Why Having More Followers Is BAD For Your Business

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. Today, we're gonna be biting a myth, misconceptions, and maybe some of your imposter syndrome right in the ass. So if you're ready to get into it, let's go.

What's the tea, friend? My name's Hunter Donia, industry business educator for hairstylists, but my friends just call me Hunty. And I'm Caitlin, the CMO for Team Hunty, here to offer additional perspectives and kick-ass marketing advice. Whether it'll be growing your clientele, making more money, or automating and streamlining your systems, in the next 20 minutes or so, you'll be hearing realistic, actionable strategies to create a beautiful career for yourself behind the chair.

So if you're ready to get into it, welcome to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. Hi, Caitlin. Hey, Hunty. What's the motherfucking tea like?

I still can't think of a tea offhand. I'm sorry, Hunty. No tea today. What's the tea with you today, Hunty?

There's no tea with me, honey. I'm doing hair later. I'm recording these episodes today, and it's a cute little vibe. My real tea is that I'm excited that we're talking about this, because I think that this misconception held me back from, like, fully believing in myself and also making money for a very long time, and I think it holds a lot of other people back from being confident in their efforts and feeling like they're less than or that they have to do weird things to find worth or, like, having these misconceptions of, like, what success actually looks like in this industry, right?

And I think that everybody's definition of success is, of course, gonna be different. We'll- we'll get into it. We'll get into it. So, we're gonna be talking about why more followers is not necessarily a good thing for your business.

I genuinely 100% believe in this statement. More followers on social media does not equate to more success, and it can actually be quite the opposite, in my opinion. I think that, actually, the more followers that you have, the shittier it can actually end up being for your business. And it'll all depend on, you know, who those followers are and all that stuff, but we'll talk about that a little bit more in a second.

So, when I was a little baby in this industry, I was following all of the repost accounts. I was following Behind the Chair, Beauty Launchpad, Modern Salon, et cetera, et cetera. And I would post anything and do anything and hashtag everything and tag everything to get reposted or have the chance of being reposted, or do, like, one shot, like, shit like that, right? Because I thought that, like, if I got reposted, then, like, my career would be made.

Like, it would- that would be it. Like, I was- I was that girl, you know? And then I'd, like, post it in my- my Instagram bio, I'd have, like, a story highlight of it, and I'd be like, "Yeah, I was featured, like, one shot. Like, it was what it was, bitch.

Like, I'm hot shit," you know? And that my career would, like, automatically explode. And, uh, what ended up happening was, that was, like, very not the ca- very much not the case. All the efforts that I made to get reposted back in the day, number one, did not get me reposted, and number two, didn't end up making me money and held me back from making the coins that I wanted to make to live an actual happy and successful life and have a great career behind the chair.

So, what ends up happening is, is that we see this amazing, crazy, beautiful work, and we see these repost accounts getting a shit ton of likes and all these people who get reposted getting a shit ton of followers. And not to mention, some of these, like, competitions that are out there are completely, like, rigged and pay-to-play. If you feel like you are getting undermined or if you feel like you can't get further in this game that they're playing, give yourself a pat on the back, breathe, you're okay, I promise. Because it really does not fucking matter at the end of the day unless you are trying to reach other hairstylists in this industry, unless you're trying to reach other people in this industry, and that's how you're gonna make your money.

Getting reposted, winning these competitions, it does not matter. Your clients do not give a shit. They might recognize that it's cool, but it's not gonna make them want to spend more money with you. It's not gonna get new potential clients into your door.

Like, it's just not. Like, your client does not know what the F a BTC One Shot Award is. Like, they don't. So- s- so- so what ends up happening is, is that we see these, like, propped-up figures, these propped-up c- pieces of content, and these huge industry publications with a shit ton of followers, and we think it's really sexy and cool to be, like, reposted on there, and then we end up focusing all of our captions and all of our content in the wrong spaces and the wrong places.

