Social media is a powerful marketing tool. It’s the perfect place to promote your business, share information about your latest products or services, and connect with followers.
But if you want to build an online following that will result in more sales for your company, it requires some work on your part. You need to create content consistently and post it regularly, making sure all posts are high quality (content should be engaging). Find out what type of content your followers prefer (text? videos?), should you buy instagram followers or for other platforms, and figure out where they spend their time online (Facebook? Pinterest?). The good news is that following these steps will help you grow an engaged audience who trusts you enough to follow you, your content and eventually buy from you.
Step 1: Figure Out What Type Of Content Your Followers Will Want
The first step you should take towards growing your social media following is figuring out what type of content your followers want. This means you need to do some research and find out what they already like. You can ask or look at their past responses and identify if they prefer pictures, videos, articles (text), etc. This will vary depending on the demographics and personalities of your audience.
For example, if you have a B2B business with an older clientele who enjoys using LinkedIn, consider making your posts mostly image-based because that platform is mainly for sharing images. Ask yourself, “What do my followers want to see?” and based on that information, create relevant, high-quality content that is targeted to their interests.
Step 2: Creating A Schedule To Post Your Content
Creating a schedule will take away much of the stress and help prevent chaos regarding your most important asset, your content. Another benefit of creating a schedule for posting your content is that it helps you become more efficient with your time. Once you have an idea of the type of content your followers enjoy seeing, you can create a schedule for posting it. This is where writing out a content calendar comes in handy.
To create a schedule, start by making a list of your social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). Then, for each platform, make separate lists for the days of the week you plan on sharing content or posting updates. It’s essential to be consistent here because your followers want to know when to expect to hear from you. That means it’s best not to post content during the same time of day on each platform (or even in the same week), so spreading out posting among your various platforms at different times is a fantastic strategy.
It’s also imperative to figure out how much time during the week will work best to post new content at least once a week. Depending on how much time you have and the type of content that’s appropriate for your business, be sure to separate time into blocks for:
-Suggesting new products or services
-Promoting current offers
-Updating followers about your company
-Featuring employees/team members
-Responding to questions
-Unexpected social media posts (birthdays, company recognition, etc.)
This step is really about creating a schedule that works best for you. Some companies like to post updates during office hours, while others prefer to work on their own schedule and schedule posts around that time frame. If you’re interested in checking out different platforms, you can look at when your current followers are most active to identify peak post times.
Step 3: Creating A Schedule To Create Your Content
Once you have your posting schedule in place, it’s also important to set aside time for creating new content. This can range from simply responding to questions and comments on existing posts (that show the type of interest your audience has) to creating brand new, interesting pieces.
You can use different types of content and create a schedule for it as well. For example, you could:
-Write an article about your industry and post it to LinkedIn
-Create a video with employees/team members and share it on social media sites like Facebook
-Take part in a Twitter Chat related to your brand or industry (just search Twitter for “#hashtagname” and see what comes up)
-Post a photo to Instagram and include a link in the caption to one of your blog posts
Once you have an idea about which types of content you want to create, consider upcoming events or holidays that would be relevant. If you want your content to be evergreen, create before the event so that it’s ready to go as soon as a holiday or other suitable day comes up.
Step 4: Creating Content Consistently
As you create your content calendars and set a schedule for how often you’ll post on each social media platform, remember that consistency is key.
The next step in growing your social media following is creating content consistently. This means that you need to draft a plan for the type of content you want to create, when you’ll create it and how often you’ll post.
For example, if your target audience is Millennials, you can create a plan to post every weekday about topics that are relevant to this age group. You could even schedule out what types of posts to share each week so that your followers will have something different from the norm on Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday.
Step 5: Sharing Your Content
Once you’ve determined how often to post, the type of content to provide, and when you create it, it’s time to get sharing.
You should include your new social media profiles in your email signature so that anyone who emails you knows exactly where they can find you online (like on LinkedIn or Instagram ). This is a great way to drive more traffic to your social media platforms and boost the number of followers you have.
In addition, make sure that you’re sharing content from other accounts in your industry on your profiles so that new users will get exposed to information they might not find otherwise. You can use a platform like Hootsuite to schedule your content and connect your social accounts. This will help new users find you without having to spend hours on social media every day.
This is a great opportunity for customer engagement by using these tools, sharing their ideas, or even asking them questions that they could answer the following part of the article where I’d suggest posting something about an update in their own words. By involving customers in this way, it makes them feel valued and creates a sense of community with your company, which will create loyalty and people being excited to engage more.
Another great step would be promoting/sharing posts from companies in similar industries with a notable social media presence. If that company has a big following, they are likely providing content that your target audience will find valuable. This essentially allows you to piggyback off their success and grow your own influence.
Conclusion
If you use these five steps as a base guideline when you’re starting to grow your social media following, you are creating the foundation for success. By figuring out what type of content you want to create, scheduling it out when you’ll do it, and doing it consistently so that people can find your profiles in their feeds, you’ll be able to see exponential growth in your social media following.
An Update From Our Readers On How Their Social Media Following Has Changed Since Using These Tips
One of our readers, Jeff Springwood, had the following to say;
“Since implementing these strategies, we’ve seen growth in our social media profiles thanks to the increase in quality content creation and sharing across multiple platforms. We now reach an even larger audience than before, which helps us connect with people who share similar interests and needs as well as attract new customers looking for what we have to offer.” – Jeff Springwood.