Because that's not what matters. Reading over a bit of a rant from Amber Naslund, she leads of with a great point that, while often said, needs repeating:
Unless you can tell me what the hell [all those followers] going to do for you, how you're going to mobilize them, and what you're going to give back to them that makes it worth their while to grant you their attention and continue to give it, who cares? People aren't marbles, and you don't get any points for collecting a bunch of staring eyeballs that are waiting for you to do something significant. Attention only matters if can move people beyond noticing, and into investing their time and energy.
What matters is if you have the right fans, and if you're doing the right things with them. What do I mean by the "right" fans? I mean fans who are there for the right reasons - they are interested in your product, brand, or service, in what you have to say or in the value you can provide to them. They are there to engage with you, and fellow fans, and ideally contribute in a tangible way. They aren't there just to grab some short-term rewards before running off to the next online promotion. They are engaged. They are happy to share with their friends what they love (or at least find useful) about you.
True, volume can have some degree of virtue. If you have boatloads of followers on Twitter, chances are at least some of them are there for the right reasons. But the error is in focusing on the volume, which is what Amber is on about, because you'll waste your time in an endless churn for any way to gather up those raw numbers. Far too many social media plans explicitly go for the topline fan or follower count, and ignore the deeper metrics that tell the story about the quality of their engagement with you.
So from a metrics perspective, what should you care about when it comes to fans and followers? Well, first off, the business metrics that matter. Beyond that, focus on ratios that indicate actual engagement with your brand, uniquely for each channel - fan feedback percentage, number of fan interactions around key content, number of @ and retweets, and so on.
Measure - and strive to achieve - what matters. Just like impressions is a measure of reach, and not impact, so are raw numbers of fans and followers. Look deeper, and focus on gathering the fans and followers that are actually valuable for your business.
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