Engagement

Instagram is my favorite social media platform for simple reasons – it’s easy to use, it’s easy to find “your people” and somehow, I still find that I can connect with people in a real and genuine way.

In fact, I have made a handful of real friends through Instagram. I find myself wanting to reach out to them throughout the day more often than my “real” friends – and most of the time I do!

For the last several months on the ‘Gram, there have been “Makeup Lovers” support trains. The idea is simple – you follow and support everyone on the train and vice versa.  It’s a great way to meet new people, learn new things and grow your social media presence.

Of course there’s always those that ruin it – either by not following you back at all or by following you and then unfollowing a few days later. This is a common tactic to increase your following. The problem? Having people follow you isn’t engagement – the engagement part comes when it’s reciprocal.

For some reason, it’s widely considered a positive if you have high numbers of “fans” that follow you and a comparatively lower ratio that you follow.

I get it. It’s really hard to engage with followers. My feed is packed and I miss things all the time. I’m very selective with who I turn on post notifications for and I have to make a real effort keeping up with the people I’ve already developed relationships with, and I have to make time to seek out certain users that entertain, inspire or consistently produce great content.

This is why I unfollow those that unfollow me. There are very few people (mostly businesses) that produce such great content that I’m willing to be a number for them.

While I totally understand that numbers count for everything in this game, I also believe that businesses that are savvy enough to use influencer marketing also seek influencers who truly engage.