The answer is yes and no...
There is no doubt that followers are extremely important because they can really be seen as part of your list. You post, and all your followers see your content, providing of course they are online.
The exception to the "followers are valuable" rule is of course Facebook. As we know Facebook is a pay to play social. Most members are unaware of this because they work within their little bubble of a few hundred friends so they see what is going on in their world. If you want to then reach a bigger audience you have to pay. Just following and friending more just dilutes your reach because of the Facebook algorithm.
Instagram, what can you say about Instagram, get 10 followers lose 20. The Instagram followers game is rampant on Instagram because followers equals likes but more importantly, if you run a very tight ship in that you have a niche and stick to it then a following can equal sponsorship offers from brands. Everyone is chasing followers. You even get members with 100k + followings follow you so you follow back. If you then look at their page you see they actually follow 200 or less people. Of course they don't follow you for very long, thats the game.
Twitter, well it is similar but my experience leads me to believe that you don't get the mass following and unfollowing that you get on Instagram. But then it is not as easy to get sponsors or make money.
Yes followers of Instagram are really important cause it just makes life easier, but if you know what your doing and you use the write tags you can still get some great engagement and that is really what it is all about.
Followers are great if you can leverage them and the big social sites know a thing or two about doing that.
So whats the answer?
Well we have the answer right here on Steemit. But there is another social that you should pay attention to and apply the answer to The8App
With 8 you can get sponsorship deals with the new 8app sponsor feed. You really don't need a big following over on 8. But here is the thing join now while it's not on many peoples social radar and benefit from riding the site and growing your followers fast as the site scales. People joining a new site are looking for people to follow and that is you and me, when it scales you grow fast.
Regards Dexterroona