Hi there, I'm a comics writer, and editor at a comics publisher. I frequently hire artists, and get hired, through Twitter.

Here's a quick thread on what having larger followings helps with (and what it doesn't help with).

First, the Good.

Having a following means you (usually) get a bigger reach for your projects.

More eyeballs means more people, more people means more folks who enjoy your work. The larger the pool, the likelier it is that somebody with money to spare wants to work with you.

There's also a lot of other, unspoken social benefits.

My advice and opinion, regardless of how valid or relevant, is often taken with more validity simply Because I have a decent following.

This extends to helping me get media contacts, grants, and so on and so forth.

For artists trying to pay bills, especially in these uncertain times, having 20K followers sounds ideal!

There's just one thing: never in this conversation did we actually sit down and ask Who these 20.000 followers are, and Why they're following this artist in the first place.

For example, many artists that make fanart of popular cartoons can amass a legion of fans. But, those fans often don't translate to money, since

1) They tend to be young, in school and broke
2) They tend to only want more fanart, so it's difficult to break out into original work

Also, when your followers bring in more interested people through retweets and shares, they're often part of the same general audience (same fandom, in this case).

Basically: you can accidentally grow a following that Really loves your work, but can't help you pay for more.

Finally, people who work in the various arts industries (comics, illustration, video games, etc.) don't pay as much attention to social media followers as we believe.

I constantly find artists online with hundreds of thousands of followers that I've never heard of before.

If you're interested in getting a larger following (which I Get, It Helps Pay My Bills), start by asking yourself three basic questions:

-What kind of people do you want following your account?
-Why do you want this specific audience?
-What do you gain by having them follow you?

Those questions help shape how you cultivate your following online, and hopefully help you avoid those unfortunate pitfalls some Big artists land in.

Large followings are a tool to wield, so knowing what yours can (and can't) do is important to make sure you wield it right ^^