Attracting social media followers is the strategic process of building a community of engaged users around your brand's online presence. From a broader perspective, your content can be seen as a means of expressing yourself or providing valuable information to others. To successfully attract more social media followers, your brand must be perceived as offering support to others rather than being centered on self-promotion.
To achieve long-term success, it is essential to establish yourself as a trusted and valuable source of information for the community. It's all about putting their needs first rather than focusing solely on yourself.
Most people, particularly younger social users, want value from the brands they follow.
So, when looking to increase followers, it's not just about the type of content you're producing. It's about who you are as a brand. You must show trustworthiness and reliability to grow your social following. Here are some best practices and ideas for organically growing your social media following.
1. Be a follow-worthy brand.
It's not enough to have a ton of content or flashy ads. If your brand is inauthentic or sleazy, you won't get very far. People want to find meaning in the brands they follow, which is key to attracting more social media followers.
2. Use automation.
Social media automation is the use of tools to manage your social media accounts more efficiently. Effective automation allows you to:
- Manage all your social media accounts in one place.
- Schedule posts weeks in advance and post at preferred times to maximize visibility.
- Analyze post performance to refine your strategy.
Using the best tools to manage your social media accounts will help ensure you're posting with sufficient frequency to expand your presence and increase your follower count.
3. Focus on customer service.
Many customers who have issues with a brand are turning to social media for help, rather than waiting for a response to an email or making a phone call. Focus on helping people. These individuals will become repeat customers and be willing to buy from you again if they know they can trust that you'll help them with any issues. By utilizing a social platform for customer service, more users will visit your social account, and by having customer service available there, you are making it easier for them to resolve their issues and showing you are a brand worth following.
4. Promote your social media accounts.
Make it easy for people to find and follow your profiles. Regularly promote your startup's Facebook page, Instagram, or Twitter account. Ask your customers to interact with you. Add social media icons to your site and include social feeds in your sidebar. Ask people to follow you on your social platforms at the end of your blog posts. Promote these accounts in your email marketing to help attract more social media followers from your existing audience.
5. Actively engage.
Utilize your social media accounts to cultivate a sense of community. Start by actively engaging your audience and replying to all comments—post and answer questions in posts. Not only will you increase your presence, but you'll also develop authentic relationships with your audience, which is essential for retaining and attracting social media followers.
6. Watch the competition.
Competitive analysis is the process of identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to your own brand. You want to know who they are, where they are, what they're doing, and if they threaten your business. This also helps you identify gaps in your own strategy. Find out what networks they're on, the size of their audience, their posting frequency, the level of engagement they receive, and what they excel at. This analysis will reveal opportunities to attract more social media followers.
7. Know what's being said on social media.
Social listening is the process of monitoring social media channels for mentions of your brand, competitors, products, and keywords related to your business. Listen for mentions of your brand and then track, analyze, and respond to those conversations. More broadly, you should monitor conversations relevant to your industry and the thought leaders who impact it to stay ahead of trends.
8. Establish your social media voice and tone.
Your brand voice is the distinct personality your brand takes on in its communications. You're exercising your brand voice whenever you talk, write, design, and post. People are building an impression of your brand. Make the reader the hero in your story. Write from their perspective. Be clear, not clever; avoid sensationalism, and drop the drama so readers understand the benefits you offer.
9. Select the best channels to be on.
Research and understand the best platforms for your business to spend time on to attract more social media followers.
- Facebook sends more website referral traffic than any other platform and is geared toward news and entertainment.
- X (formerly Twitter) views itself as both a news platform and a social network and is well-suited for brands to share blog posts or promote website content.
- Instagram is highly visual and is not optimal for driving blog or website traffic. It's best suited for strong visual brands.
- LinkedIn is a professional network for business networking to share industry articles and professional content.
See which networks your customers and competitors are on, and where they are performing well. Use this as an indicator that you have a potential audience on that network. You need to be where your prospects and customers spend their time. Define your buyer personas and research their behaviors, and have a well-structured social media content calendar.
10. Facebook best practices.
To attract more social media followers on Facebook, follow these best practices:
- Use hashtags sparingly, working them directly into your copy.
- Upload videos natively to Facebook, as they typically outperform external links.
- Keep your copy concise and avoid an overly promotional tone to prevent algorithmic suppression.
- Ensure your "About" section is complete and up-to-date.
11. X (formerly Twitter) best practices.
To grow your audience on X, implement these tactics:
- Respond to all comments to foster engagement.
- Avoid hashtag spam; use only relevant hashtags.
- Use images to drive higher engagement rates.
- Automate your posting schedule to maintain the high frequency needed for success on the platform.
12. Instagram best practices.
Instagram is a powerful platform for visual brands. To attract more followers:
- Use location tagging on posts to increase local discoverability.
- Use a moderate number of relevant hashtags to expand reach.
- Strive for authenticity to inspire and entertain your audience, rather than being overly sales-focused.
13. LinkedIn best practices.
For attracting professional connections and followers on LinkedIn:
- Maintain a professional tone; avoid informal content like memes and GIFs.
- Share informative industry news and professional content.
- Regularly update job listings on your LinkedIn Company page.
- Keep your company's "About" section current and comprehensive.
14. Be sincere and graceful.
Especially when you encounter negative comments or feedback, the best way to deal with negative commentary is to be empathetic. It can be tough to stay on the high road, but be genuine in your responses. Don't be negative in your responses for the long-term health of your social media presence.
15. Quality over quantity.
Yes, some social networks require a high volume of content to be worthwhile; X (formerly Twitter) comes to mind. But don't forget quality always beats quantity. Don't post just to have posts up; that will not grow your audience. Be sure every post is connected to a broader goal or objective to effectively attract more social media followers.
16. Don't sound robotic.
You are communicating with real people. Use language your audience uses and respond in a way that sounds like a genuine person. Whether you think your niche is dull, remember that people interested in that niche want to talk to a real person about it, or they wouldn't be there.
17. Research hashtags before use.
Triple-check the meaning of any hashtag before using it. This will help you avoid embarrassment and prevent potentially damaging your reputation because you did not understand what that particular hashtag was referencing.
18. Ignore trolls.
The best advice is to ignore social media trolls. However, remember that it can be challenging to distinguish genuine customer complaints from trolls. A real complaint will have reasoning behind it; there will be a problem you can solve. Troll complaints have no basis. They are just seeking to provoke you. You cannot make them happy, and that's their entire point in trolling you.
How do you attract more social media followers for your channels? Do you have a checklist to share? Let us know your input in the comments.
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