Your website and social media accounts can have subscribers and followers,..which one do you want to promote? First, you must understand the difference between each and how they may impact your search engine value.

Website Subscribers

Subscribers receive emails when new content is added to your website. You can have a plug-in on your website for subscribers to register, or they can subscribe via an RSS feed.

Advantage of Subscribers – Subscribers are unlikely to miss out on your blog posts since they receive direct messages.

Disadvantage of Subscribers – Your subscriber list is normally not public and subscribers do not see each other. Search engines also do not see subscribers to your site, so having a lot of them does not add any value when it comes to search engines.

Followers

Followers refer to people on Twitter or FaceBook that watch what you are doing via a news feed. They do not receive individual or dedicated messages when you post new content.

Advantage of Followers – Followers on social media sites are publicized, so followers can see each other on the list. Promoting your list of followers may encourage new followers to join. You also receive search engine value. For example, individuals on FaceBook have a list of sites they LIKE. If their account is public, Google will crawl their account and find your account listed there (a back link!).

Disadvantage of Followers – Followers only see notifications of your new content when they check their news feed. If they follow a lot of people/businesses, your update may be missed among the volume of items on their news feed. On top of that, if you do not blog often or if your followers do not check their feeds often, you may rarely appear on their radar.

Subscribers Versus Followers,..Which Ones Area Better?

You need both subscribers and followers! Following is a way for people to support you publicly and subscribing is a way for you to ensure that your content is being seen. Encourage people to be both followers and subscribers if they are really interested in what you are doing and will benefit from the information. Respect their choices if your customers decide not to be both subscriber and follower. By understanding the differences between these two, you can better approach your marketing efforts and understand the impact and reach of each option. Most importantly, be respectful of your subscribers and followers by posting valuable content and not spamming them with information!