Every day, businesses, non-profits, and government agencies all over the world use social media to connect with and learn more about their respective communities, as well as to enhance brand recognition, customer engagement, and revenue.
With an engaged audience on one or more of the most popular social media platforms, brands can rapidly and easily spread the word about campaigns, new initiatives, and innovative products and services. On the other hand, a modest number of social media followers (say, 200 Twitter followers or 1,000 Facebook likes) is hardly indicative of actual success in this arena.
It is possible that many of your followers are inactive bots that never see your messages or visit your links. The secret to success is to cultivate an enthusiastic following of your ideal clients online, who will share your content with their links and ultimately become paying customers.
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Table of Contents
1. Run Competitions
Facebook contests are a great way to involve current fans and get new ones to Like and follow your Page.
It pays to try out contests across all of the many social media channels you already use. Examples of social media contests include the following:
- To be included into the drawing, participants must leave a comment or answer a question.
- The winner of the caption contest is the caption that receives the most “likes” or the caption that you deem to be the best.
- To spice up the fill-in-the-blank battle, try asking participants to answer a trivia question.
- In a photo competition, the top prize may be determined by the photograph with the most “likes” or by some other criterion.
How to Run a Viral Social Media Competition:
- If you want plenty of people to join in, you should publicize it on your website, email list, and other social media.
- If you’re going to give away prizes, make sure they have some sort of connection to your business. Giving out a brand new iPad, for example, could get people excited and involved, but it’s not going to turn them into paying customers or devoted followers.Follow the platform guidelines – Each social media site has contest guidelines; this list summarizes the main points.
- Follow up with participants who don’t win by sending them a thank you note for entering and information about your company’s or organization’s initiatives.
2. Add A Picture To Each Post
Posts enhanced with engaging images or graphics tend to do better on social media.
Review the following HubSpot-collected statistics regarding visual advertising:
- Articles with associated images receive 94% more views than those without.
- Over forty times as much visual content is posted on social media as text-only content.
- Instagram users are 38% more likely to like a photo if it has a face than if it does not.
3. Additional Video
Producing at least some video content is recommended if you want to boost interaction on any social media platform since this type of content has been found to be the most effective across the board.
Don’t just provide a link to your movie; upload it straight to the platform of your choice (like PeopleCommercial, YouTube). As an outcome, more eyes will be on your movie if it happens to pop up in users’ feeds by accident.
4. Actively Listen And Respond To Your Online Community
Did you know that 71 percent of people who ask a question on Twitter and 83 percent of people who ask a question on Facebook expect a response the same day?
Nearly one-third (32%) of Twitter users expect an answer in less than 30 minutes.
To ensure that our social media followers have a positive experience, we must be quick to respond to their comments and questions. If you would, you would pay attention to what people require, and then supply it to them.
It’s also helpful to publicly recognize those who retweet, like, or mention your organization on Twitter. This includes the people who have commented on your Instagram and YouTube posts.
When you make an effort to listen to and acknowledge your online audience, you increase the likelihood that they will become rabid supporters and even social media advocates for your brand.
5. Update Your Profile And Cover Images
Your profile images and banners are the most significant and widespread social profile components. Use these graphic aids to illustrate the results of your labor and the experiences of the people who profit from your assistance.
Consider updating your Facebook cover photo at least once monthly, and don’t forget to send a compelling message.
Showcase your work in your Twitter avatar and header.
Don’t assume that people will want to follow you on social media just because you’ve made a horizontal version of your logo. Make each channel as unique as possible using an eye-catching image.
6. Be A Cause For Others To Follow You
Offer your current and future fans a compelling reason to follow you across many platforms.
Don’t just “set it and forget it” by sharing the same, generic links on all of your social media accounts. Create exclusive content for each channel based on its viewers.
For instance, you may utilize Facebook to share more in-depth stories about the people whose lives you’ve touched thanks to your efforts. Instead, the most up-to-date information and urgent alerts should be shared via Twitter.
The advantages and user base of any social media site should inform how they are used strategically. You need to get your target audience to visit your site by offering them something of value.
So, what exactly do you provide that’s helpful? Why should people keep watching what you’re putting out there?
Think about why people use each network and develop a plan to consistently publish and share content that will resonate with them no matter where they congregate online.
7. Promote Tagging
In order to increase interaction with one’s followers, suggesting that people tag others in their posts who they think might enjoy or find value in the content.
If you create a video for Mother’s Day, ask your online audience to think of a special person (or people) they would want to share it with. If you share an encouraging thought online, you may ask your followers to “Tag a friend who needs this today.”
Your goal should be to have these newcomers become part of your social media network.
One word of warning, though: this strategy should be deployed only judiciously. In any other case, it might sound like spam.
8. To Be Found, Use Hashtags
You may increase your social media following by using hashtags in one of two ways:
A) Use Trending Hashtags Sparingly And Carefully
- Each tweet or Instagram post should include a single popular hashtag, such as #OOTD (outfit of the day), #TBT (throwback Thursday), #fail (explanatory), #FOMO (fear of missing out), etc.
- Use services like Hashtags.org and Hashtagify to find the perfect hashtag for your post. To help me find the ones that are relevant to you and your content.
B) Engage In Pertinent Topical Discussions And Current Events
- If I want to know what people are talking about right now, I look at the trending topics on Twitter. If I think a certain tweet would pique the attention of my followers, I’ll retweet it with the relevant hashtag.
- Use the trending hashtag #MondayMotivation to tell your followers about an inspirational story or post a rousing quote every Monday.
- You never know who could stumble onto your post while searching for that hashtag and decide to check it out, or perhaps follow you, because of it.
9. Investigate Paid Social
Successful social media marketing often requires some kind of advertising investment.
One of the best ways to reach more people and raise more awareness is to invest some money in sponsored social media marketing. If utilized properly, paid social ads may help you promote content, increase conversions, and broaden your audience.
Those who have visited your website, signed up for your email list, and are already friends or followers of yours may all be targeted with the use of Facebook’s pixel. As an outcome, you can direct your marketing efforts on these pre-qualified consumers.
Particularly, Facebook’s sophisticated capabilities may prove useful in targeting the right people with your paid promotion efforts.
10. Never, Ever Purchase Fans Or Followers
Some people think that purchasing likes and follows is the best approach to gaining a large online following quickly. It’s a bad idea that usually makes things worse than they were before.
The main issue is that it taints your readership with fake profiles made by bots, which distorts your data, slows down your performance, and eventually reduces the organic reach of your content before you ever consider using paid promotion. To increase the reach of one of your posts, Facebook’s algorithm may prioritize displaying it to those who have formerly shown interest in your Page.
Using any other kind of ad targeting would have the same effect as paying to directly communicate with bots.
The people whose attention you seek, whose actions you hope to inspire, and whose relationships you hope to cultivate over time are the ones you should aim your posts and updates at.
When used effectively, social media platforms are a great way for businesses and organizations to connect with their audiences, get new supporters, and broaden their influence.
You may quickly and easily increase your social media following by implementing a few of the methods listed below.