Brands, organisations, and institutions use social media platforms every single day to connect with their audiences, raise awareness, and drive leads and business.
With an engaged following on one or more of the major social networks, brands can effectively spread the word about campaigns, new initiatives, and new products and services. However, simply having 1,000 Facebook fans or 200 Twitter followers is not the best indicator of social media success.
It’s possible to have thousands of followers who never read your posts or click on your links. The key is to build a thriving online community of your ideal fans, the ones who'll actively engage with your content, share it with their networks, and ultimately, become paying customers.
It takes work to establish such, but that effort can pay off, big time.
Looking to grow your social media audience? In this post, we'll look at eleven simple ways in which you can grow your social media following.
Contests can be a great way to get new people to Like and follow your accounts, while also keeping your current fans engaged with your Page.
It's worth experimenting with contests on every social network on which you are active. Some examples of social media contests include:
Comment to win – Participants leave a comment or answer a question
Caption contest – Either the best caption (you choose) or the one with the most likes wins
Fill-in-the-blank Contest – Ask participants to answer a trivia question
Photo contest – Either the best photo (you choose) or the one with the most likes wins
Multiple choice contest
Tips for a successful social media contest:
Promote it everywhere - Use your website, email list, and other social networks to drum up participation.
Do not give away prizes completely unrelated to your brand - For example, if you give away a new iPad, you might drive a lot of engagement and participation, but not necessarily from people who will eventually become customers or lifelong fans.
Follow the platform rules - Each social platform has its own rules and regulations around contests - here's an overview of the key details.
Follow up with entrants who don’t win - Send them a thank you for participating, along with something about your brand/organization’s work.
- Include a visual with every post
Visuals are high-performers on social media, so be sure to include an eye-catching, colorful image or graphic with each post.
Consider these visual marketing statistics,
Content with relevant images rack up 94% more views than content without images.
Compared to other types of content, visual content is more than 40x more likely to get shared on social media.
Instagram photos showing faces get 38% more likes than photos without faces.
- Share more video
Video is the most engaging content type on every social media platform, so if you can, it's a good idea to create at least some form of video content to maximize engagement.
Be sure to upload your video directly to your platform of choice, rather than posting a link to an outside website (like YouTube). This way, your video will autoplay as people land on it while scrolling through their feeds, grabbing more attention.
Lots of views can lead to increased reach, engagement, and exposure for your brand.
- Be proactive in listening to and responding to your online community
Did you know that 83% of your Facebook fans, and 71% of your Twitter followers, now expect a response from you on the same day that they pose a question on each respective platform?
In fact, 32% of Twitter users now expect a response within just 30 minutes.
Give your followers a fantastic user experience on social by being exceptionally responsive. Listen to their needs, and respond accordingly.
You should also look to publicly recognize people who retweet, favorite, and mention your organization on Twitter, and thank users who comment on Instagram and YouTube.
When you make your online community feel heard and acknowledged, they're more likely to become raving fans, and your most loyal social media ambassadors.
- Change your Page profile photos and cover photos
Your profile photos and banners are some of your best and most-viewed social profile elements. Use these visual tools to showcase the impact of your work, and the stories of those who benefit from your services.
On Facebook, consider changing up your cover photo at least once per month, and remember to write a great caption.
On Twitter, use your profile picture and banner photo to highlight your great work.
Don’t just stretch out and pixelate a horizontal version of your logo - no one wants to connect with just a logo on social media. Personalize, humanize, and customize every channel you can, with a visual image that speaks volumes.
Also, make sure you use the right social media image sizes for each platform.
- Give people a reason to follow you
Give both prospective and current fans reason to follow you on multiple platforms.
Don't simply “set it and forget it” with generic, automated links blasted across all of your social media channels. Tailor your content for each channel’s users.
For example, you should use Twitter to share latest news and real-time alerts, while you can use Facebook to tell more compelling, longer stories about the people who benefit from your work.
You should look to strategically use each social media channel based on its strengths and demographics, and give your target audience a good reason to connect with you on that specific network.
