creator, even one with a minuscule number of followers, has the potential to go viral. At the same time, because platforms are filling users’ feeds with suggested content, a creator’s post now only reaches a fraction of their following.

All of this has set the stage for a new era of influencer marketing, in which the most powerful creators are not necessarily the most popular, and the ways creators build and sustain their careers have become more sophisticated. Not all brands have adapted yet — creators say larger companies are still focused on follower count — but smaller brands and influencers alike are thinking differently.

“After a certain point, the [size of your] following almost becomes irrelevant,” said content creator Sommyyah Awan, who has shifted focus from follower count to building her reputation by attending fashion weeks and landing global brand deals. “Once you have enough followers, then it’s ‘What’s the next step to establish my credibility in the industry?’”

What’s a Follower Worth?

For most of its relatively brief history, influencer marketing was mostly seen as an awareness-building tool. Sure, sometimes brands could see evidence of its impact on conversion — a sales spike after running an influencer campaign, for instance. But for the most part, more granular, detailed data about who exactly was driving what sales, or how an influencer campaign shifted sentiment around a brand, was harder to access.

Under those limitations, of course, follower count emerged as the sector’s most important metric. It’s the same logic that makes the Super Bowl television’s most expensive ad spot: if awareness is the goal, then you want to reach the largest audience you can.

But today’s influencer marketing landscape is much more advanced. Thanks to platforms like ShopMy and CreatorIQ, brands are more easily able to measure the ROI of influencer efforts at every level, from the cost per impression of a particular campaign to which creators are generating the most conversions via their unique affiliate links.

“Follower count just tells you how many people are in the room. It doesn’t necessarily tell you whether anyone’s actually listening,” said Darlington co-founder Lydia Berry.

Why Size Doesn’t Matter

Having the right type of followers is often worth more than the number alone. Sappern gave the example of a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who may have millions of followers, but most are men — not an ideal partner for a clothing brand that exclusively carries womenswear.

The savviest brands are taking note, and adjusting their strategies accordingly.

Instead of piling their budgets into a few macro creators, more brands are spreading their spend across a greater number of influencers at all sizes. They’re also funnelling that money into different use cases, too, engaging in large-scale gifting programmes that they hope will lead to an uptick in affiliate sales, or putting paid spend behind organic content creators have already made about their brands. Not only does that minimise the risk of working with any one particular creator, it also maximises the chances that a post could go viral.

“It doesn’t really matter too much if you’ve selected the perfect creator because you’re working with a large number of them,” said Paul Archer, CEO and co-founder of creator marketing agency Duel.

What Matters Instead

Follower count is still a factor, but it’s one of “10 things that should be taken into consideration” when selecting an influencer partner, said Berry.

Engagement is the most obvious — likes and comments, of course, but also shares and saves, which speaks to how much a post is sparking a conversation or the likelihood that users will reference it later.

With more data tools at their disposal, brands are able to be more discerning about who they choose to partner with. New criteria include sentiment in the comments of a creator’s posts and the quality of their content (something Awan says is particularly important for luxury brands). When considering follower count, brands should also consider the platform, too. A Substack subscriber that is paying a subscription fee to access a creator’s content, or a YouTube subscriber that’s tuning in to watch weekly 30-minute vlogs, is worth more than a follower on Instagram or TikTok, where their content may not even appear in followers’ feeds.

However, finding the right influencer partners is oftentimes less down to numbers on a spreadsheet than it is a gut feeling. The most important factor today is the trust a creator has built with their audience. That’s what gets consumers to click purchase on a product recommendation, or take the extra step to engage with their favourite influencer offline.

Trust, however, can’t be measured in a traditional sense. Instead, there are signs to look for: content creator Kenzie Elizabeth, who is also the founder of homewares brand Friend of Mine, said that influencers who talk to the camera usually have a deeper connection with their audiences. She also recommends looking for consistency within an influencer’s content — video series that they do on a regular basis, which give customers a reason to come back. Jennifer Powell, founder of JP Inc., which coordinates licensing deals for influencers, said that creators who are able to gather their fans offline for in-person meetups and events is also a strong sign.

“If they’re able to mobilise a community, that’s so much more important,” said Jennifer Powell, founder of JP Inc., which coordinates licensing deals for influencers.

Brands, creators say, are still waking up to this new reality. While fashion and beauty labels, particularly smaller, burgeoning brands, are racking up rosters of ultra-effective microcreators, bigger, more corporate companies are still more fixated on follower count.

Creators of all sizes, however, are adjusting their mindsets. While there’s undeniably still a cachet in having a large audience, many are increasingly focused on the more granular details: Aman said she wants to grow her audience in regions like Europe and North America, where the luxury brands she hopes to partner with are more likely to do business. Others simply want to deepen the relationship with the followers they already have.

“I always want to grow my audience, but I don’t want to [do that] without growing the community,” said Elizabeth.