Katie McManus argues that follower count is a vanity metric that doesn't predict business success. She and her clients have hit six-figure revenue with only 7,000 to 8,000 followers by focusing on real engagement and client outcomes instead of chasing growth.
Questions this video answers
Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
Katie McManus — business strategist and money mindset coach.
About 7,000–8,000 followers (she says she hit multiple six figures with ~7–8k).
I can taste yo yo yo yo I can taste yo, yo, yo I can taste yo, yo, yo y I can taste. Hello and good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, May 29, my birthday. One of my favorite days of the year because I get to demand that all my friends come and hang out with me. Anyway, I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach, coming to you live on the Facebooks, LinkedIn, YouTube and on Instagram. I love this to be interactive, so if you have any questions or something to add to the conversation, then please do not hesitate to put it into the comments. I'm doing this a little earlier than my normal because I'm having friends over for my birthday and they're going to be getting here soon. So I need to get this done before all hell breaks out. And I have to go live because Lauren Lefkowitz and I have a 30 day challenge. And if I fail at going live one day, then I am going to be forced to sing and record myself and share it, and no one wants that. So, anyway, today I wanted to talk about how to get a million followers. And I say that tongue in cheek because it really does not matter. All right? And I know, I know you know this, right? I know you know that if you have 2,000 followers who are all your ideal clients and just 20 of them just like, what is that, 1%? No. 2,000. I can't do math. Yeah. If just 1% of them signs up, then no, that's like, why can't I do math? My brain. I've already had a cupcake today and my brain is not working. Why? 2000 divided by 20? Yeah. What? Yeah, 1%. 1%. Okay, my brain is working. I was scared myself for a second there. If just 20% of them sign up, then your business is going to be full, especially if you're a coach or consultant or you do any kind of training. We get into our heads because we're on our these social media platforms all the time and there are all these people telling us, you know, you have to grow your following. Here's how you grow your following. You know, look at so and so. They went from zero to 50,000 people in two months and oh, my God, like, here's how they hacked it. And really, it is a metric that people can, like, plaster up and be like, cool. Look at how many people follow me. Look at how many people think I'm credible. Look at how successful I am. But it's not a good metric, right? Because oftentimes when people are sharing these kinds of metrics about how many people are following them. There's a metric they're not talking about. They're not talking about how much money they're actually making, and they're not talking about how successful their clients are. All right. You know, so often I see, like, these gurus out there and these, you know, business coaches and social media coaches out there who are constantly bragging about how many followers that they have. And, you know, they're talking about their program, they're talking about, like, growth hacks that they teach. And then you go onto their website or you go into their landing page, and you look at their testimonials, and it's all from people who've just signed up to their program. Oh, my God, I just signed up. I'm so excited. Oh, I just. I just joined the first call, and it just seemed super supportive. Oh, my God. I've been following this person for a while, and I just purchased. This is going to be great. There's nothing there about roi. There's nothing there about. Okay, cool. I did the steps. I did all the things, and this is how many clients I got out of it. This is how much money I've made from it. That is the metric that matters, how much money you're making and how many people you're helping. You know, there are so many people out there who have hundreds of thousands of followers, and they talk a lot about how they got to that point and how they help other people get to that point, too, but they don't make any money in their businesses. And in some cases, depending on which country they're doing business out of, you can actually go online and you can check and see if what they say they're making is actually true. And sometimes it's not. So when you're thinking about starting your business, growing your business, and really thinking about what you should be prioritizing, growing your following, while, yes, like, you do want to have, you know, exposure to more people, which sounds inappropriate, but you know what I mean, you. It really doesn't matter in the long run. I've had clients, you know, hit six figures with less than 7,000 followers. I hit multiple six figures with, I think, seven or 8,000 followers. If you need 100,000 followers in order to break even or make six figures, maybe your business model actually needs some work. Right. One of the things that I work on with my clients is creating a community where people feel like they know you. It feels so much more authentic when you log online. You know, you Share something about your weekend and you talk, you know, post something else about your business and people show up in the comments and they know you. You know, I know when, when I, like, post about having gone on a trip, the joke that shows up in the comments without me going there is, oh, cool, I wonder how long it's going to take for you to unpack your bags, Because I'm infamous for not unpacking my bags. You know, within a timely manner. Anytime that we're talking about house chores, people make fun of me for not doing laundry because I hate doing laundry. You know, that kind of familiarity really does build an incredible amount of trust, right? And it can be people who are your ideal client. It can also be people who aren't your ideal client. But the fact that that conversation is happening in the comment section means that you're a real person. So your ideal client who may be lurking in the background, you know, maybe reading the comments and seeing how you're interacting with folks and seeing how they're interacting with you and what they end up seeing when you're. When you're being this authentic version of yourself versus, like, the growth hacky, like, must get as many followers as possible robot person. That is the person that they actually want to connect with. That is the person that they actually want to do business with. All right, so I know it's tempting. And I know, like, I, I work, I've worked with a few people who have really successful businesses, and yet still there's that, like, earworm in their head saying, get more followers. Followers matter. Get you 100, get more likes, get more comments. And while yes, like, that can help your business, it doesn't necessarily need to be there for you to have a successful business. All right, so if you're on the chasing followers bandwagon, I said it in the writing of this post. Like, you're far better off just getting a pet duck and buying some frozen peas and filling up a kiddie pool full of water and hanging out with your duck because you'll relax. You might train the duck to do some tricks. You'll have something to share to your network about your life and your pet duck and what you named it and the tricks that you taught it to do, and you'll actually get to enjoy life. I mean, this is assuming you like ducks. I really like ducks. I think they're really cool. I can't wait to have a yard big enough to have a little pond and some ducks. Which fun fact. Did you know that if you put a fountain or Any kind of, like, moving water in a pond that is. That will scare away ducks. A lot of people who get pet ducks put like this, all this work into creating ponds that have, like, moving water. And they do that because they don't really want mosquitoes, but then they're, like, shocked that the ducks don't want to be in the pond. It's because they don't like it. They don't like the moving water. So if you're planning on getting ducks, like, plan on some still water. Anyway, just a random little factoid for you on this Wednesday afternoon. Anyway, that's my rant for today. It's kind of short, but anyway, that's the thing about going live. Every single day for 30 days is, like, you have to think of a lot of ideas. And especially today. I've been working. It's my birthday, and I had to go get dirt for my dahlias that I'm planting. It's been a lot of changing gears today. It's very hot. If you can't see by the glisten. Anyway, you can tell I've had sugar already because I'm like, super ADHD and sugar, and I usually just do not hang out during the day. Anyway, thank you for being here. I'm gonna go enjoy my birthday now. If you do get a duck, I fully support you. Name it, Katie. I think Katie is an excellent name for a duck. Kate can also work cat. Although. Although you don't want to tempt fate and, like, get cats to attack the duck. You know, let's assume you get a female duck. You could also name a male duck Katie or Kate or cat. Totally up to you. Anyway, with that, I'll leave you to your day. And no more chasing followers. No more, you hear me? You're getting clients, and you're building relationships. Followers will come, but they are not the goal. Deal? All right, love you all. I'll talk to you soon. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach. Have a great day, everyone, and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