What value are you providing? What are you offering that will entice them to stay tuned in?
Think about the reasons people use each network, then formulate a plan to consistently post and share content that will resonate with your specific audience, wherever they congregate online.
- Encourage tagging
An effective strategy to engage your followers is to encourage them to tag other people who may benefit from, or enjoy a specific post.
If you post an inspiring quote, write “Tag a friend who needs this today”; If you share a video about Mother’s Day, encourage your online community to tag a friend (or better, friends) who means a lot to them, and with whom they would like to share your message.
Ideally, these new people can be drawn into the fold, and join your online social media followers.
But a word of caution - ensure you employ this method sparingly and only where it makes sense, or it can look spammy.
- Use hashtags to get found
There are two great ways to use hashtags to increase your social media followers:
a) Use popular hashtags strategically and sparingly
I suggest using one popular tag per tweet or Instagram post, such as #OOTD (outfit of the day), #TBT (throw-back Thursday), #fail (self-explanatory), #FOMO (fear of missing out), etc.
There are thousands of hashtags out there - check out Hashtags.org and Hashtagify.me to find ones that are relevant to your audience and your content.
b) Participate in relevant trending topics and current events
I check my Twitter feed regularly to see what's trending for the day. If it's something that I think would be of interest to my followers, I share a tweet with the relevant hashtag.
For example, on Monday you could use the trending hashtag #MondayMotivation to share a quote or an inspiring story with your followers.
People searching that particular hashtag might come across your post, and will hopefully check you out and even follow you.
- Be entertaining, and use humor to engage
Take a note from the Frederiction SPCA, an animal adoption and protection agency which often shares entertaining memes and photos on their page.
Brands that show a bit of humanity and humor do well on social media - but that said, you should always ensure that any content that you do share makes sense for your particular audience and your brand voice.
There's no point in sharing cat memes for the sheer sake of sharing cat memes. Even if such posts do get a few likes, it can confuse your messaging, which won't help in your broader brand-building effort (i.e. connecting with the right people for your organization).
- Explore paid social
Leveling up your social media success often involves allocating ad spend, however limited it may be.
One of the best ways to grow your audience and gain more exposure is to invest a modest amount into paid social advertisements. When done well, paid social ads can promote your content, increase conversions, and help you reach new people.
Precise audience targeting enables you to focus your ads on "warm" audiences - people who've visited your website (if you use the Facebook pixel), people who are subscribed to your email list, and your current fans and followers.
Facebook's advanced options, in particular, can be hugely beneficial in reaching just the right people with your paid outreach.
- Never, ever buy followers and fans
Some people assume that purchasing fans and followers is a shortcut to building a huge online community. This is not only bad practice, but it will largely end up being more of a problem than it's worth.
The biggest issue here is that it pollutes your audience with robot profiles, which will ruin your audience insights, limit your ongoing performance, and will end up restricting the organic reach of your posts. And that's before you consider ads. For example, if you tried to boost one of your Facebook posts, Facebook's system would look to show it to more people like those who already follow your Page. You'd essentially be paying to reach bots, and the same implications apply to various other ad targeting measures.
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3 Ways social media Can Help Small Startups to Grow
Summary: Nobody could have estimated the power of social media years ago. But today it has emerged as a superpower for small startup businesses. Find out how you can leverage it too for your business.
Ten years ago, if someone had talked about growing and scaling your business through a small screen, people would have laughed. The concept of social media for business was foreign. But today with the rise of giants like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, many brands and businesses see the marketing value in these sites.
The rise of social media has opened a door of opportunities for small business owners, students, influencers, and content creators. These platforms have become legitimate ways for brands to reach their customers and generate income.
According to statista.com, “the global social media usage rate stood at 49 percent.” In a way, social media has become the new playground that unites all demographics. It offers free access to reach a larger customer base for a product or service. From small business owners to popular brands, it provides an equal opportunity to grow and engage with a close-knit community of both present and future customers.
