The Ultimate Guide To Increasing Your Followers On Social Media

Having a social media presence is extremely beneficial to your business. This has been proven through many successful campaigns, run by some of the biggest companies in the world. However, a social media presence is just as important for a smaller business. Your social media outlets can be used as a customer service platform, to grow your customer base, or to build customer loyalty.

Your audience will appreciate if your business has a strong social media presence. They may want to get information about your business, be looking for entertainment or searching for special offers. If all of the crucial information is delivered strategically you will be able to hold the attention of your audience and benefit from it.

Whether you are starting from scratch, or even if you already have a follower base on one or more platforms, it can be incredibly challenging to grow the number of followers you have. You might not have the time you need to fully develop your social media presence or you might be channelling your resources into other aspects of your business.

However, growing your social media following is a lot easier than you think. With this post, we have compiled the ultimate guide to increasing your followers. We will help you understand the most important aspects of a good growth strategy and you will then be able to apply it to your own business.

In this guide we introduce you to a range of proven strategies for social media success, allowing you to choose the one which suits you best. Also, we will go into detail about all the core aspects of good content distribution like consistency, content types and scheduling. One chapter will also cover how to sustainably use paid advertising to increase your number of followers.

We have compiled the best expert advice on the things that you need to master if you are going to grow your following. If you follow this guide you will be able to set up a great growth strategy and increase your reach immensely.

• Chapter1: How Choosing The Right Social Media Channels Can Make Or Break Your Marketing Campaign

• Chapter2: How To Boost Your Engagement With The Right Content Type

• Chapter3: How A Detailed Competitor Analysis Can Be The Deciding Factor For Your Growth Strategy

• Chapter4: Why having an upload schedule is vital

• Chapter5: How to use paid advertising right

• Chapter6: How great audience engagement can be the key to growing your following

• Chapter7: Tools and software that can aid your growth

• Chapter8: How to network with influencers to increase your reach

• Chapter9: Achieving brand consistency

• Chapter10: Ensure your posts benefit your audience

One of the most important decisions you have to make is which social media networks to use. Take into consideration who your target audience is and which network draws their attention best. When you select a platform, you should have a clear idea of how you want to use it. The selection you make will affect your ability to reach the right people, and ultimately, this is what matters most. Also, the platforms have different capabilities in terms of advertising, post features, engagement opportunities and more. These are all factors that you need to consider and with these resources you will be able to make the right decision.

• 3 Tips for Picking the Right Social Media Platform
• Here’s Exactly How to Choose the Right Social Network
• How to choose the best social media platforms
• Which Social Media Platforms Are Right
• How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business (entrepreneur)
• How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business (inc)
• The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Social Media Platforms
• Social media platforms
• How to Choose the Best Social Media Channels for Your Business (digitalmarketinginstitute)
• Which Social Media Platforms Should You Use for Your Business?
• Top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites
• WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS SHOULD MY BUSINESS BE ON?

So you’ve set up your accounts and are ready to go. But what should you post and HOW should you post it? The format in which you share your content is just as important as the subject of it. There are a wide variety of content types you can use, including infographics, videos, blog posts, quotes, photos, diagrams, links and many more. Although you always have to consider if it’s possible to turn your subject into the content you need, you can be as creative as you want. This list of sources will help you find the perfect way to create content that will boost your follower count:

• Use Instagram to increase restaurant reservations
• 12 Types of Content to Post on Social Media
• 7 Types Of Awesome Social Media Content Your Brand Can Be Creating Right Now
• The 9 Types of Social Media Content You Need to Use
• 10 Ways To Create Contagious Content for Your Social Media Marketing
• Get Over Your Creativity Block With These 20 Social Media Content Ideas
• What to Post on Each Social Media Platform
• The 6 Types Of Social Media Content
• 10 Tips for Creating the Perfect Social Media Content for Your Brand