I have literally heard directly from the owners and editors of these publications giving people, stylists, this crazy advice about photography tips and editing tips and the type of content that's gonna get reposted, and that same advice is the complete opposite of what I would tell somebody to be doing if they wanted to grow a clientele using social media. How fucking crazy is that? And I'm not shitting on these industry publications. I think, actually, especially in the past, like, two years, I think a lot of them have actually come around and are posting pretty good content, but not all of them.

But you have to understand. You have to understand that the job of these industry publications is to speak to other stylists and to get other stylists, right? And to, like, take attention from them, so that way they can make money off of that attention, right? So, if that is the case, if their entire mission, if their entire business is built off of speaking to hairstylists, then you do not necessarily want to be aligning with their same mission and doing the same things that they are or appeasing to what they want and what they need.

They are using you to make more money. They are instilling ideas in you to make more money, right? And I'm not trying to sound like conspiracy. I'm not trying to sound like they're like these evil villains at all.

I'm just telling you, this is, like, reality.And I want you to ... If you're, if you're in this, like, loop of feeling like you really wanna get reposted or you're, you, you see all these accounts with these massive amount of followers and these hair ... And you just are dying to get reposted on OneShot or whatever it may be, I wanna give you permission to, like, understand that the real badasses who are making a fuck-ton of money doing hair are not the ones who are getting reposted on these fucking platforms.

Like, that's just not the tea. So, getting reposted on these accounts and you ... And those efforts that you would take to get reposted on those accounts will hold you back from making the coins, because you won't be talking to clients. You'll be talking to hairstylists.

We wanna talk to clients in our content. Then what ends up happening is if you do get reposted, guess what happens. You might get a lot of followers. Guess who those fucking followers are gonna be?

A shit-ton of hairstylists, people who aren't going to make you money. And this is where I get into being intentional with your marketing and understanding that the more followers that you have that are not people who will be potential customers for you, who are people who could potentially be paying you money, the less likely you are going to be reaching those people, the less likely you are to be using this channel to make coins at the end of the day. You wanna be intentional with the people that you're making relationships with and the people that you're appeasing to on these platforms. If you aren't talking to the people who would end up making you money, then who are you talking to, right, and why are you talking to them?

Being intentional with your marketing, being intentional with the content that you're posting and the places that you're showing up is so important, because your time spent as a CEO, as a CMO, and as a human being is so precious and important. And so when you're going into these spaces, when you're planning out your day, when you're going through the scroll, I want you to make sure that that time is not wasted, and I want you to be super intentional, and I want you to ask yourself, "What is the purpose of me being on here and what are the efforts that I should be making while my time is spent on these platforms that will actually make me coin at the end of the day?" And I'm telling you, getting reposted, talking to other hairstylists, appeasing to other hairstylists and influencers is not going to get you very far unless you wanna be an educator, unless you wanna be some sort of influencer, something, something or other. And even then, some.

Like, getting reposted on a fucking platform is not going to kick off your career as an educator. Like, I'm sorry. In today's day and age, that might have been the case five, 10 years ago. It's not the case now.

That's my tea. Caitlin wants the tea, mama. I, I'm just gonna call this like it is. So ...

And take it or leave it, but ... So, when you get reposted, um, Hunter and I can both speak from experience, because we, we have both experienced getting reposted by accounts. And you go through this, like, whole, like, "Oh, my God. This is amazing.

I feel so, I feel so seen." But then you have this, like, strong realization as well that the attention that your post that has been reposted is getting isn't giving you attention. It is giving this other account attention. So that, there's that, because that gets really frustrating and you go through these really, like, weird emotions of like, "Well, these people are giving this account credit for the content that I've created."

So, not only are you not creating content for your ideal audience, but now it's going to another platform and, like, getting credited there. So that, there's that. But also, understanding that, like, getting reposted by these other accounts, it's more so about, like, your own feelings of validation. And, like, if you need to feel validated, if you need that to feel validated as a good hairstylist, I think it's another question that you need to ask yourself altogether, because you are a good fucking hairstylist without getting reposted by these accounts.

And that is something that you really need to understand. I'm gonna stop ranting there, 'cause I could go on about this and, like, take y'all to church. So, Hunter, take it away. No, it's so true.

