Hit 500 followers on my art account last week and now I'm debating if numbers even matter

So I finally cracked 500 followers on my Instagram where I post my digital paintings. Felt great for like a day. Then I started noticing that most of my engagement comes from like 20 people max. The rest are probably bots or people who followed and forgot. It got me thinking is chasing follower counts even worth it when the real support comes from a small group? Or does a bigger number help with visibility and getting your stuff seen by new people? Curious what you all think does the milestone actually mean anything or is it just a dopamine hit?

4 comments

4 Comments

jessica3315d ago

Hang on a minute, I gotta push back on the idea that those 300 or so followers are definitely bots. I used to think the same thing about my own account, but then I started checking some profiles. A lot of them were just real people who scrolled past my stuff and hit follow without thinking. Like, they followed me during a hashtag spree and then got distracted by life. So yeah, they aren't super engaged, but they aren't bots either. That 500 number still means you reached that many actual humans, even if most of them are just quietly watching.

sanchez.ivan6d ago

300 followers of mine are definitely bots that just liked a hashtag and moved on. The other 180 probably followed me during a giveaway and haven't looked at my page since. So yeah, that 500 number feels more like a participation trophy than a real win.

shane_wilson6d ago

Oh man, 500 followers but 20 real interactions sounds about right for my account too. I got all excited when I hit 200 only to realize my dog could probably gain more traction with a blurry photo of a treat. Honestly, half my followers are probably confused spam bots trying to sell me crypto so that "milestone" felt more like a bloated street cred number than anything real.

sagejackson5d ago

@jessica331 honestly that's a fair point about some being real people who just zone out. I think I've done that myself, followed someone during a giveaway and then forgot I even followed them until they pop up again months later. But here's the thing, my account once got a spike of 50 followers overnight and every single one had a profile with the same generic bio and a link to some sketchy site. So it's not all bots, maybe it's just me but the line between real and fake gets real blurry sometimes.