Whether you’ve just launched a new business or you’ve procrastinated in creating a branded social media presence, the thought of growing your follower base from zero can be fairly overwhelming. Not to worry: With the right strategy, it’s more than possible to begin at square one and still assemble a viable, meaningful audience on the social media channels of your choice.
Building an Organic Social Media Following: Best Practices
First and foremost, understand that there are no shortcuts here. While there are plenty of services where you can buy followers, these artificially inflated numbers won’t help your marketing efforts in the long run. And of course, any followers you buy will have little to no interest in the products and services you’re selling. They won’t be engaged customers and brand advocated; they’ll just be numbers on the screen.
Rather than buying followers, then, we recommend taking the organic approach. Here’s how.
1) Determine which platforms to be active on.
When you’re starting from scratch, the last thing you need is to stretch your time and resources across a dozen different social platforms. Instead, be strategic in selecting two or three platforms where your actual clients and customers tend to be active. This can vary from industry to industry and from business to business: B2B sellers usually fare well on LinkedIn, while products that have an aesthetic appeal may be easier to highlight on Instagram and Facebook.
2) Establish consistent branding.
To create a consistent brand experience, you’ll want to assemble a basic palette of colors, fonts, and images that you use across all your social profiles (along with your business experience). The goal is to create familiarity and continuity from one platform to the next, ensuring your users can immediately identify your branding wherever they see it.
3) Develop a content strategy.
Your social media followings will only grow if you provide your followers with fresh content on a regular basis. There’s not necessarily a magic number here, but as a rule of thumb, posting about once a day, three to five days a week, can be a good start.
Note that a good content strategy will draw from different types of content. Some examples can include:
- Sharing business blog posts
- Highlighting news from your company or industry
- Showcasing thought leadership by providing industry analysis
- Promoting user-generated content, like testimonials and reviews
- Highlighting your products via tutorials or demo videos
- Engaging with your audience via quizzes and polls
- Personalizing your brand with behind-the-scenes photos and videos
4) Follow other accounts.
Remember that social media is a two-way street! To build a following, you’ll want to follow some accounts yourself. Start by following some of the most relevant organizations, publications, and thought leaders from your field. For small businesses focused in a particular city or community, following local leaders or institutions can be impactful.
5) Engage your audience.
Another example of social media being a two-way street: As your presence grows, you’re likely to receive more and more questions and comments from customers or fans. It’s crucial to engage, and to flex your customer service muscles with helpful, thoughtful answers.
6) Keep tabs on your analytics.
As your social media activities progress, monitor your metrics. In particular, take note of the kinds of content that seem to generate the most engagement. This can provide guidance for future efforts.
Build Your Brand, One Follower at a Time
Following these guidelines is unlikely to result in a massive following overnight, but it can help you build momentum, steadily adding new followers who are genuinely engaged with your brand. Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact the digital marketing experts at Woland Web.
