Follower growth rate

What is follower growth rate?

Follower growth rate shows how much an account’s follower count has grown or fallen over a set time, such as a month. It expresses the change as a percentage of the number of followers at the start.

For example, gaining 100 followers means 10% growth for an account with 1,000 followers, but only 0.1% for one with 100,000.

Why is follower growth rate important?

It helps you track whether a creator’s following is growing, staying the same, or shrinking. The percentage also makes it easier to compare accounts of different sizes.

If you track your own account, check growth each month alongside what you posted. This can help you spot which changes were followed by more people choosing to follow you.

How do you calculate follower growth rate?

Use this formula:

(followers at the end − followers at the start) ÷ followers at the start × 100

Count both the followers you gained and those you lost. The difference is called net growth.

For example, an account starts a month with 8,000 followers. It gains 500 and loses 100, so it ends with 8,400. That is 400 more followers than it started with.

Its growth rate is 400 ÷ 8,000 × 100 = 5%.

What does a negative growth rate mean?

A negative rate means the account lost more followers than it gained. If it drops from 8,000 to 7,600 followers, its growth rate is −5%.

What if you start with zero followers?

You cannot use this formula when the starting count is zero, because you cannot divide by zero. Show how many followers you gained instead. For example, write “50 new followers” and leave the percentage blank.

How do you compare follower growth?

Compare periods of the same length, such as one month with another. Include the number of followers gained or lost alongside the percentage. A small account can have a high growth rate after gaining just a few followers.

If growth suddenly jumps, look at what happened around that time. Did a post become popular? Was there a promotion? Check whether the new followers stayed and whether they are likely to be interested in your brand.

Related terms: Audience size and Engagement rate.