How many people know about you? How many likes do you have? Oftentimes, we gauge success by exposure rates: the more visible you are, the more successful you must be. Seems fair, but this is only half the battle. Real business success lies in the results you garner from the people you actively engage.

Take, as an illustration, a comparison of writers. Stephanie Meyer is widely known—virtually everyone has held a Twilight book in their hands at some point—but no one follows her with serious dedication. Then, on the other hand, look at Philip K. Dick. His work is not as well known as Meyer’s, but he has dedicated fans who buy all his books and reference them ad nauseam. So it should be with your social media engagement. It really does not matter how many followers you have. What matters is how much you engage them and persuade them to invest in your service.

Like most things in life, engaging your followers is easier said than done: studies show that 95% of page likes come from people who will never return to the page again. To overcome this obstacle, you can do two things: pay for your content to appear in your followers’ newsfeed, or make eye-catching and click-worthy content. The second method is obvious preferable. You would rather draw people in organically, and promote word-of-mouth marketing via shares and likes than have to pay for views.

Mere numbers in and of themselves do not contribute to success; quality numbers contribute to success. When writing content, think not “how many people will this reach?” but rather, “how many people will this engage?” Build a dedicated fanbase, and your business will thrive, no matter the stretch of your empirical reach.

See Social Media Explorer for more.