If you are an entrepreneur who is looking to grow your potential customers without spending too much money, here are three ways in which social media marketing can help small businesses and startups:
- Brand Awareness
Social media has an advantage over the traditional methods of advertising that include TV, magazines, radio, and other media platforms. Social media can be a convenient method to spread your information about your small business products and services in a quick and cost-efficient manner and potentially reach lakhs of people with just one message or post.
This can result in higher followers for your business, more sign-ups for your products and services, and higher conversion rates on your marketing campaigns.
- Grow Website Traffic
If you have a revolutionary product or service that you want to introduce in the market, nothing can beat social media; especially you have a business website. Though the best SEO practice can increase your website traffic and rank on Google, it will take time. On the other hand, the smart use of social media can direct your potential customers who are genuinely interested in your product to your business website.
This can enhance the quality and improve the quantity of your inbound traffic. The increase in website visitors can help small startup businesses to grow their sales and revenue.
- Sell Your Products & Services
If you want to sell directly to your customers then you can also use social media platforms. Many social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have an additional feature of retargeting ads that can help you to target your prime audience. This will help you to directly put your content in front of them.
How to get started with Social Media Marketing?
Using social media for your small business or a startup is a great way to expand your client list, but choosing the right approach is crucial if you want to stand out from your competitors. Here are two ways to do it:
A. Choose Your Channels
While Tik Tok and Snapchat are two popular social media platforms, these channels don't need to be appropriate for your business. Being a startup, it is very important to pick the right channel for your products and services. One way to do this is to collect the demographic data of your consumers. For instance, Twitter is a hub for international connections, while LinkedIn is an obvious choice to build your presence in the business world. Hence, choose your platform wisely.
B. Build Your Brand
Once you figure out the right platform for your business, it is time to build your brand presence. To create a page that is engaging, trustworthy, and unique. The more content, comments, likes, and shares you have, the more trustworthy you become to prospective and current consumers.
Once you have taken the above two steps, the next step is to generate leads from organic growth. The best way to encourage this is to produce valuable content for your followers. When you create content, encourage people in your circle to share, like, and boom, your content will be seen by hundreds of new people.
Using social media as part of your small business or startup marketing strategy can help you to grow and scale your business. This can often result in accelerating the growth of your business and scale quickly and efficiently.
You can boost your sales easily with the right guidance of a business expert. Learn to generate high revenue earning products for sales; generate payment links for customers, managing account-related details. Get your marketing game back on track. Grow through self-learning and see your website traffic increasing with marketing collateral designed especially for you.
14 Social Media Trends Marketers Can Leverage In 2022
Social media is an indispensable marketing channel. Methods for capturing online users’ attention continue to proliferate in 2022, and taking advantage of the most popular trends on various social platforms is a great way for marketers to reach target audiences and expand awareness of their brands among new audiences.
As the saying goes, knowing is half the battle. If you could use some extra insight into which trends in social media promise to have the greatest impact this year, read on. Here, members of Forbes Communications Council share 14 of the biggest social media trends marketers can leverage in 2022.
Forbes Communications Council members share social media trends marketers can leverage in 2022.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
- Companies Engaging With Users On Live Platforms
Short videos will continue to dominate the internet in 2022, and as a result, most of the trends on social media will be around video content. With more freedom given to users to express themselves through live video and voice platforms, such as Twitter Spaces, companies will try to jump on the bandwagon to discuss issues relevant to their business with users. - Bader al Hinai, Oman Investment Authority
- Incentivizing Employee Advocacy On Social Networks
Employee advocacy is the only organic outlet left for brands to grow their social media presence, amplify reach and build communities. Employees are our best asset; yet for most, they’re underutilized and untapped. We’ve integrated with Bambu by Sprout Social to give Similarwebbers an easy way to share content across social networks. Offer monthly incentives to top sharers as another way to drive engagement. - Yael Klass, Similarweb Ltd.
