When I stared on Instagram and Twitter and had someone follow me I felt obligated to follow them back. Even if what they presented on SoMe (social media) was not something I was interested in or was not in line with my values. (It didn’t help that Intsa and Twitter sent me a notification saying to do so.) And then what I found worse was once I did follow back, I would be unfollowed and dropped faster than a hot tamale. It might’ve just been a coincidence, but it was happening so often that I was beginning to see the pattern of how people were growing their followings by following others and then dropping them once they got the follow back.

 I am happy to say that now I don’t feel obligated to follow someone back just because they followed me. I always check out their page and see if they are someone I actually want to follow. Why do I find this so important?

 It’s great to have millions of followers, and I would like to get there one day. But you can have millions of followers and next to no activity. I want the people who follow me to actually like my content and engage with it. And I, in turn, want to follow people that I actually want to engage with. You can have a small, mighty following that interacts with your content and you can also have a huge following and there will be crickets. If you have a huge following, but no one is talking about you or your brand, it’s a lot of empty connections.

 In the last year or so, I have joined a few women in business networking groups on Facebook. And every now and then the mod will do a post where you can share your other social spaces. I think this is great! What a great way to expand to other potential followers and grow your fan base. The challenge I was having was I almost was feeling guilted into following others just because they followed me, and there would usually be a comment about doing so. Back to that obligation of, “I followed you, now you have to follow me.” I’m not saying they are wrong for doing so, but it didn’t’ sit well with me. I certainly don’t want someone to follow me just because I followed them and they have no interest in my content, and every time they see my posts they want to gouge themselves in the eye.

I have now made a point now when I share my social spaces in the group to say, “follow if this is something that you want to follow. And if it’s not your jam, that’s okay. Find a page that you want to follow.” I really want people who want to be there with me. I have spent a lot of time worrying about my follows to follower ratio when really it doesn’t matter.  The people I follow, I want to follow and engage with them. The people who follow me seem to want to be there and engage with me. That is what matters the most.

 It really does not serve anyone to follow back just for the sake of following back. As nice as it is to have a huge following if that following isn’t interacting on your posts, what good is that doing? Especially if you are using social to help grow your business, this is not the result you want.

 It’s not the size of your following that matters so much as the might of your following. Even if you have a “small” following if you have the engagement you are winning. And be sure that those whom you follow add value to your life. Social media was originally intended to connect people together from all over the world in meaningful ways.  Let’s not make is an empty wasteland of meaningless connections.

In saying that if you would like to check out my social spaces you’re welcome to do so. But only follow me if the content I put out is adding value to your feeds.
Instagram, @goddessinsweats
Twitter, @goddessinsweats

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