Sure, follower count still matters but I think we can all agree that how many followers you have is not nearly as important as how engaged those followers are. Yup, influencers bring value by understanding their audience and speaking to them in a way that others have a hard time replicating. A vanity metric, like follower count, is tough to not get caught up on.
Let’s talk about four of the worst ways to get followers.
Automating Engagement via Hashtags
Don’t have bot accounts message and leave comments asking people to follow or DM a main account. It’s spammy and there is a better way to engage new audiences.Following Accounts Only To Be Followed Back
You should hit follow because you are interested in connecting with them and seeing their content, not because you expect to be followed from them.Paying Into A Loop Giveaway
Not only is this frowned upon in the industry, but it’s also unsustainable. You’re paying for a boost of followers that are only following you because they could win a large ticket item, often fooling you when they don’t win. People have been caught for fraud surrounding this method for selecting a fake winner. 
Purchasing Them
The vanity of having a certain number of followers doesn’t mean anything if they don’t care about you, aren’t engaging with your content and you don’t know anything about them. Over time, these accounts are removed from the platform — again, not sustainable and also against the community guidelines.
If you’ve fallen into any of these tactics, move away from them and start building a strategy that is measurable and a little bit more authentic.
