Why follower minimums are broken (and what brands should look at instead)

For years, the first question every brand asked a creator was: "How many followers do you have?" It's the wrong question. A follower count tells you how many people clicked "follow" at some point, not how many will watch, trust, or act on a recommendation today.

The case against the follower count

Big accounts often have low engagement, inflated or bought audiences, and followers spread across the world who will never walk into your shop. Meanwhile, a nano creator with a few thousand engaged, local followers can drive more real visits than someone with 100k.

The follower number hides the three things that actually matter:

• Engagement: do people comment, save, and share? That's a signal of real attention.
• Relevance: is the audience the people you actually want to reach (right niche, right city)?
• Craft: is the content well-shot, on-brand, and genuinely persuasive?

What to look at instead

When you evaluate a creator on Local Creator Crew, skim past the headline number and look at the work. A creator's portfolio, their niche, the content types they specialise in, and the pitch they write for your campaign tell you far more than a follower count ever could.

The best content comes from people who already love what you do, not from whoever has the biggest audience.

This is exactly why we built Local Creator Crew without follower gatekeeping. Campaigns can set a minimum if they truly need reach, but many are open to all, including UGC-only creators who shoot clean, scroll-stopping product content without any public following at all.

How to put this into practice

1. Define the outcome you want (footfall, UGC for ads, awareness) before you define an audience size.
2. Filter by niche and city first; sort by fit, not followers.
3. Read the pitch and the portfolio, then accept the creators whose work matches your brand.
4. Verify the deliverables, then build a roster of creators you'll work with again.

Drop the vanity metric, and a whole tier of talented, motivated creators opens up, usually at a fraction of the cost.