Follower count is often considered one of the vainest of vanity metrics. I can relate. I’ve had my fair share of ego tied to that golden number on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn—pointing out my follower growth to a friend one day and archiving emails just as fast as I could when growth doesn’t come.

Still, despite the vanity, there is value in follower count. While it seems like a smug number to chase, followers have a proportional impact on how far and wide your message spreads and the volume of how you convert.

I think the best bit of advice on followers I’ve read on the topic of from our co-founder Leo:

“Quality is key. Quantity can’t be forgotten”

Follower count is one of the metrics we keep a close eye on with our social media reports and audits. There is a lot of great advice on how to grow your followers on social media (much of which I’ll relay below), and at Buffer we’ve always been interested in the research behind the advice. How, specifically, can you increase your followers? Which actionable tactics can you take today to grow your follower numbers?

This post from @socialmediatoday has tons of excellent tips for gaining followers (with research!)  Click Link:  http://bit.ly/1pF4o2V