Latest / Social Media Marketing with Fexingo: Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Platform Strategy / Why Brands Are Ditching Follower Counts for Engagement Depth
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's a moment — and if you've managed a brand account, you've probably felt it — where you post something, it gets a ton of likes, maybe even goes viral, and yet… nothing happens. No spike in website traffic, no increase in sales, no meaningful comments. And you're left wondering, 'Did that actually move the needle?' Luna: Yeah, that hollow feeling. I've been there. It's like the algorithm handed you a trophy but forgot the prize. Lucas: Right. And that's exactly why a growing number of brands are starting to publicly de-emphasize follower counts and raw like numbers in favor of what I'd call engagement depth. Not just how many people interacted, but how — and for how long. Luna: I've seen Lululemon talk about this internally. They have a policy — 'We Do Not Count Followers.' At least in their social team meetings. Lucas: That's actually the perfect example. Lululemon's global social media director said in a 2025 interview that they stopped reporting follower growth to leadership entirely. Instead, they track what they call 'meaningful interactions' — comments over a certain word count, saves, shares, and time spent on video content before a scroll-away. Luna: And that's not just feel-good stuff. They found that customers who engaged deeply — say leaving a thoughtful comment — had a lifetime value 30 percent higher than those who just double-tapped. Lucas: Exactly. So the question becomes: how do you engineer for depth rather than breadth? Let's talk about the tactical side, because the platforms themselves have shifted to reward this too. Luna: Instagram's algorithm now prioritizes 'time spent' over reach, right? I remember reading that in 2024 they updated their ranking signals to weight dwell time heavily. Lucas: Yeah, and TikTok was ahead of that. From the start, their 'For You' page algorithm valued completion rate and re-watches. So a video that gets 10,000 views with a 90 percent completion rate will outperform a video with 100,000 views but only a 30 percent completion rate in terms of pushing it to more users. Luna: So brands that chase virality for its own sake are actually fighting the algorithm. You want sticky content, not wide content. Lucas: Sticky content — I like that. And there's a concrete case I've been tracking: a DTC skincare brand called Ourself but the strategy is solid. They cut their paid social spend by 40 percent in early 2025 by shifting from a 'reach and frequency' bidding model to an 'engagement quality' model on Meta. They targeted users who had previously left a comment on any beauty-related post in the last 30 days — not just people who liked a page. Luna: And what happened? Did that actually improve ROAS, or was it just a vanity metric shift? Lucas: Return on ad spend actually went up 22 percent quarter-over-quarter. Because those high-engagement users were far more likely to click through and purchase. The cost per click went up slightly — but the conversion rate more than compensated. Luna: So it's about the quality of the audience you're pulling in, not the size. Makes sense. Lucas: Right. And that leads to another piece: brands are now redesigning their content itself to encourage depth. Think about it — if you know the algorithm values comments and saves, you write captions that ask a genuine question rather than just a CTA like 'link in bio'. Luna: I've seen brands do these 'fill in the blank' prompts — like 'My morning routine is incomplete without ____' — and the comment sections get hundreds of replies. It's simple but effective. Lucas: And it trains the algorithm to see your account as a conversation starter, not just a broadcaster. Over time, your content gets served to people who are more likely to engage deeply. It's a flywheel. Luna: Before we dive deeper, Lucas — and I know we don't usually do this — but it's worth saying that conversations like this are exactly why a small group of listeners support the show directly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It keeps the show ad-free and allows us to dig into these tactical details without any sponsor constraints. Lucas: Yeah, and honestly, it's because of that support that we can spend an entire episode on one specific shift like this, rather than rushing through five topics. So thank you to anyone who's chipped in. Luna: Exactly. Okay, back to the strategy — one of the risks I see brands running into is that they start gaming engagement. Like, 'comment below if you agree' posts that generate thousands of one-word replies. That's not depth. Lucas: You're right. And the algorithms are getting smarter. Instagram's system now flags low-effort comments — things like 'nice' or emoji-only — and weighs them less than longer replies. So if you're just fishing for easy engagement, you might actually hurt your distribution. Luna: There's also the question of measuring depth. How do you know if someone's engagement is genuine? Some brands are turning to AI sentiment analysis to parse comment tone and relevance. Lucas: Yeah, I've seen tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social roll out sentiment scoring for comments. They categorize replies as positive, negative, or neutral, but also flag whether the comment is on-topic. A comment that says 'Love this!' is scored lower than one that says 'I tried this technique and it saved me two hours.' Luna: So the brands winning at this are the ones that treat social media less like a broadcast channel and more like a focus group that happens in public. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the shift I find most interesting — it's not just about changing metrics, it's about changing the mindset. You move from 'How many people saw this?' to 'Did this change how someone thinks or acts?' Luna: Let's talk about a specific platform that's leaned into this. LinkedIn recently started testing a 'quality engagement score' for creators, which looks at the depth of comments on your posts. Lucas: I saw that. It's part of their effort to reduce low-effort 'Great post!' comments. They're even considering hiding one-word comments from the default view. That's a huge signal for B2B brands, because LinkedIn has always been about thought leadership. If you're just posting for likes, you're missing the point. Luna: And for B2C, I think about brands like Glossier, which built its entire early strategy on community comments. They would literally read every single comment on their Instagram and reply with personalized responses. That depth created superfans. Lucas: Right. And today, they've automated some of that with AI — but they still prioritize quality over volume. They have a team that reviews the top 10 percent of comments by engagement depth and crafts responses that are genuinely helpful. Luna: So the takeaway for marketers listening might be: start by auditing your own content. Which posts have the highest comment word count? Which have the most saves? Those are your templates going forward. Lucas: Yeah, and then double down on formats that naturally invite depth. Long-form captions, carousel posts that require swiping, video tutorials where people want to ask follow-up questions. Those all tend to generate deeper engagement. Luna: One more thing — the 'engagement bait' crackdowns. Both Instagram and TikTok have said they'll demote content that explicitly asks for likes or comments without providing value. So the old 'like for part two' is dead. Lucas: Good riddance. I think the next frontier will be measuring engagement depth across platforms — like, can you track if someone who left a deep comment on your Instagram also shares your content on LinkedIn? That kind of cross-platform loyalty metric is where we're heading. Luna: We'll need a whole episode on that. But for now, the key is: stop counting followers, start measuring conversations. Lucas: Couldn't agree more. And if you want to dig deeper into your own analytics, drop a comment — yes, a thoughtful one — and we might feature your question in a future episode.