When developing your social media strategy, you should also look at your competition. Find out who is in the same niche as you and how they go about using social media. You should follow up on this regularly by making a competitive analysis to make sure you aren’t falling behind. In addition to showing you the competitive landscape, this step will also familiarize you with any customs or trends in the niche. Conducting this analysis can be incredibly beneficial to your business, here are some amazing resources that will guide you through it:

• How to Perform a Social Media Competitive Analysis
• How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis on Social Media
• The 5-Minute Social Media Competitive Analysis
• How To Get Actionable Ideas From Your Social Media
• How Competitive Analysis Can Transform Your Social Marketing Plan
• Social media results less than stellar?
• Competitive Analysis on Social Media

Something that all platforms have in common is that a regular upload pattern increases the engagement of your audience. This means that you will reach more people if you post something regularly. The quality of your post still needs to be good on all platforms, however there are some things to consider that are different between them. For example, there are different peak times in which the networks are used, some even have specific weekdays in which they have a lot more traffic. You have to figure out what posting schedule is best for your business on the different networks you use and then create a posting schedule. These sites have some outstanding content about this topic:

• How to Schedule Social Media Content
• The Must-Have Social Media Content Strategy
• Beginners Guide — How to create a Social Media content plan
• How To Develop A Winning Social Media Content Strategy
• 2018 Social Media Content Calendar
• 26 Tips to Create a Strong Social Media Content Strategy
• 10 Steps To Develop Your Social Media Content Strategy
• Creating a Content Strategy for Social Media
• How to Schedule Social Media Posts Like a Pro

The focus of this guidebook is to teach you how you can develop a great social media strategy. Including paid ads in your strategy can give your reach a huge boost. Most social networks offer paid advertisement on their sites and often also provide a tool to analyse the data as well. The great thing about these paid ads are that they often don’t cost a lot of money. Even with these tools at your disposal, starting your ad campaign can be overwhelming. That’s what this chapter is about. This section will show you how you can ensure your paid ad is as effective as it can be and gives you tips on how and where to start.

• 4 Tips for Adding Paid Ads To Your Social Media Strategy
• The 6 Most Effective Types of Social Media Advertising in 2018
• Put Your Money Where Your Followers Are
• The Top 10 Paid Social Media Hacks of All Time
• 10 Tactics to Boost Your Organic Social Media Reach
• Social Media Advertising: The Complete Guide
• How To Get 250,000 Real Facebook Followers
• Which Followers Are Best for Your Marketing Efforts?
• 10 Tips on How to Create High-Converting Facebook Ads

One factor that is incredibly important for the success of your social media efforts is your ability to build and keep up audience engagement. You should look to nurture your followers over time to create a long-term relationship rather than trying to get once-off engagement. Your aim should be to make them WANT to interact with your content again and again. To do this effectively you will have to consider some important things, including taking the time to develop a deep understanding of your users. These sources show you in a lot of detail how you are able to build great engagement with your audience and successfully maintain it over time.

• 30 Social Media Engagement Tactics That Will Boost Shares And Conversions
• What Is Social Media Engagement
• How to Get a More Engaged Audience
• 5 Ways To Really Engage With Your Social Media Audience
• How to Create Engaging Social Media Content
• The Complete Guide to Audience Engagement
• 6 AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT METRICS THAT MATTER MOST
• 5 Ways to Increase Engagement With Your Target Audience
• 10 Tips For Increasing Your Social Media Engagement
• 15 Ways to Increase Social Media Engagement Quickly
• 5 Golden Rules for Engaging Your Social Media Audience

There is a ton of tools and software out there that can make your life a lot easier. They are specifically made to support your social media efforts and make your life that little bit easier. There are tools for most social media needs already out there and that can really bring your campaign on leaps and bounds. Some of them help you sell your product, while others help you get in touch with influencers in your field of interest. Many of these will leave a noticeable impact, have a look at the list below to find the tools that will help your social media following to grow.

