In the digital age, more organizations and companies are interested in growing their brand on the internet via websites and social media platforms. Whether you’re a large or small company, there’s a lot of different ways to grow your social media following and elevate your brand or organization.
As you know, some people and businesses pride themselves on having tens of thousands or even millions of followers. Keep in mind, it’s more likely than not that the majority of their followers never read their posts or click on their links – it’s actually only a small percentage who do. The key to growing your social media following is to engage with your followers and recruit friends, colleagues, and individuals in your network to follow your pages.
One of the first steps to increasing your following is consistency. All of your social media platforms should maintain consistency, which means, every one of your social media pages should have the same profile picture and “about me” section with your contact information and a brief description of your company, organization, or who you are.
Another way to help grow your audience is by connecting to trending topics. You can expand your reach and connect with new users on social media by incorporating a hashtag that is relevant to your content. This is one of the quickest ways to get others who are not yet following you to see your content.
Remember the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge during the summer of 2014? One of the reasons it went viral was a result of social media. As a matter of fact, the Ice Bucket Challenge wasn’t tied to the ALS Association until Chris Kennedy dedicated the challenge to ALS and used the hashtag #StrikeOutALS. Shortly thereafter, the Ice Bucket Challenge spread like wildfire. People all over the country started posting videos of people dumping buckets of water over themselves and sharing it on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge, you can use social media as an inexpensive platform to post content with at least one hashtag and fuel exposure, which will ultimately result in more engagement than posting with no hashtags at all.
You should also interact with your audience. Look for opportunities to “like,” “comment,” or “reply” to other users on your social media platforms. Some ways to do that include: quote Tweeting others that you agree with or replying to comments on Facebook or Instagram – sometimes it’s as simple as saying “Thank you!” or “I agree!” Get creative with how you want to spread your message and ideas. You should also encourage people to tag you in social media posts and photos – it will allow others to see your handle and they can click on it to view your profile and follow your content going forward.
Remember, everyone starts from scratch! These are just a few tips to help you start to grow your personal, business, or organization’s following.
-Brittany