Followers are incredibly important to any brand on social media. Without your followers, you would have no one to share your content and engage with, making your social media presence redundant.

While we all know that simply measuring followers and likes does not ROI make, marking milestones when it comes to the growth of your online community shows your followers that you appreciate them.

Here are a few ways brands on social media have said "thank you" to their community members.

Personalize it
If you want to really make your followers feel special, put a personal touch on it. As an example, Burberry thanked their one million plus Twitter followers with personalized notecards in the form of animated GIFs. Followers could receive them by including the hashtag #thanksamillion in their tweets. The fact that the notecards were in the handwriting style of Burberry's Chief Creative Officer, Christopher Bailey, made them even more personal.

Be spontaneous
It doesn't always require a lot of planning to say "thank you" in meaningful way -- sometimes the opportunity just presents itself! When one of our own employees posted on our Facebook page announcing that he was our 6,000th fan, we published a special post to show him and the rest of our Facebook fans our appreciation. A spontaneous gesture can mean as much as one that's preplanned, so when the mood strikes, go for it.

Put it in song
Brands sometimes go the extra step to make a "thank you" memorable. When Kraft Macaroni and Cheese wanted to thank the 4,632 Facebook fans who liked one of their posts, they hired an a capella group to help thank each one by name. You have to give the Yellow Jackets credit for stamina to make it through all six-and-a-half minutes.

Get creative
Brands can take very different approaches when it comes to thanking their followers, but creativity is a common element. Michael Kors used their Facebook timeline to chronicle the company's journey and celebrate their one million fan milestone, while Cadbury Dairy Milk constructed a giant thumbs up out of three tonnes of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate to say "thanks" to their one million Facebook fans.

We hope the above examples help inspire you to show your own followers how much you appreciate them. However you decide to do it, a "thank you" always goes a long way.