How to Effectively Increase Your Social Media Followers

Whatever social media platform you use to market your business, you need followers. Without them, you cannot maximise the full potential of social media marketing to increase your brand’s exposure, broaden your reach, become more visible, and attract and retain new and existing customers.

If you’re concerned that you don’t have enough followers to make your social media marketing worthwhile, or you’re not seeing the number of followers rising, maybe it’s time to change strategies. Here are a few helpful tips that might just help you fast track your way into increasing your social media followers.

But first…

What Is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing describes a form of online marketing that uses social networking sites as the primary marketing tool. In other words, to make sure you and your products or services are seen by more eyes online, enable your customers to find and reach you, and take your digital marketing strategy to the next level. Almost eight out of every 10 Australians use social media so it’s crucial that your business takes steps to increase followers.

The question now is, how can you do so effectively? 

Give Your Followers Something of Value

When you give your audience something of value, you entice them to interact with you and go back for more. If they really see your social media pages as valuable sources of something that they like, want, or need, there’s a good chance that they’ll promote it to others as well, thus increasing your followers. This something of value can be items such as special offers or discounts, links to insightful blogs, a first look at your latest product or service, or even just an opportunity to comment or provide feedback. In fact, many people follow a brand on social media because of their special offers or promotions.

Prove You Are an Authority in Your Industry 

You can be general or specific but aim to give your customers something they will want to read or discuss about. If it’s a post about a blog, make sure the headline or caption is interesting (but not click-bait) and ensure the content is well-written, accurate, grammatically sound, and useful to the reader. Through posts on quality blogs or other content such as internal newsletters, your audience will know that you’re a thought leader in your field and is to be trusted. So, the next time their friends ask them for advice relating to your industry, you might just get more referrals and followers.

Also, posting quality content will lead to more likes, comments, and shares. This increase in engagement will lead to increased visibility resulting in more social media followers for your brand.

Share Key Information 

Research has shown that those who post updates that share relevant and useful information have twice more followers than those who only post updates about themselves or don’t post at all. This means that, for your business, you should be active on social media—not just in terms of self-promotions but also in sharing information. It could be key updates relating to your services, a great offer, or crucial information that will affect your industry (and, therefore, your followers as well).

Doing so will encourage more engagement that benefits your brand in two ways. First, you will be seen as a bookmark-worthy source of information on social media. Second, your followers will engage with you more and share your updates which, as we’ve said, will strengthen your social media presence, leading to a spike in the number of followers.

Post a Mixture of Content 

Australian nutrition store Second to None Nutrition currently has more than 556,000 Facebook followers. Selling bodybuilding and fitness supplements, Second to None Nutrition has three physical locations in Queensland and an online store. Their Facebook page is so successful when it comes to gaining new followers because it has established itself as a reputable source of information and posts a balanced mix of content from product plugs and workout advice to promotions and even hilarious memes. 

When you post a good mix of content, your followers will be less likely to get bored of your social media pages. This helps in audience retention. It also serves as a way to have more followers through more engagement.

Don’t Ignore the Power of #Hashtags 

Hashtags is a useful way to both find the posts you want to see and be creative. As such, when marketing via your social media pages, you definitely shouldn’t forget about it. Using hashtags helps people find your posts, content, and updates on social media, improving your chance of being seen by more people. And, if you add a dash of creativity to the mix, you can create a viral hashtag trend that will put your brand in the middle of a strong social media buzz that will attract more people to follow your business.

We recommend aligning your hashtags with trending topics or special occasions as people tend to search for these more online. Coming up with a special hashtag for, let’s say, Valentine’s Day that also relates to your products or services will help you gain more attention (and possibly more leads and conversions) once the 14th of February arrives.

These are just some of the ways you can use to effectively increase your brand’s followers on social media. Through the consistent use of your digital marketing and online tools and learning more about effective social media strategies, you’ll be able to build for your brand a solid online presence that will surely contribute to your business’ success.

In need of expert advice and assistance in digital marketing (and its various parts)? The hardworking bees of Curate Bee Digital are here for you! Contact us today and let us help you make your online presence more awesome!