• 14 Free Social Media Management Tools
• Top 4 List of Best Free Social Media Management Tools
• 9 Tools to Grow Your Social Media Presence
• 12 Tools and Resources to Help You Grow Your Social Media Following
• 6 Must-Have Tools For Online Audience Growth
• 5 Best Tools to Grow your Social Media Presence Easily
• 23 Social Media Marketing Tools
• 24 Useful Social Media Tools To Increase Your Brand Presence Online
• 10 Social Media Tools You Need in 2018
• 18 Social Media Tools to Help You Grow Your Small Business
• 8 Tools Social Media Managers Use to Grow their Skills

Social media is the place where most influencers have their audience. So it is key to build and maintain a good network of influencers that you can utilize in many different ways. You could have them promote your business, your social media channels or your product, but there are many more ways you could benefit from a good influencer network. Maybe the influencer could collaborate with your brand to create something together or, if the relationship has been successful, he could become an ambassador for it. These relationships are built on the fact that both sides can gain something from it, so it is very important to understand how you can develop and build your influencer network in the best way possible. These resources break down the most important aspects of it.

• 4 Key Ways to Connect with Influencers and Maximize Your Influencer Marketing Efforts
• 7 Top Secret Ways To Connect With Influencers and A-Listers
• How to Connect With Influencers on Social Media
• Integral, Relational, Organic, And Generative
• 10 steps on how to connect with influencers to grow your business
• How to Be an Influencer and Grow Your Audience
• The Most Underrated Way to Network With Influencers
• How to Use Influencer Marketing to Grow Your Social Media Audience

You are likely present on more than one social media network, as is your audience. Therefore, it’s crucial that you keep your branding consistent on the different networks. This way your follower is able to become more familiar with your brand. However, this topic goes further than just using the same color scheme. What you might not know is that the way you engage with your audience, your brand voice, your post types and even the type of visuals you are using in your posts are considered when talking about your brand consistency. So be clear what you want to bring to your audience on each of your networks and keep the other factors consistent throughout. Here are some brilliant articles explaining in depth how you can improve your brand consistency.

• Social Media Brand Strategy: Tips for a Consistent Presence
• Scheduling and Consistency: The Keys to Social Media Optimization
• 3 Simple Tips for Being Consistent in Your Social Media Marketing
• 10 Tips to Build a Consistent, Relevant and Memorable Social Brand
• The Importance of Brand Consistency In Social Media
• How to Keep Your Branding Consistent on Social Media
• In Social Media – Consistency is the Key
• How to achieve brand consistency on social media
• The Secret to Staying Consistent with Social Media Marketing

One key factor that you need to keep in mind when posting is that you have to make sure your posts benefit your audience. It does not make sense to post often if the post has no value for your audience, so you need to choose something to post that actually has value. This is also one of the key factors for having good audience engagement. Remember that you don’t have to post something brand new every time, you can recycle earlier content or repost something that is related to your brand with a comment from yourself. The complete overview on how to create value for your audience can be found in our sources below.

• How to Create Better Content For Your Customers
• Must-Have Checklist to Creating Valuable Content
• Create Valuable Content In 5 Easy Steps
• The Meaning of and How To “Create Valuable Content”
• 5 Important Steps to Creating Valuable Content for Your Blog
• The Nine Ingredients That Make Great Content
• 6 Essential Tips to Create More Valuable Content
• How To Create Valuable Content With A Strong Voice
• 9 Tips for Creating Valuable Content: an Interview with Sharon Tanton
• 5 keys to creating valuable content

Now you know every aspect of running a successful social media campaign. So what are you waiting for? Take the knowledge you have gained and start growing your social media following, you will quickly notice how well these techniques work. Don’t be discouraged if you stumble along the way, you will gain experience and learn from any mistakes.

How did you like our go-to guide? Did we leave out anything important? Are there any questions you have?

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