{"id":3553,"date":"2025-04-07T18:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T18:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3553"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:19:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:19:54","slug":"getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Followers Is One Thing, Inspiring Engagement Another"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

To expand the reach of your social-media footprint, you need to attract more followers. But it\u2019s trickier to encourage people to share, repost, or comment. Some types of content are more likely to get people to click the follow button, other types drive engagement better.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Tim Pollock<\/a> of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville said that gaining followers and getting them to actually engage with you are two different things, and they require different levels of commitment by the follower.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re scrolling on Instagram and see something that looks interesting, you think, \u2018Here\u2019s a cool picture\u2014I\u2019m gonna hit follow,\u2019\u201d Pollock said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t take a whole lot of commitment, but to look at their other posts, to comment on their piece, perhaps, if you get a reply, to reply to the influencer\u2019s reply, those kinds of things\u2014that\u2019s a much higher level of engagement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo share to your site or repost to your followers, those are higher levels of engagement and commitment, and they\u2019re influenced by different things, because we\u2019re looking at both the images and the words that were used in the influencer\u2019s post.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollock\u2019s research on this topic focused on fitness influencers. He and Ashley Roccapriore<\/a> of Auburn University found that the images, particularly those conveying \u201ccompetence,\u201d attracted more followers than the positive emotional nature of the words that they used. Positive emotional words, however, were more effective at stimulating greater engagement. That said, you don\u2019t want to come off as braggy and self-absorbed if the goal is getting shares and comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cPositive emotion in your words that focus on other people are more effective than just having it be all about yourself and how great you are and how much you know,\u201d Pollock said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than crowing about hitting your new PR [personal record] in the deadlift or whatever, it stimulates more engagement when you show warmth by praising others for hitting their goals or telling them what they can accomplish,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is what stimulates higher-level engagement and gets them to repost or comment on your posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, images and words, and the competence and warmth they convey, function in different ways\u2014we process them differently and they they stimulate different levels of engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher To expand the reach of your social-media footprint, you need to attract more followers. But it\u2019s trickier to encourage people to share, repost, or comment. Some types of content are more likely to get people to click the follow button, other types drive engagement better. Academy of Management Scholar Tim Pollock of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,71,29,44],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavior","category-communicating","category-emotions","category-motivation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGetting Followers Is One Thing, Inspiring Engagement Another - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Getting Followers Is One Thing, Inspiring Engagement Another\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-07T18:11:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:19:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":399,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/likes-and-friends-on-phone.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"BEHAVIOR\",\"COMMUNICATING\",\"EMOTIONS\",\"MOTIVATION\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/getting-followers-is-one-thing-inspiring-engagement-another\\\/\",\"name\":\"Getting Followers Is One Thing, Inspiring Engagement Another - 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You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/danielbutcher\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daniel-butcher","display_name":"Daniel Butcher","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone.webp",1080,720,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone.webp",1080,720,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone.webp",1080,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone-300x200.webp",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone-1024x683.webp",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone.webp",1080,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone.webp",1080,720,false],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone-600x400.webp",600,400,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone-350x450.webp",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/likes-and-friends-on-phone-100x100.webp",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Daniel Butcher","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/behavior\/\" rel=\"category tag\">BEHAVIOR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/communicating\/\" rel=\"category tag\">COMMUNICATING<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/emotions\/\" rel=\"category tag\">EMOTIONS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/motivation\/\" rel=\"category tag\">MOTIVATION<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Daniel Butcher To expand the reach of your social-media footprint, you need to attract more followers. 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