Like, we ... Like, social media feeds our egos, or it can hurt our egos too, you know? Like, it can go either way. And if you're showing up and using this platform as something that is going to help your ego, make it feel one way or another, then it's gonna be toxic and it's gonna hold you back from the success that you have the potential of creating, and potentially hold you back from the success of your own mental health and how you view, view yourself and your own worth as a human being and as a hairstylist, right?

You don't need to be reposted on these accounts to feel worthy of being a hairstylist and your art and your work. And the thing is, is like, your talent and, like, the work that you're creating and posting, it's so subjective to opinion. Like, it's completely, like, every ... Like, one person could look at a picture of hair and be like, "Holy shit, this is gorgeous," and another person could be like, "Oh, my God.

This is so ugly." And I want you to be focusing completely on the people who are like, "This work is gorgeous," right? Because those are the people who are going to give you the fucking coin. So show the fuck up, talk to your ideal client, and be intentional in your marketing and solve their problems.

Solve that person's issues. Speak to them, put yourself in their shoes, and post your work for them, 'cause they're the people who are gonna be showing up and appreciating you, not only with a like and a follow but also with a dollar, period. Okay, so Caitlin completely does not agree with me on this next thing I'm gonna talk about, but I don't care. So ...

Because we're gonna agree to disagree and that's okay, right? You feel good about that, Caitlin? Called out. I mean, so long as I can explain myself, that's- You know, I actually love this.

I love that we're both gonna explain our sides of this. Okay. I am very intentional with the way that I use my Instagram, and I've always been, I've always been very intentional with the way I use my Instagram. I've had, I've had, like, this awareness, right?

And if anybody follows my account, including bots, including local people, whatever it may be. If anybody follows my account that is not somebody who would, who has the potential of ending up working with me in one way or another, I will literally ...... unfollow them from my account, which is probably why I have not reached the number of followers that I probably would have had by now. But literally, like, if I get anybody who follows my account, you can go into your followers' list and you can make it so they are not following you anymore, and I will literally go ahead and do that.

And here's why. Let's say you have a thousand, you have a thousand followers on Instagram, right? Depending on the content that you post and how well it does, no matter if it does amazing, all 1,000 of those followers are not going to see your content. Only a very small portion of those thousands of followers, tha- those thousand followers are gonna see your content, right?

And so you wanna make sure that you have a high-quality follower acc- follower count, that if only a small portion of them are seeing your content, that that small portion are all people who have the potential to work with you eventually, and pay you coins eventually. Because if the majority of your followers are hairstylists, right, and those are the people that you're, that are your followers and that your content is getting pushed to, none of those people are gonna pay you, my friend, if you're looking for regional potential new clients. And so, I want you to not only be intentional with the content that you're posting and who you're speaking to, but also who are you making relationships with. And when somebody is following you, or when you're asking somebody to follow you, or when you're doing, like, a follow you, follow me back situation, that they're not people who won't pay the coins.

Because I truly believe, in my opinion, every follower counts. So, I wanna hear Caitlin's thoughts about this, though, 'cause I know it's opposite. Okay, I was just, like, writing down my thoughts, 'cause I know I'm gonna get, like, excited and I'm gonna forget everything I wanted to say. So okay, I fully respect, like, why you have that, like, mindset, and I definitely understand where you're coming from with it.

But from my experience, so I definitely believe that, like, you should be speaking to your ideal client always, like, hands down. And whether or not the f- the people that follow you are your ideal client to me is irrelevant, because one, I have people that follow me to get content ideas from me from different industries, because that's something that I've actually coached too in the past, is like, if you want to get fresh, original, like, real ideas, then you should be looking at other industries. Like, stop looking at hairstylists if you wanna get fun ideas. Like, we're all doing the same shit.

So, I have people that are, like, fitness instructors that follow me, and I have people that are, like, Etsy shop owners and stuff like that, and they interact with my content, and they've even, like, purchased into some of my fr- my resources, because they like what I have to say and they like how I teach. So, even though they aren't necessarily specifically people that I would peg as being people that would buy into anything with me or that would be, like, an engaged follower, they still are. So, leaving that up to the followers is what I like to personally li- think of. And at the end of the day, like, that's why you do see, um, for any- however many followers you have, you're gonna see people unfollow you regularly.

