Building an online following is crucial to promoting your business or project. However, there are a few tricks to building an effective social media platform. Even though it’s possible to buy thousands of followers, it can lead to problems. You won’t have real engagement, and you might even lose your account. It’s better to have an organic following that is genuinely interested in what you have to say. Let’s look at some tips and tricks to building an online following.
Post Consistently and Regularly
A big aspect of social media and building a platform is consistently keeping your name and brand in front of your followers. A few posts per week will only get lost in the massive ocean of other posts on social media. It’s important to make between five and 10 posts per day if you’re using Twitter. For a blog, it’s a good idea to post about every other day. If you can’t imagine being on Twitter often enough to make consistent posts, then you can use a scheduling service to automate your posts.
Cater To Your Market
Whether you use a blogging platform or microblogging platform like Twitter, it’s important to speak to your market. Minimize personal posts that don’t cater directly to your audience. Going way off-topic on a regular basis will eventually muddle your brand and message.
Match Your Message To The Right Network
What works on one platform doesn’t necessarily work on another. Different messages appeal to different audiences. For example, it’s expected that you might post 10 times or more per day on Twitter, but if you do that every day on Facebook or LinkedIn you’re probably going to annoy people. If you’re new to social media, take time to study each platform and see how people use it.
Promote Your Network Everywhere
It’s very important to cross-pollinate your platforms as much as possible. Include follow buttons or links to your profiles everywhere you can. Some social networks allow links to other social networks. You can also use aggregate sites to collect all your social media platforms in one place. There are many sites like this aimed at content creators.
Follow Other Influences and Share
Engagement, sharing, and interaction are crucial parts to getting your name out there on social media. If you’re unsure who to follow when you first sign up, start looking for other names in your industry. For example, if you’re a food blogger, follow other food bloggers, and engage with their content. If you’re a business catering to your local area, follow local pages like your official city page or the local newspaper. The next step is to interact and share content from the people you follow.
Promote Your Social Media Through Email
If you have an email subscription list or regularly send out a newsletter, make sure to promote all your social media sites. You can also cross-promote by advertising your newsletter or email subscription on your social media.
Engage Your Followers
When you do start building a list of followers, make sure to engage with them. Respond to their comments and mentions, go to their page and like their posts, and consider following them back if they offer engaging content. Remember that the whole point of social media is to be social.
Use Hashtags Correctly
Twitter is fueled by hashtags. Conversation on Twitter moves so fast that hashtags become necessary for people to find what they want. It’s important to use the right hashtags, but don’t fill your post with them or it will look like spam. Other sites like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook use hashtags as well.
Make Content Sharing Easy
If you have a blog, be sure to include social media sharing links on your site and with each post. Most people don’t want the hassle of copying and pasting URLs. Make sharing easy and your visitors will be more likely to do it.
Check Your Stats
Most sites have some form of analytics to see what’s connecting. Look at posts that get the most interaction and figure out how you can tailor future posts in the same way.
It might seem daunting to gather a sizable online following, but it doesn’t have to be a mystery. Follow these tips consistently and watch your followers grow.