Social media has provided platforms for everyone to get their messages out to the world – whatever those messages might be. And if you’re a small business owner looking to promote a brand, or an artist looking to find an audience for your work, or even just someone who wants to become an influencer, you can make it happen by growing a large social media following.
But how do you get lots of people to follow you on social media? Not only that, but how do you get them to stay engaged with your brand? You need to start with a strong brand identity and an understanding of what competitors are doing on social media. Know your target audience and what they want. Make a publication calendar to help you organize regular and consistent posts. Stay abreast of social media trends, and make sure you collaborate with the right people.
Start with a Strong Brand Identity
A strong brand identity can help protect your brand and trademarks from competitors, as well as provide a foundation on which to build thoughtful and meaningful relationships with customers online. Your brand identity should shine through in everything that you post on social media, and remain consistent through all aspects of your posts, including from the voice of your copy all the way to the colors of packaging and logo. A strong brand identity protects your brand from confusion and helps your target audience find you on their favorite social media channels.
Know What Your Competition Is Doing on Social Media
Knowing what your competition is doing on social media can really help you understand the kinds of posts that drive traffic and engagement with your audience. You can use this knowledge to create content that will drive high levels of engagement on your social media channels. Consider, too, that your competitors have chosen to be active on specific platforms over others for a reason. Those might be the platforms that make the most sense for organizations like yours.
Study Your Audience
You can’t expect to give your audience what they want from your social media content if you don’t actually know what that is. Study your audience to find out what social media channels they use, what buying behavior they demonstrate, and what drives their purchasing decisions. What kind of content do they want to engage with?
Once you know who your target audience is and what they want, you can develop the best ways to connect with them. You can focus on paid ads and other social media campaigns where they’ll have the most effect. Social listening tools can help you figure out what your target audience is discussing on social media, so you can target the best keywords and find content relevant to your industry and products.
Make a Publication Calendar
When you hire a Phoenix SEO services agency to manage your social media content, they’ll make a publication calendar to help the team stay on task with producing content and schedule content weeks or even months out. Even if you’re not enlisting an SEO services agency to help you grow a social media following, you should use a publication calendar. You can schedule posts for appropriate times in the future, perhaps to coincide with company events or upcoming holidays. You’ll be able to focus on creating the content you need to keep your following engaged and draw in new followers.
Stay Up-to-Date on Social Media Trends
Using social media trends to your advantage can help you build a larger following organically. Start by adopting new features, like in-app shopping or longer post allowances, early. This can enhance your channel’s visibility, as social media platforms tend to promote brands and people who adopt new features the soonest. Following trends can also help you promote your brand as a vital component of pop culture.
Collaborate with the Right People
Did you know that influencers with less than 50,000 followers are more likely to drive traffic to your social media channel than those with hundreds of thousands of followers or more? That’s because those smaller microinfluencers inspire more trust in their followers, because they have a more personal connection. People are more likely to want to buy from someone they see as just like them, rather than someone who is famous and seems unattainable. Collaborate with the right microinfluencers to drive lots of new traffic to your channel and get more followers.
Growing a social media following takes a lot of hard work – you might even need to hire an outside agency for help. It’s definitely worth the work that goes into it, because it’s such a valuable way to promote your brand and products to a world-wide audience.