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Follow for Follow is Killing Your Music
"Follow for follow" (often abbreviated as "F4F") is a tactic where individuals agree to follow each other on social media platforms with the hope of boosting their follower counts. It is often used, to the point of being highly damaging, by artists in the independent music scene. Without realising it, they are killing their own music.
Let me explain. While this strategy may seem tempting, especially for emerging artists looking to build a presence, it comes with a variety of drawbacks. Here's a deeper look into the pitfalls of this approach and its interactions with social media algorithms:
1. Inauthentic Audience Growth: One of the major drawbacks of "follow for follow" is that it doesn't lead to a genuinely interested audience. An artist's followers should ideally be people who appreciate and engage with their content. People who actually like their music. With F4F, the followers gained are usually more interested in increasing their own numbers rather than genuinely supporting the artist's work. They rarely, if ever, interact with the artist’s posts never mind listen to their music.
2. Low Engagement Rates: Social media algorithms prioritize content based on engagement. If a high percentage of your followers interact with your posts (like, comment, share, etc.), the platform sees your content as valuable and will show it to more people. However, followers gained through F4F schemes are often not engaged, which can decrease the overall engagement rate and reduce the reach of the artist's posts.
3. Algorithms Can Penalize You: Platforms like Instagram are always evolving their algorithms to promote authentic engagement and combat tactics that attempt to game the system. Engaging in F4F can be detected by these platforms, and there's a risk of having your content deprioritized or, in severe cases, having your account suspended or shadow banned.
4. Dilutes Your Brand: For artists, a consistent brand image and a clear message to their audience is crucial. When an artist's follower list is cluttered with random accounts from F4F exchanges, it can dilute the clarity of their target audience, making marketing efforts less effective.
5. Time-Consuming with Little Return: Engaging in F4F exchanges is time-consuming. Rather than spending time creating content or engaging authentically with potential fans, artists end up chasing hollow numbers that offer little real value.
6. Unwanted Content in Feed: By following a multitude of accounts without genuine interest, an artist's feed can become cluttered with unrelated and uninteresting posts. This can make it more difficult to engage with content from followers the artist truly values.
7. Unsustainable Growth: While F4F might offer a temporary boost in follower numbers, it's not a sustainable strategy for long-term growth. Many users involved in such schemes may unfollow after a short period, leading to fluctuating follower counts.
Interaction with Social Media Algorithms
Social media platforms use complex algorithms to determine what content gets displayed to users. These algorithms often consider user engagement as a significant factor. When an account has a high percentage of inactive or unengaged followers, as is often the case with F4F schemes, the algorithm interprets this as the account producing low-quality content. As a result, the platform may show the artist's content to fewer users, including genuine followers, leading to even lower engagement.
Find Listeners, Build Fans
Instead, invest your time in reaching listeners, and building your fanbase from your listeners. This means actively reaching beyond your friends and family. Sure, find potential fans among your friends and family, but by far the majority will be supporting you because they like you. Liking you and truly liking your music are not the same thing.
Fans are made from people who like your music. These are the people you are struggling to reach. Grow your reach, yes, but the quality of that reach is massively important. Don’t find followers. Find listeners.
In conclusion, while the temptation of quick follower growth might make "follow for follow" schemes seem appealing, they can ultimately hinder an artist's genuine connection with an audience and potentially limit their reach on social media platforms.
Building a genuine and engaged following takes time, but the results are far more rewarding and sustainable.
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