For brands, just having a large following is no longer enough to guarantee social media success. The following must be actively engaged and support your every move.
Social agency are now tasked with finding and accumulating new audiences who actively engage with material, spread it across their networks and eventually to paying customers. A brand can have thousands of followers, but if they’re not reading messages or clicking on links, it becomes hard for them to disseminate information about campaigns, fresh initiatives and novel goods/services.
If you are a brand looking to grow your social media audience, then keep reading!
Use hashtags to get found
Effectively using hashtags can fall under two categories: to follow trends and to participate in relevant trending topics and current affairs.
Use trending hashtags sparingly and strategically – such as #OOTD (outfit of the day) or #TBT (throwback Thursday). To find hashtags relevant to your content and audience, try hashtags.org or hashtagify.me.
Share posts with hashtags that you believe your followers will be interested in. For example, you could share an inspiring tale using the hashtag #MondayMotivation. Those who actively seek out that specific hashtag will stumble across your profile and might want to explore your brand further.
Be entertaining, use humour to engage
Brands who display a little humanity and humour tend to be those who do well. However, you should ensure that any content you are posting makes sense for your specific audience; don’t just post/share something because it’s funny.
Change your profile photos
No one wants to connect with a logo on social media. Personalise and humanise each of your channels by incorporating striking, memorable images into your banners and as your profile photo. Use these visual aids to illustrate the results of your labour and experiences of the people who profit from your assistance.
Consider switching these up once a month or so and remember to use the proper social media image sizes for each platform.
Share more videos
In a climate where short-form video prevails, sharing more video content is almost a guaranteed hit with old and new followers.
Instead of uploading a video link to an external website, upload the video directly onto the platform. This way, people are more likely to stumble across it and the large number of views will boost your brand’s reach, engagement and exposure.
Include a visual with every post
Just like videos, visuals perform well on social media.
According to HubSpot, content with pictures increases views by 94% compared to those without visuals. Visual content is almost 40 times more likely to be shared on social media.
Tools like Canva are great for designing and incorporating visual elements into your content.
Be proactive in listening and responding to your community
Did you know that 71% of Twitter users and 83% of Facebook fans expect a response from a brand within a day of raising a query?
Being responsive on social media will ensure your followers feel heard and is likely to turn them into devoted social media ambassadors. Pay attention to what they need and give it to them.
Explore paid social
Setting aside a small amount of your budget to pay for sponsored advertisement is one of the best ways to increase awareness and expand your audience. Allocating ad expenditure, no matter how small, is often the key to social media success by helping you promote your content and boost conversions.
Host contests
This is an effective way to keep existing fans interested in your page, while also encouraging new people to like and follow your page(s). Types of contests to host are as follows:
- Comment to win
- Contest for captions: i.e, best caption in the comments wins
- Photo contest
- Fill-in-the-blank contest: again, in the comments section
- Multiple choice contest
Running one of these contests should look like this:
Promote it everywhere: To encourage involvement, use your mailing lists, website and other social media platforms.
Only give away prizes relevant to your brand.
Follow the platform rules: check the platforms website out for Ts&Cs.
Follow up with entrants who don’t win: thank them for their participation along with something about your brand’s work/organisation.
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