Social Media Growth. Not as Simple as It May Appear

The Easy Route

Everyone wants to be popular online. Some people even pay for it. This article from the New York Times goes in-depth into the world of fake followers that many businesses, celebrities, and everyday people use to boost their profile. Many of these accounts are clones of other real stores with the sole purpose of following people who have purchased the service. This turned out very bad for a woman named Jessica, who had a clone account retweeting and following inappropriate content using her name and picture. It was reported that an obscure American company called Devumi was the business behind some of these accounts, including Jessicas, profiting millions. This is just one example of why having non-organic social media probably isn't the most efficient way to spend your money.

The road less traveled

Now let's be honest. It's much easier for anyone to buy a following than to earn one. Still, I want to outline why this can be problematic long term and how growing your social media organically can have you repeating the returns for years to come. The Beginners Guide to Social Media does an excellent job of laying down the groundwork for building an organic following on social media. You might be wondering why all businesses need social media, and the answer is quite simple, your customers are online. If your business isn't on social media, competitors will take customers and any other listeners online. Having social media accounts can help build relationships with your customers and keep them informed. This can turn into these customers, becoming customer advocates, a marketer's greatest asset. If your business's product/service is at good as you sell it, then customers will go out of their way to tell others about their experience with your brand. Identifying potential advocates can be done by analyzing your site and customer's data. Find out what type of advocacy your brand attracts and celebrate these people for their advocacy. Remember that most of your most significant community relationships have to be built organically, and this is a perfect way to do so.

Keeping your social media inline with your brand

It's hard to start a brand with social media, and its nearly always better to take your existing brand and build, solidify, and bolster it. Your social media should be a window into your business's values and culture while being an opportunity to showcase your product/service. Having a timeline with goals is crucial for maintaining an organized and integrated social media presence across all chosen platforms. Sites like sprout and Hootsuite offer software that enables users to take control of their social media accounts simultaneously with insights into user data and user-friendly interfaces. They also allow users to plan posts, goals, and other quality of life improvements over social media sites. It has made it simple for businesses to use run social media accounts on multiple platforms without extra stress. This also makes it much easier to keep the same message across all platforms, eliminating any potential confusion for the customers. Thoughtfully planning out your image, who your customers are, and what problem they are trying to solve and then incorporating that into your overall social media brand should be one of the first goals. Maintaining and encouraging communication with your consumers while keeping the same cohesive message will ensure continued steady and healthy growth.

A success story

Shit that I knit is a clothing company started by Western Alumni, Christina Pardy, who has amassed 892,000 followers on Instagram almost organically. Their 'our story' page on their website explains how in 2014, Christina started Shit That I Knit. By 2015 she quit her job to run the full business time after a successful Kickstarter campaign. By 2016 she had outsourced the production to a group of women in Lima, Peru. Now is it known worldwide to make sustainable clothes, empower women, and celebrate the sillier things in life? One aspect of marveling at is the growth of its social media presence. A business doesn't grow nearly a million followers overnight, and it takes hard work, planning, and an understanding f your customer base. Shit that I knit managed to do all that, A majority of their post features customers of their products showing it off, essentially having their own fans model their clothes for them. Whether it be an adorable dog rocking a scarf, a cute baby with a hat, or just people hanging out with the family in their sweaters, it all adds to the profile. It truly demonstrates her customers' real understanding and how having an organically grown community on social media might be the key to a life long business.