Find Followers and Build Engagement on Social Media
So you’ve got great content and want more people to see it without spending money to place ads. Let’s talk about how to build engagement and grow your social media following.
Unless you have connections to a national platform with existing followers that wants to help promote you and your social media profiles, you have to work hard to build your following. Unfortunately, when it comes to social media, it is not a “build it and they will come” situation.
Here is the checklist of things to do in order to engage with your followers, find more followers, and build your audience:
✅Consistent, Quality Content
Post interesting content that your followers want to see/hear/read. And do it frequently. But don’t post just to post; make sure if you are posting, that it is something you feel good about and think is quality content. When you are trying to come up with to post, you can create something new or you can think about documenting what you are doing. Above all, be sure that your social posts offer value. If all you do is pitch and sell, there’s very little motivation for people to follow you. Remember, social marketing is all about building relationships. Be human. Be honest. Convey your personality.
✅Respond
If you are posting interesting content, people are going to comment or message you. Respond to them! They care enough to comment, then you should care enough to respond. This is how you start conversations and make friends.
✅Comment
Look for other content/people that are posting and talking about things that are similar to what you care about and comment on their posts. Start conversations and make friends. They will likely reciprocate and start following you and commenting on your content, too.
✅Follow Others
Follow the people that you find interesting. They might follow you back.
✅Tag People
When you talk about people or brands in your posts, tag them so they know you are mentioning them. There is a good chance they will like the post, comment on it, and maybe even follow you if let them know you you care about them.
✅Tag Locations
Did you know that you can search for posts by tagged locations on most social media channels? Tagging the location where you took a photo or video is just one more way your great content can be found by others.
✅Use Hashtags
Most social media platforms now have searchable hashtags. While they are more used on Twitter and Instagram, it doesn’t hurt to use them on Facebook and LinkedIn too. Do a little bit of research on the most popular hashtags related to the content and topics that you post about, keep a list and use them when relevant. Again, this is just one more way for your content to be found by those interested.
✅Run Paid Ads
You can always throw a little money at your problems and it usually helps. That is the case with social media, too. Running paid ads can get you in front of the people you want to follow you and if they like what they see, they might follow you. That being said, if your content isn’t good and/or you don’t do a good job in selecting your target audience, then the money you spend will be wasted.
✅Partnerships
Find a complementary brand or person who has a significant following and reach out to them for a partnership/cross-promotion. You could do a joint giveaway, agree to promote each other, or do guest appearances on each others’ channels. This is a way to share your followers with each other so that the arrangement is mutually beneficial.
The big secret to success on social media: act like you care.
If you truly want social media to be a business driver for you, you need to be thinking about it all the time, spending time on the platforms, having conversations, and building relationships There are no shortcuts when it comes to using channels that are based on engagement. It takes time, hours and hours of time.
