How to grow your social media following (for free!)
Confession #2:
Unlike traditional media, in the world of social media ‘followers’ and ‘likes’ are important. Every follower represents a potential lead. They are like the social database that you can speak to daily, and they welcome regular posts.
The more followers you have the more reputable, renowned, and trustworthy you appear. There are two ways you can get followers on social media: through organic means or paid. Today we will be covering the organic ways to grow your following on social media.
When I use the term ‘organic’ regarding digital marketing this means that you are growing your followers, or online exposure organically, and it is not costing you any money. So, organic = Free and paid = money.
These days growing a following on social media is not an easy feat, people are getting impervious to influencers and are hesitant to follow new accounts.
When I log into my Instagram I have four different accounts available to switch between. These are daily reminders of the Instagram accounts I started and then gave up on – but hey at least I can use them for stalking now!
Kaushik said "social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it but no one knows how." Social media is something every business wants to be involved in, but like having sex for the first time they are not doing it correctly, then they are disappointed when it doesn’t return the amazing results they expected.
Social interaction is a human need which is why social networking sites are so popular. We have the need for social connection ingrained in us, and when we are on social media we never feel alone because there is always a connection just the opening of an App away.
As an influencer or a business you can tap into this market and flourish, but you need to be doing it correctly, and you need to speak to the audience in their language or else you will be ignored.
Here are my top hacks for organic social growth:
USE HASHTAGS
Hashtags can be used to increase the exposure of your posts on both Instagram and Facebook. Your post can then be discovered by people searching for that hashtag.
For example: If you’re a real estate agent and you use the hashtag #realestate your post will appear in the #realestate hashtags, or if you’re a beauty blogger using #beauty your post will appear to those searching that hashtag.
Hashtags allow you to increase your chances of reaching the audience you desire, or an audience who could be interested in your line of content.
You can even use hashtags in your Instagram stories, to give the story more exposure. If you don’t like the way they look you could hide them under a sticker.
Will hashtags be relevant and effective forever?
I do not know. As social media trends can become irrelevant as quickly as they became a fad. Myspace is a perfect example of this.
What I can tell you is that I used, and still use hashtags, to grow my poetry following. I believe they have worked for me. I think hashtags are great for social media if you have found your niche, like poetry in my case, or you may be using fitness or beauty blogging.
When you use hashtags you know you’re only reaching an interested audience because no one who is not interested in exercise would waste their time trawling the #fitness (Unless of course, they are a pervert).
Remember! Hashtags function nationally, so if you are trying to reach a local market you need to add in some additional tags to make this work for you. Try adding in some community or address specific hashtags.
FOLLOW FOR FOLLOW
Hack no.2 is the ‘follow for follow’ technique for Instagram, or ‘Invite to like’ technique for Facebook.
Once you have set up your Facebook Business Page, the best way to begin to gather likes is to invite all your friends from your personal account to like your business page.
How many of you get a barrage of business-page like requests from your old school mates as they launch Facebook Business Page, after Facebook Business Page?
Fred Hayes invited you to like Fred Hayes Real Estate, next month it’s Fred Hayes Car Salesman, then Fred Hayes Recruitment!
I know…I know, the ‘invite to like’ thing is getting kind of old, but it’s still a good way to start the likes coming on your business page.
Of course, if you’ve read this blog and applied all that you have learned you will have a flourishing Facebook Business Page with great content, and unlike poor old Fred Hayes, all your old school friends will want to like it!
On Instagram, this ‘invite to like’ functionality is not available. The best way to begin to gather followers on Instagram is to employ the ‘follow for follow’ tactic.
Start following people you know, or people who you think could be potential leads, or interested in your content.
Once you have followed these accounts you have three options:
You can remain following everyone you’ve followed even if they don’t follow you back
You can unfollow them all and hope they stay following you (this is highly annoying and can damage consumer perception of your brand)
You can use an ‘unfollower app’ which allows you to only unfollow those who have not followed you back- you can find these apps in the app store by searching ‘unfollow for Instagram'
COMPETITIONS
Competitions are a great way to build a follower base.
You would be surprised how by even giving away something as small as a $50 gift card you can get people engaging.
I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but I have seen people begging for a $50 Mitre10 Gift card on a business’s Facebook competition.
Make sure it is a requirement of entering the competition that they follow, or like your account, and tag friends to enter. Also, make sure the prize winner is publicly announced to build credibility for the next competition you run.
Adding a paid boost to your competition post can help it gain traction and makes the give-away work harder for you.
BECOME A REALITY TV STAR
There is no doubt about it, going on a reality television program is a great way to boost your follower base organically.
Instead of spending money on promotions you just have to do a small on-air feat, like marry a stranger, or compete with multiple women for one guy. Piece of cake really.
This is not a tactic I have yet tried myself, although I am fully open to it. I just always seem to be in a relationship when casting comes around, but there’s still lots of time (and botox) available to me.
Remember! Don’t bother applying if you’re super dull and introverted. No one wants to watch boring television. Be open, honest, and outrageous, and you’ll get the following.
CONTENT
Content! Content! Content! That’s all you are going to hear me harping on about throughout this blog.
So, you’re using all the above, and paid means, to maximize your social media exposure, but once you get them to your page, how do you get them to click ‘follow’?
And once they click follow, how do you get them to stick around?
In my opinion, content is the most important tool to grow your followers and to keep them. If you are creating good content your following will grow naturally. If you are not creating good content, you will struggle to grow a following even if you spend thousands of dollars on marketing.
