How do you turn followers into customers?

By giving them a reason that expires and a path that takes one tap. Followers do not convert from being reminded that you exist; they convert from a specific offer with a specific end.

What decides it

The other half is moving them off the platform. A follower is a borrowed contact and an email address or an app install is an owned one, and the exchange rate between them is the real measure of a social audience.

The part that gets skipped

Short-form video is the cheapest reach available right now, which is exactly why it will not stay cheap.

Influencer spend works when the audience already buys that category, and burns money when it is chosen on follower count.

A platform that owns the customer relationship can change the rules whenever it likes, and has. Selling only on somebody else’s platform is renting your business.

Where an app fits

The point of an app in this picture is ownership: social brings somebody once, and the app is where they come back to.