Do you keep a close eye on how many followers you have? Are you worried that you’re not growing enough to use your Instagram to support your business & to actually get sales? Then I have some good news for you! Your audience, no matter how small, is so powerful. And there are some incredible benefits of having a smaller Instagram account. Here are some things to keep in mind the next time you’re obsessing about your follower count: 

1: Your Followers Are Incredibly Loyal & Excited To Hear From You

When you have a smaller account with fewer followers, you know those followers are loyal to you, friend. They wouldn’t stick around you if they didn’t love your content or connect with your personality. 

The truth is, as you grow, you’ll get a lot of followers who aren’t actually interested in you or your business. Maybe they liked one Reel you posted & never came back to check out the rest of your content. Or, maybe they signed up to get your free download and aren’t interested in anything else you’re posting about. 

When you have a small following, you don’t have to worry about followers who aren’t interested. Instead, you’re talking to your tribe of people who want to hear from you, learn from you, and buy from you. 

2: You Get Better Engagement 

How often do you comment when a big brand posts on Instagram? Probably never, right? Now, think about the last time your best friend posted a photo. You were the first like & comment, right? 

Think about your Instagram the same way. When you have a small group of people who follow you and are genuinely invested in you and your business, they are so much more likely to interact with you—to post a comment, to reply to your Stories, or to share your Reels with their friends. 

But, if you have a huge follower count and don’t know any of the people who are following you, chances are, they are not going to interact with you at all. They’ll keep scrolling, just like you do with all the big accounts you follow. Sure, you show up in their feed, but they’re not ever going to actively engage with you. But, your small, interested audience will engage with you every time you post! 

3: You Can Keep your DMs Open

When you have tens or hundreds of thousands of followers, you get too many messages to reply to everyone! Even if you had a team of people to help you, you’d still be ignoring DMs all the time. 

When you have a smaller following, you can keep your DMs open. Post IG Stories with questions & polls, then share the answers or results with the rest of your audience. When you keep your DMs open, and actually reply to messages, you’re opening the door for so much more interaction. 

And you know what, you can even sell through DMs. Seriously. My students have seen amazing success selling through their DMs, but it wouldn’t be possible if they couldn’t keep their DMs open and didn’t make replying a priority. 

4: You Can Test Out New Strategies And Easily Make Changes

If you have a massive audience, they’ll be expecting you to consistently post the same type of content week after week. But, when you have a smaller following, you have the freedom to test new ideas. See how your audience responds to a post that’s totally different from what you would normally upload. Try out something completely new and just see how it goes. 

If you’re not seeing the results you want, switch up your strategy. Try posting on different days or more frequently. And ask your followers what they want to see. When you have a small audience, you can really listen to their feedback and use their comments to create content they’ll be so excited about. 

5: There’s Less Pressure & More Room To Be Authentically You

When you have a smaller account, you feel so much less pressure to look perfect and say all the right things. You aren’t as worried about showing your face without makeup, snapping photos of your messy house, or going Live. You feel safe with your people, so you can be authentically yourself & share every part of your life with your audience—the good, the bad, and the not-so-perfect! 

In front of a massive audience, you feel pressured to live up to expectations and to fit a certain image. This can make it so intimidating to get in front of the camera! Having a smaller audience feels more like you’re chatting with friends and talking to people you actually know, who won’t judge you no matter what.

6: It’s Easier To Build Genuine Connections 

It really doesn’t matter how many followers you have if you aren’t interacting with your audience. Social media is social and I promise you will not be successful if you aren’t talking to your followers. When you have a smaller audience, it’s so much easier to build real relationships and make genuine connections. 

You can actually talk to your people, reply to their comments & answer all of your DMs. You can keep tabs on their lives and connect in a very real way that is more powerful than any follower count.

You know why? 

Because people want to buy from someone they know, like, and trust. When you have a smaller Instagram account, your audience can really get to know the authentic you. They follow you, so they definitely like what you’re doing and they connect with your personality. They keep coming back for the amazing content you’re putting out into the world because they trust that you are giving them valuable information. 

And that’s what you need to successfully sell to them. 

You could have millions of followers, but if they don’t know, like, and trust you, they will still not buy from you! Having a small, but loyal, tribe is more powerful than a massive audience full of people who aren’t going to buy from you. 

I hope this post helped you realize how amazing a small audience can be for your business and the benefits of having a smaller Instagram account. If you want to get more content like this delivered directly to your inbox, subscribe to my newsletter. I send out a message every week with downloadable resources, success stories, and the latest news inside! Subscribe here.