I hit 10,000 followers on Instagram and it felt weird

So I got to 10k on Instagram last week after pushing my brand's content for about 8 months. I thought it would be a big deal, but honestly I just felt kind of numb and stressed about keeping it up. The milestone mattered because I finally got the swipe up feature for stories, but now I'm wondering if the numbers really mean anything for actual brand loyalty. Has anyone else felt like hitting a follower goal just made you question your strategy more?

2 comments

2 Comments

lucasking1mo ago

Oh man, I totally get that. I hit 5k a few weeks ago and it was the same strange empty feeling, like I'd been grinding for this arbitrary number and then just sat there blinking at my phone. It's almost worse than not hitting it because now you're like, "Great, the pressure is on to keep all these people interested," and the whole thing starts feeling hollow.

haydenj901mo ago

My buddy Mark hit 10k last month and he told me he literally sat on his couch for an hour just scrolling through his feed feeling nothing. He said it was like hitting the top score in an old arcade game where the machine just flashes your name and doesn't give you a prize or anything. The weirdest part was he got a message from some brand offering him a free water bottle if he posted about it, and he was like "this is what 10k gets you, a plastic bottle?" He actually deleted his account for three days after that, just to clear his head. Came back and now he barely posts, just comments on other people's stuff instead.