So, like, paying attention to your follower count is toxic anyway, 'cause y- you can get really hung up on it. But it's not something to get hung up on, because letting people exit your follower list on their own, of their own accord, is what you want. 'Cause if they don't wanna follow you anymore, then you don't want them following you anymore either, because they're not gonna be interacting with your content. So, that's kind of my personal stance on it.

Like, I'm not gonna go to the effort of, like, getting rid of people out of my followers list. I'm gonna let them exit on their own. But that's, like, my only main thing. I totally get it.

I mean, I feel like wasting, like, I feel like it, like it could be seen as, like, a waste of time to, like, focus on every single person who's following you and figuring out whether or not they're the right, they're the right person for you or not. So, I get it. I get where you're coming from too. I'm still gonna obsess over it though.

That's fine. I totally respect that. That's all good. I love that we have differing opinions too.

Like, it's, it's nice, I feel like, to get two different perspectives, 'cause I don't think either one is right or wrong necessarily. It's just our personal opinions. Well, I completely agree, and I also agree that, like, when we talk about social media and, like, trends and, like, strategy and stuff like that, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, like, speak to your ideal client and just, like, fucking post good content, you know? Like, that's it.

O- We can get super hypercritical, we can get super analytical, we can go crazy and start to obsess over, like, little things and stress about little things. But at the end of the day, like, if you're stressing, like, if you're getting too over-analytical and it's, uh, if it's holding you back from posting, just fucking do it. Just stop. Just stop and just do what you gotta do.

But, there is strategy to this shit, you know? And you should be approaching this from a strategic angle. But don't obsess too much over, like, social media trends and, like, what the algorithm favors and all that shit. Focus on showing up for the people that you want to be showing up for at the end of the day, right?

That's what really matters. If I can just add one more thing, like, uh, to piggyback off of what Hunter just said, like, I, I say this a lot and it probably is sounding repetitive, but, like, literally just put your fucking blinders on and stop paying attention to, like, all these, like, crazy analytics. Like, analytics are important, don't get me wrong, but, like, people get so hung up on them. And, like, you, it, you, like, start to, like, see your self-worth in, like, your engagement.

But if you just stay the course and keep posting content that is directed at your ideal client and is, like, very intentional, you will start to have the results that you're wanting over time. You just have to, like, keep going and stop paying attention to all of this other random shit like view counts, follower counts, et cetera. So, there we go. You know, I know, I, I know that you've probably heard this before li- you, my friend, listening to this.

But, follower count does not equal coins. Like, it really doesn't. Like, I know people who have tens of thousands more followers than me who make a whole lot less than me. So so, I, and it's the same thing for you.

I know hairstylists who have 300 followers who are making a whole lot more than the person who's ma- who has 1,500 followers, you know? So, don't let, like, this social media era that we're in now and these numbers, like, jade your view of the success that you're creating, and don't let it stop you from focusing on the right things and having the right focus and the right intentionality, like we talked about already. So, I hope that this episode was eye-opening for you, my friend. I hope that you will approach your social media more intentionally, stop worrying about the followers, and start worrying about the dollar.

I hope that you will leave a five-star testimonial if, if you enjoy the Modern Hairstylist podcast. And I hope that you'll be joining us in Chief Marketing Hairstylist, our four-hour live workshop that, um, we will be setting up your entire marketing system from the ground up, and teaching you how to get more ideal clients into your chair, show up consistently on social media with confidence, and not make marketing such an overwhelming, awful thing for you anymore. I will be there for you and in- o- instead of you spending two years and with a 20-module course, we're gonna get this shit done in four hours. So, let's freaking do the thing together.

You can check out more information about that at hunterdonia.com/marketing or in the show notes of this episode. Can not wait to see you in the next one. Peace out, girl scout.

Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2023 Hunter Donia LLC.