Your Follower Count Is Irrelevant

People often ask me what I really “get” out of having a million followers on Twitter.

Thing is, that is the wrong question. Straight up.

Because what do followers in general get anyone?

Answer: absolutely nothing or absolutely everything.

Let’s say you have 10,000 fans and 9,000 of them buy ten copies of your book because you tweeted about it. Well then that sounds really valuable. On the other hand, let’s say you have 10,000 fans because you bought them on some weird website when you were trying to be cool. Then you post something and it gets zero engagement, because nobody gives a rat’s ass. I would say that’s less valuable, wouldn’t you?

This is where everybody gets confused. We shouldn’t be asking about how many you have or what they’re going to get you. I could care less about the top line awareness, though it does matter. When twenty thousand people watch my video, it means I have more opportunities to get people into my content and my world. That is the beginning of a relationship that may lead into something.

But life is long. It’s a long path and you meet a lot of different people. All you need is one follower of the 10,000 to really change the course of your business or personal life.

Which brings me to the bottom line here: the right question isn’t “what do followers get me?”. The right question is “What am I trying to achieve?”. You see, I’m a reverse engineer. Every decision I make is predicated on what I am trying to achieve, both long term and short term. You have to learn to balance short term goals with long terms goals. I want to buy the Jets, but I leave a lot of opportunities for huge money on the table because I think it would hurt my brand or burn a bridge that I want to keep. It’s all strategy, but I’m always thinking about the bottom line, which is: “Why?” It all has to be reverse engineered.

So. What do followers mean? Well, nothing, if it means nothing to your end goal, your “why”. But I will say that social media is the number one asset you have at your disposal right now, and you should use it. Now. And use it well.

In those million followers could be someone who will get me my Jets. Who knows. What I do know is that if you provide value, are smart, make good content and are a good person, followers can mean a hell of a lot.