In this solo episode of The Good Influencer Podcast, Becca McLeod dives into the biggest challenges influencers face when it comes to connecting with their audience and growing their following authentically. She discusses best practices for handling direct messages, comments, and overall engagement without becoming overwhelmed. Becca also critically evaluates common growth strategies like round robin giveaways and daily giveaway prompts, explaining why these may be considered as buying followers and not sustainable for long-term engagement. The discussion further explores the importance of stories in building and maintaining an engaged audience, the industry benchmarks for story views, and strategies to improve story engagement. The episode concludes with insights on how influencers can evaluate and improve their content to increase followers and maintain credible influence in their niche through consistent and authentic content creation.