How To Get The Right Type Of Followers

The number of followers you have doesn’t mean ish! I said what I said. If you’re worried about growing your follower count because you think it’ll bring you more money, more business or more success then I need you to do two things for me:

1. Take a deep breath
2. Listen closely

The number of followers you have does NOT directly correlate to the amount of money you make, the success of your business or the amount of clients you have. There’s a lot of ways we can go about getting a larger following so that we look important to other people on the internet. Some people even go as far as purchasing followers just so the number on their page reaches a certain amount. Although being able to see a high number of followers on our Instagram page makes us feel important and popular, all that number is, is a vanity metric. 

What is a vanity metric?

Per our friend, Google: Vanity Metrics are, “metrics that make you look good to others but do not help you understand your own performance in a way that informs future strategies.”

In less words, vanity metrics basically don’t mean anything other than an ego boost. The only time our follower count does mean something that has anything to do with our success, is if they are the RIGHT TYPE of followers.  You can have a bunch of people following you that have no desire for what you’re offering. As you can guess, that does absolutely nothing for you or your business. You can also have a small number of people following you that are obsessed with what you have to offer and are willing to throw money your way. There are businesses that have 200 followers on instagram, but are making 6 figures. How is that possible? Because those 200 people are their target audience. Those 200 people are interested in what they’re selling and they are buying it. So the next time you get stressed about not having “enough” followers. Instead, focus on having the right type of followers. 

Here’s how you can go about doing that:

Focus on your Niche

If you haven’t niched down to a specific group of people to target in your marketing, that’s where you need to start in order to build an audience of loyal followers that are obsessed with what you offer. Once you have your niche in place, it’s time to find and interact with people from that niche. For example, if you’ve decided to be a bridal spray tan expert where your ideal target client is brides, you’ll want to look for followers in places that brides would typically be hanging out online, such as bridal boutique pages, photography accounts, etc. Using hashtags is also an essential way to locate the people in your target audience. Instagram has become a search engine in its own right to a certain extent. A lot of people will use hashtags to find new places and businesses that they want to interact with for services and products they need. Once you find these types of clients, follow their account, interact with them through commenting and liking their content and remember that closed mouths don’t get fed. You’re a business, so don’t be scared to slide into someone’s DMs to offer them more information about what you do and how you may be of service to them. 

Create Specific Content

Once you’ve decided who you want to market to specifically, your content should be directed at that group of people . Now it’s your job to create content that is very clear on what you offer and who you offer it to. If your niche is brides, put yourself in the mindset of a bride in order to come up with content that they would be interested in consuming. Most brides, especially if they’ve never had a spray tan before, are extremely nervous about getting a spray tan for their wedding day because they want everything to look absolutely perfect for one of the most important days of their lives, understandably. It’s your job as the expert and professional to ease your clients fears and educate them on the service you provide. This content may look like a timeline for brides to follow for their spray tan, frequently asked questions as examples of your work. Instagram is also a place to extend your portfolio to new viewers, so make sure you have photos that relay the quality of your work to potential clients. 

Collaborate 

Networking with other professionals can be one  of the best moves you can make to grow your following with people that are actually interested in what you offer. Collaborating with other people and businesses that your target audience interacts with will allow you to get your name and services in front of new eyes. There are a lot of different businesses within the beauty industry that have clients that may be interested in your services,, but aren’t in direct “competition” with you as a spray tan artist. For example, clients looking to have their makeup done for their wedding may also be interested in getting a spray tan as well. Therefore, it would be beneficial for you to build a relationship with local makeup artists in order to extend your network to their clients. You can get creative in the ways you collaborate with other professionals as well, so that your relationship is mutually beneficial. You may decide to put on an event where both of your services are put on display and offered to event attendees. You could also come up with a referral system where each referral you make to one another’s businesses provides a discount to that client. Whichever way you decide to go about collaborating with other industry professionals, using social media to market this collaboration can be a great way to get new  followers to your account so they can consistently be placed in front of your content.

Social media, Instagram and the ever-changing algorithm can be a pain in all of our behinds when it comes to marketing our businesses and getting our services in front of the right people. However, we have to remember that, when used with the proper strategies, having the right followers in front of our content can have a massive impact on our overall brand awareness and the potential for building our clientele. I hope these tips help, if not only to help take some of the pressure off of you when it comes to building a following. If you’re looking for support and encouragement within the sunless industry, make sure to join our FREE Beauty Business Babes Facebook Group!

Xoxo,

Kelly