Stop caring about followers

While it’s natural to feel excited when gaining a new follower and to frequently check our follower count, we can also feel frustrated by the number of followers other creatives have and discouraged when our own count drops. In this article I encourage you to stop caring about the follower metric and focus on the quality of your audience rather than the quantity. I will share some ideas on what goals to pursue with your digital photography online.

Seeking followers inhibits the development of your own creative vision

On platforms like Instagram, the chase for followers often pushes creators to follow trends, popular styles, or viral content instead of their own ideas or goals. This can lead them to constantly create content that they think will be popular, rather than pursuing their own creative expression. Instead of trusting their artistic instincts, creators may end up stuck making content that is "likable" but not fulfilling.

Followers do not mean community

On platforms like Threads or Instagram, you often see initiatives like "Let's support each other," "Like for like," or "Follow for follow." This approach usually results in a "I will follow you if you follow me" mindset, where people follow others only for their own benefit—a follow and a like in return for theirs. The problem with this approach is that people are not following you because they genuinely like your art or style; they just want you to follow them back. If you do not follow them back, they will unfollow you, proving that they don’t care about your photography at all. Even if they keep following you, they will not like any of your future posts and the algorithm will not even display your work on their feed. In other words: they become ghost followers and not the engaging supporters of your photography that you desire.

Throwing baskets at Shkodra Lake, Albania

What to do instead

Value real community

Previously, I mentioned how follow for follow initiatives do not lead to a real community. Real community is people (physical or online) that engage with your photography, repost your work and (importantly!) your engage with their content too on an honest and personal level. It’s these people that motivate you, that provide feedback and that you can engage with in mutual learning. I would rather have ten real community followers than 2000 ghost followers that do not care about my photography. Sadly, the latter is what you generally get in “let’s support each other” initiatives.

Boost your photography

I used to wonder why photographers with huge followings were so popular, even when their photos didn’t seem better than mine. But "better" and "worse" are subjective terms. The truth is, that these photographers earned their following through years of hard work, consistently posting, and developing a unique style. You can do the same! Get out and shoot weekly, watch editing tutorials daily, and share your work regularly on social media. I've linked an article I wrote on how to keep improving as a photographer. Focus on your own growth and progress. By staying consistent and authentic, you’ll develop your unique style and attract attention online!

Conclusion

We assign too much value to followers and likes. We pursue them at any cost and create something generating more followers instead of something we creatively align with. We are upset if our content does not get the reach, engagement and likes we would like it to. We are uninspired by the followers we are surrounded by. In reality, followers are only a consequence of your unique and creative vision. If you keep going, strive to find your own photographic style, the engaging followers that care about what you do will follow eventually. Disregard the follower metric and build something that is truly yours…

Trust the process ;)

Disclaimer: The opinions shared here are my own and based on my own experiences. Any feedback is welcome via the contact form.

Some of my recent work here below :)