We read a couple of articles today that left us scratchin’ our heads…

We can’t decide what to make of a statement like this:

…brands should focus in more on the quality of the user that likes their brand verses sheer quantity.  The higher quality user will be a brand advocate, spread the word to more friends, and be more likely to purchase or convert against an advertisers message.

Here’s another, in the same flavor:

Although there are some benefits to having a large number of followers, companies should focus more on acquiring quality followers.

This strikes us as… hmm… what’s the word…?

WRONG.

Now, make no mistake, there are social media followers that are flat useless to you. They’re called ‘bots (or sometimes they’re called things we aren’t going to write here), and they’re useless because they aren’t actual spending, shopping human beings.

But beyond that, if you did plan to take what we consider bad advice, how do you tell a quality follower? According to the pieces we already linked:

The higher quality user will be a brand advocate, spread the word to more friends, and be more likely to purchase or convert against an advertisers message.

Again, in the same flavor:

These users are those who will reply, retweet posts, and engage with businesses by asking questions and making comments, which will help create buzz for your brand.

Now, we’re certainly not going to tell you to turn away these kinds of followers… we just hesitate to label them “higher quality” than other followers.

Social media is full of “lurkers” and listeners who may not blow you away with their redistribution of your content… but undervalue them at your peril. They have friends and family in the “real world”, after all.

And something else to keep in mind…  just between the folks in our little crew, when you factor in our various personal accounts, we have over a coupla dozen social media profiles. The point – what you see isn’t always what you get.

So…  Quality or quantity? 

Both.

Treat whatever quantity of followers you have like they’re top quality.

Because they are.