CAN THE NUMBER OF INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS BOOK AN ACTING GIG?

Susanna Qian
Aug 28, 2017 · 2 min read

If it’s a numbers game, wouldn’t it be easier if you just bought some followers?

In the world of social media, it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers and feel pressured to think that you need to have lots of followers in order to be relevant and to be noticed.

You end up in a spiral of chasing the likes and chasing the followers. This might become very time consuming and you might be swayed to go and buy some followers. It’s only a few dollars and you can increase your stats to a more impressive number. Who will know?

I’m here to tell you: STOP.

Do not buy followers, whatever you do.

The biggest reason why buying followers is detrimental to your personal brand, is because it will dilute your instagram engagement rate.

What does this mean?

Engagement rate is important to the industry because it tells us, how many of your followers actually care about the posts you share. So if you have 10k followers but only get 10 likes a photo, it means that no one really engages with your content which suggests that no one cares about what you have to say. Harsh, but true. .

This is important from a publicity perspective, because you might think that having a big number for your followers is enough to convince a producer or casting director that you are “insta-famous” your engagement rate is what determines your value, more than the number of followers you have. If your engagement rate is low, you’re not as attractive as you thought.

Sophie Turner was right to an extent, she had the followers, but she also had the fans, the die hard followers who love what she does, that’s what producers want to hire. Actors who can draw a crowd and help bring their projects to a more invested and excited audience.

So, how is your engagement? Let’s do the math.

Ie you have 6000 followers and you average about 250 likes a photo.

250/6000 = 4%

Engagement rate is 4%

Is that a good number?

Benchmarks:

Stats: 0–5000 expected engagement rate: 6–8%

5000 + engagement rate drops to 4–6%

Over 10k followers: 2–4%

Over 20k: 1% or less

The key to creating an engaged audience is to continue to be authentic, unfortunately this takes time and pruning but it’s the only way. Just like acting, there are no overnight success to social media!

Susanna Qian

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade