I'll admit something I'm not particularly proud of: years ago, I believed it too. «More followers, more sales.» «Engagement is what every brand should be chasing.» I believed it, repeated it, and for a while, even recommended it. It was around 2014, and in that context it wasn't a completely crazy idea. Today it is.
The number goes up, looks good, and doesn't belong to you
I understand the appeal. The follower count goes up, it's visible, it feels like progress. There's something psychologically satisfying about watching the number climb. The problem is that number is not yours.
Followers live on the platform. They belong to Meta, LinkedIn, X — or whatever it's called tomorrow. You are, at best, a tenant with a good reputation. And like any tenant, you're subject to the landlord's rules.
If Meta decides to change its algorithm tomorrow — which it does with remarkable regularity — everything you invested in building that audience will be worth exactly two things: nothing, and nothing.
This isn't a hypothetical. It already happened. It happened with Facebook's organic reach in the mid-2010s. It happened with Twitter's algorithm after the ownership change. It happened with LinkedIn every time it decides that one content format suddenly outperforms another. And it will keep happening, because social networks are not in the business of giving you an audience — they're in the business of selling it back to you.
And they charge more for it every year
Have you noticed that social media campaigns keep getting more complicated and more expensive? That's not your perception. That's the model. First they encourage you to build an organic community. Then, once you depend on it, they reduce organic reach and offer you paid amplification. The cycle is the same across every major platform and there are no signs it's going to change.
That doesn't mean social media is useless. It serves specific purposes — brand awareness, conversation, customer service — just not necessarily conversion. And that distinction matters when you're deciding where to invest your time and budget.
The data point that changed how I see this
A study by Ruler Analytics, published a few weeks ago, tracked over 5 million real conversions across 13 industries. Not clicks. Not likes. Not impressions. People who left their information or picked up the phone — meaning people who actually converted.
Social media traffic was the least effective source in the entire study. Less than half the conversion rate of search traffic. And the most effective source — the one that drove the most real conversions — was AI search.
In plain terms: the people who find you through AI are the ones most likely to buy.
It makes sense when you think about it. Someone who asks ChatGPT or Perplexity «what's the best branding agency for mid-sized companies in Mexico» is not browsing aimlessly. They've already decided to look. They've already defined what they want. They just need to find who to hire. If you show up there, with the right answer, at the right moment, the sale is already halfway done.
Showing up when someone has already decided to search
The difference between a follower and someone who finds you through AI is intent. The follower saw you scroll by in their feed. The person searching AI has already decided they need what you offer. That difference translates directly into revenue.
Why it doesn't feel as exciting
Appearing in an AI answer has no notification. There's no like counter going up. No progress bar you can check on your phone while you wait for your coffee. It just happens — or it doesn't.
That makes it a less compelling marketing goal for a lot of people. The human brain prefers visible indicators. Followers are visible. Reach shows up on dashboards. Video views are there in real time.
But businesses aren't built on what looks good in a dashboard. They're built on what converts.
What exactly do you need to do?
When I talk about appearing in AI, two disciplines matter: GEO — Generative Engine Optimization — and AEO, Answer Engine Optimization. Both are extensions of traditional SEO, but with a different objective.
Traditional SEO helps you get found on Google. GEO is about getting language models — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — to recognize you as an authoritative source in your industry and cite you when someone asks something related to what you do. AEO goes a step further: it positions your content as the direct answer the engine delivers, without the user needing to click anywhere else.
| Social followers | Traditional SEO | GEO / AEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who controls your visibility | The platform | Google (partly) | Your content and authority |
| User intent | Low — they're browsing | Medium — they're searching | High — they've decided to look |
| What you measure | Likes, reach, engagement | Rankings, clicks, CTR | Mentions, citations, conversions |
| Algorithm change risk | Very high | Medium | Low to medium |
| Who «owns» you | The social network | You |
I'm not saying abandon everything else. I'm saying that if you invest in GEO and AEO — in real positioning in AI engines and Google — you're building something that can't be taken from you by an algorithm update. You're building authority.
And look, here's what nobody wants to say out loud:
The follower obsession is, in large part, a trap the platforms themselves designed to make you dependent on them. And it worked extremely well. For years, entire agencies were built on the promise of «growing your community». Many are still out there selling that promise.
I'm not going to say those agencies are bad people. But I will say that the question you should ask any agency — including mine — isn't «how many followers can you get me?» It's «how many real conversions can you actually attribute to what you do?»
The answer to that second question is much more uncomfortable to give. Which is exactly why most people don't ask it.
I'll take the discomfort over the illusion.
How to check if your brand appears in Perplexity or ChatGPT
The most basic method is manual: ask ChatGPT or Perplexity directly about your industry, your services, the problems you solve. See if your brand shows up, in what context, and whether what they say is accurate. That gives you a first snapshot.
What that manual snapshot doesn't give you is consistency, trend over time, or a comparison against your competitors. That's what AEON42 is built for — our own SaaS tool that connects your Google Search Console, analyzes 16 months of real data, and measures your visibility in Google AI Overviews, with ChatGPT and Perplexity coverage on higher plans. USD $49/month, 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
How to make your content appear when someone asks AI about your industry
This is the practical question. And it has a concrete answer — just not an immediate one.
Write content that answers real questions
Language models learn from text that answers questions directly and authoritatively. If your blog is filled with generic content, your chances of being cited are low. If you have content that answers specific questions with genuine depth, your odds improve significantly.
Build Entity Authority
AI engines need to know who you are before they'll cite you. That means your brand, your services, and your area of expertise need to be consistently mentioned and linked across multiple credible sources — not just your own site. This is what SEO practitioners call entity authority, and it's the foundation of GEO.
Technical structure that models can actually read
Schema markup, structured data, load speed, correct indexation. Language models consume your site in ways that are different from how a human does. If your site has underlying technical issues, the models will ignore you regardless of how good your content is.
Be consistent over time
GEO and AEO are not the result of a one-month campaign. Authority accumulates. Early results in Google AI Overviews typically appear in a timeframe similar to technical SEO — 4 to 8 weeks for structural changes — with deeper positioning taking 3 to 6 months of consistent work.
If you want to see how this applies to your specific situation, subscribe to the newsletter — every week I send exactly this kind of analysis, with concrete cases and zero marketing-speak.
The real asset
Followers are temporary. Rankings shift. But the authority you build around your brand — the fact that when someone asks about your industry, your name comes up as a reference — that has a very different kind of momentum.
There's no notification when someone finds you through AI. It just happens. And when it does, the person calling already knows who you are, already trusts you, and is already ready to hire.
That's the sound you're listening for. Not the follower count going up. It's the register.