Are you looking to grow your social media following organically? Here are 9 tips to help you grow without spending money on paid advertisements or sponsorships.
1. Provide Valuable Content
Your social posts need to be crafted in a way that gets your audience excited and keeps them engaged. Here are four categories of content that can provide real value to your followers:
- Educational – articles, blogs, e-books, webinars, market data, pain point solutions, etc.
- Entertaining – GIFs, memes, behind the scenes, funny, etc.
- Shareable – community happenings, emotional, inspirational, etc.
- Giveaways – contests, sales, promotions, etc.
It’s best to use a blend of all four types of content to provide your customers with varied experiences.
2. Create Visual Content
Visual content performs much better than text only content. Photos, videos and infographics are all ways for your brand to stand out and be seen. According to socialmediatoday.com, content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.
3. Publish Content Consistently
It’s extremely important to stay active on your social channels so that your content does not get stale. When visiting your page for the first time, potential followers will expect to see fresh and updated content. Content needs to be delivered in a consistent flow that your followers can count on and look forward to. A content calendar is a great way to stay organized and deliver consistent and timely messages.
4. Use Hashtags
It can be tough to stand out and be seen in the busy social media world. Hashtags help to organize social posts in topics and help users find content that might be relevant to them. There are 3 different types of hashtags: trending, content and branded. Trending hashtags are popular hashtags that are being used right now and they can generate massive awareness for your company if users find the content interesting. Content hashtags offer an effective method for your content to be found and build your brand’s visibility. Branded hashtags are brand specific and help make it easier for you to promote your company’s message to your target user.
5. Be a Human
Your social media posts should have personality and give a human touch to your brand. You do not want to come across as a faceless corporation. After all, social media is all about connections and users want to connect with people, not robots.
6. Utilize Live Events
Many users prefer to watch live streams instead of a pre-recorded, branded video. These live events are more authentic and allow for interaction from your social community. They are also a low cost alternative to expensive video productions.
7. Connect in Real Life
You can grow your social following outside of the digital world. For example, put postcards in your product packages that invite customers to follow you on your social channels. Or you could even place physical signs in your retail environment inviting your customers to follow you online.
8. Work with Other Brands
Forming a partnership with another brand that has a similar audience to you is a great way to help both businesses grow. Work together to create a post that promotes both of your brands and invites your communities to come together. For example, a restaurant might create a post that highlights the amazing produce they get from a local farm. This post supports both the restaurant and the farmer and gain crossover followers for both businesses. Just be sure to make sure that both businesses are tagged properly and that the message is on brand for both companies.
9. Watch the Data
After putting in the effort to create relevant and engaging content, it is imperative to analyze the posts analytics to make informed decisions about what to post next. Be on the lookout for the types of content that are most successful and for the days and times that your posts are getting the most traction.
Need help with growing your social following? Doraz Marketing can help!
