Following to Unfollow: The Changing Social Media Landscape

byjetrbby80316

5K followers

Updated 5 years ago

Do you still want to build up a HUGE social media following?

Well, things are not what they used to be.

Changes have come and they have been radical.

Now try following to unfollow.

This is the ever-changing social media landscape.

Whatever your predilection is, building and owning a massive following or a modest one on social media can command tremendous influence in your field or niche, from impressing job hunters to interview you, getting your book on major TV talk shows, or bringing sponsorship deals for you. The sky is truly the limit.

Did you know anyone on Facebook with more than 50,000 followers is defined as a Public figure?

I once wrote a year ago, “Find and connect with a major influencer in your field. Or better yet, 2 to 3 or more major influencers, and your followers will grow quickly”

However, there is now a major caveat to this statement.

Felicia and I have seen some very interesting trends taking place over recent months, on all of the social media platforms, however one that particularly holds true for Instagram.

How might you ask could this be done?

Well, the solution is not as simple as it used to be.

The Changing Social Media Landscape

I remember there was a time I personally followed well-known entrepreneurs, musicians, songwriters, and authors.

When I was "following" a number of such thought leaders and influencers, I would read their writings, watch their videos, listen to their podcasts, and generally stay informed on anything about them as I was interested in everything they were doing.

Some of these personalities I would follow simply because I was a big fan of their work. Others influencers – and some of their largest followers which I call “sub-influencers” I would follow so that I could tap into their following.

I used to always say, “If you want to build a large following, find some influencers, and follow them. And then follow their followers!”

Not so much anymore.

The changing social media landscape has arrived.

Follow to Unfollow

Instagram has become a very fickle place. If you want to build more highly engaged followers that will stay, it now requires a more sophisticated strategy.

The reason is that many who follow you on Instagram, now only do so you will initially follow them. Then soon after you follow them, they will quickly unfollow you.

This is a calculated strategy in itself, as the top influencers (or those aspiring to become influencers) strive to have their followers-to-following ratio to be very high. One extreme example, is a social influencer I know, who has a following of 14K followers – but only follows 1 account – and that account is his own company!

So when you read his top line it shows:

Followers: 14,045

Following: 1

As we are well aware, many such thought leaders and influencers on social media have very large followings. Such followings run anywhere from tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands, to half million, and into the multi-millions.

This has turned into a self-serving game.

Many of such influencers and sub-influencers have caught on, and don’t want you to follow many of their followers, or to have as many followers as they do.

Learning The New Social Media

This new “state of futility” status quo of social media follower building might all sound quite depressing, but do not despair, my friends!

You can still build a huge organic social media following, and a HUGE and highly engaged loyal Instagram following.

Even without being famous, and never having to pay.

However, you will now need to learn the strategies and acquire the skills, first by conducting well- informed research, and by knowing the specific demographics and parameters of the people on Instagram you need to target.

You will need to follow the people who will not unfollow you. But also the people who have considerable followings.

Ah, there’s the rub!

There is a very specific technique that social media expert Felicia Lin has discovered that will knock your socks off!

She will be teaching her technique in her new webinar series coming in early 2019.

New Webinar Coming

As you may remember several months ago, Felicia conducted an experiment on Instagram, which I laid out in great detail in a past post.

Here were her Amazing Instagram results:

• She ranked her posts in the Top 1 (out of 6,094 posts) for 2 different hashtags in one day
  
• She ranked her posts in the Top 3 (out of 5,658 posts) for 9 different hashtags in one day
  
• She ranked her posts in the Top 9 for 58 different hashtags in one day
  

In just a couple of days, from Friday to Monday her personal Instagram following increased by over 45%, so I'd say this method definitely works!

Details were included in this past post:

Amazing Instagram Results

So if you really want to build a massive social media following or even a modest one, learn her latest techniques by joining Felicia’s upcoming webinar.

Thank you so much for reading, and please feel free to share a comment.

Cheers,

Kaju