Why I Stopped Chasing Followers for My Clients (And What I Do Instead)
New trends research from Sprout Social landed this week, and it says something I’ve been telling clients for a long time: community management and “social SEO”. Basically, how easy people can find you when they’re actually searching for what you offer, matter more for the rest of 2026 than raw follower growth.
What the research actually says
Sprout Social’s latest trends report puts community management and discoverability ahead of chasing follower count as the priority for brands this year. In plain English: the platforms are moving away from just handing exposure to whoever has the biggest following, and towards connecting the right content with the people who are genuinely interested in it.
For small businesses, that’s good news. You don’t need to out-follower a national chain. You need to be genuinely useful and easy to find for the people near you who are already looking.
What this looks like in practice
I’ve been working this exact approach with two businesses. Omescape and Sunniside, and it’s exactly this shift that’s been paying off for them.
With both accounts, the focus hasn’t been on racking up followers for the sake of it. It’s been on showing up properly for the people already searching for what they offer: locals looking for something to do at the weekend, people planning a night out, visitors typing “things to do in Sunderland” or “Things to do in London” into TikTok or Instagram rather than Google. That means captions and bios that actually use the words people search for, replying to comments and messages like a real person (because it is one), and engaging with other local pages and accounts rather than just broadcasting at them.
The result for both has been growth that actually means something. The right people finding the page, not just more names in a follower count. Locals who go on to book. People searching for those exact experiences, in those towns, finding the business at the right moment. That’s the difference between vanity numbers and an audience that turns up and spends money.
Why "social SEO" matters even more for local businesses
A lot of people now search social platforms the way they used to search Google, typing “cafe in Sunderland,” “best bars near Sunniside,” or “things to do this weekend London” straight into TikTok or Instagram’s search bar. If your bio and captions don’t naturally include the words people actually type, you simply don’t come up, no matter how good the content is.
This matters more for local businesses than most, because your customer base is inherently geographic. A generic caption that could belong to any business anywhere is a missed chance to be found by someone in your local area, who’s actively looking for exactly what you do, right now.
What community management actually means day to day
It’s less glamorous than it sounds, and that’s rather the point. It means replying to comments and DMs promptly, rather than letting them sit or responding with a single emoji. It means genuinely engaging with other local accounts and community pages instead of only posting your own content. It means asking questions in captions and actually reading the answers. None of it goes viral. But all of it builds the kind of trust that turns a follower into a customer over time.
How to start doing this yourself
A few practical starting points if you want to try this approach: look at your bio and last few captions and ask whether they use the actual words a local customer would search. Aim to reply to every comment and message within 24 hours. Spend a bit of time each week genuinely engaging with other local businesses and community accounts, rather than only posting and leaving. And be patient, this is a slower build than a viral post, but a far sturdier one.
If you’d like a hand doing this properly for your business. Whether you’re in Sunderland, Newcastle, Durham or further afield, I’d love to help. Get in touch and let’s have a chat.