Chasing follower count vs a small engaged niche

Everyone says: "Grow your followers — bigger audience, bigger reach."

The claim: follower count is the scoreboard that drives distribution.

What's actually true: LinkedIn's For You model weights how your existing audience responds, not how big it is. A 2,000-follower account where 8% engage out-reaches a 30,000 account where 0.5% does, because early engagement rate is the signal that triggers wider distribution. Buying or broad-following inflates the denominator and tanks the rate.

Grow followers who are in your topic and will react. Ignore raw count — a bloated, indifferent audience actively suppresses you.

The follower number isn't reach. It's the denominator, and you keep growing the wrong half of the fraction.