- Creators Monetizing Content As Brand Partners
In addition to earning revenue from established social media platforms, content creators will take bolder steps to evolve their owned personal platforms and monetize their content. Marketers should do more co-creations and treat content creators more as brand partners than funnels/channels. - Tolulope Adedeji, Anheuser Busch/ AB INBEV
- LinkedIn Mega Influencers Driving Job Market Shifts
Like Instagram and other platforms, LinkedIn will begin to grow with “mega influencers.” These LinkedIn mega influencers will not only help shape business and commerce but also create more transparency into how companies grow, manage and treat their employees. They will become the biggest drivers of job market shifts. - Brad Sivert, Tavant
Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
- Immersive AR And VR Experiences Via Social Media
Marketers can create experiential campaigns that leverage augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to engage seamlessly with consumers in the environment they are in. Marketers will deliver these enhanced experiences throughout the consumer journey, from engaging with users during gaming to interactive campaigns to 3D shopping. - Santhi Ramesh, Hershey Company
- More Powerful Messaging Through Discord Groups
I see a rise in Discord groups. Building a Discord community can be a very powerful opportunity for messaging. An engaged Discord group can essentially replace email marketing. - Reenita Malhotra Hora, Chapter by episode
- An Increase In Livestream Video Shopping Events
The livestream video shopping market was expected to reach more than $11 billion in the U.S. in 2021, and should hit $25 billion by 2023. Livestream events are a unique blend of entertainment, engagement and e-commerce that create a seamless user experience. Viewers can interact with the host, ask questions and comment in real time, and purchase right then and there without having to leave the platform. Instant promos create a FOMO atmosphere, increasing sales and word-of-mouth. - Meghann Craig, Empower
- Paid And Organic Strategies For Social Commerce
Social commerce is large, with more than $36 billion in sales in 2021, and it continues to grow. It’s projected to double by 2025. Businesses should have paid and organic strategies for selling via social media, not just for growing followers and engagement. Delivering value-added content through groups, utilizing influencers and diversifying beyond Facebook paid advertising are some of the ways we plan to do it. - Kuba Poraj-Kuczewski, ClickBank
- Users Abandoning Social Media
There are waves of people jumping off platforms and focusing on meeting, connecting and staying connected through real life. Marketers will need to pivot back to understanding human connection at a deeper level and accessing that through more “traditional” methods. - Maile Keone, Listen Technologies Corporation
- The Rise Of Common Interest Groups
With this pandemic and the shift to remote/hybrid work environments, many are struggling to find ways to connect outside of conference calls and Zoom meetings amid their busier-than-ever schedules and home lives. The rise of common interest groups will enable people to cut through the noise of their social feeds and increase engagement with like-minded people, connecting on the topics they enjoy most. - Stacy Bliek, Integrity Staffing Solutions
- Personalized Experiences Connecting Communities
The pandemic has left people wanting connection. Building authentic communities will be key, and it will be done with integrated audio, short video and external experiences that bring people into the fold of your brand. Marketers who personalize the experience for their communities will thrive. - Tracy Sestili, Intellimize
- Micro Influencers And B2B Influencers
The two main trends we’ll see in 2022 are micro influencers and B2B influencers. Marketers can ride this wave by focusing on providing great value to their customers through the campaigns they create. People trust influencers more than they trust traditional media channels. Additionally, people care more about the features of a product than the brand itself. - Alon Ghelber, Revuze
- TikTok For B2C And LinkedIn For B2B
Look for marketers to take advantage of social platforms with the best organic reach (the highest number of people who see their content without them having to pay an ad fee). For B2C marketers, that means TikTok. For B2B, the best place is LinkedIn. To take advantage, build a strategy around each channel and then develop a test-and-learn approach before scaling and applying the learnings to other channels. - Anita Newton, CommunityAmerica Credit Union
- Tying Community And Giving Into For-Profit Initiatives
With Facebook and Instagram increasing nonprofit-specific functionality, businesses can take advantage of partnerships with nonprofit organizations to help their communities and market in a different way. - Erica Mau-Schank, Vibe Creative Marketing
Best Social Media Growing Tool: https://bit.ly/3smRCPD ( Copy & paste URL to the Browser )