At my beauty and fashion PR agency, we often have brands wonder if fewer Instagram followers is detrimental to media coverage. We often hear something like the below:

“If our beauty or fashion brands don’t have many Instagram followers at the moment – will that hurt our PR efforts?”

I was speaking to a potential client last year who, with less than 10,000 followers on their brand’s account, was worried that they might need to boost their follower count before being taken seriously by editors.

Does your follower count matter to editors?

Honestly? It doesn’t really matter that much. That said, a strong presence on social media can only help.

While a bigger following is a great bonus, it’s not the main priority.

What is?

Keeping a brand’s social media pages active, on-brand, and ensuring to interact with other accounts (including editors!) in an authentic way.

Use social media as another platform to connect with all of your audiences. This should include customers, media, retailers, and potential partners. But, don’t let a low follower count hold you back. Ultimately, editors don’t peep your social following to determine whether they’ll cover you.

Building traction with media coverage will only boost the number of Instagram and social media followers.

I will caveat that experts, including hair stylists, manicurists, makeup artists, etc., do often see an advantage with a higher follower count as it can add legitimacy. But? If your tips and professional background are good, an editor certainly won’t write you off without 50k+ followers.

We’ve seen our clients go from low four figure follower number to more than 10k in less than six months. This is thanks to media coverage and influencer partnerships.

PR outreach and a strong social presence work hand-in-hand to grow relevance, awareness, and loyalty amongst all relevant audiences.

What social platform do you focus most on?

If you have any questions on how PR can boost your social following, feel free to contact us.