Building a social media following will take some time and effort; however, you can do it at the office, at home or even sitting on your couch. Here are ten ways to build your social media following if you’re just starting out or if you want to increase the number followers you have on your various social media platforms.
- Provide an excellent photo, bio and profile. All social media sites allow you to include some profile information about yourself. Make sure your profiles and bios include a good combination of who you are and what you do but don’t try to ‘hard sell’! Include a recent photo of yourself – a nice close-up of you alone, a head and shoulders shot is ideal, else your photo will look like a small dot on any mobile devices.
- Cross-link and promote. Let the people who are on Facebook know your Twitter username and the people on Twitter find your Facebook page. Do the same on LinkedIn and any other social media sites on which you have chosen to promote yourself. Don’t forget to include a link back to your website.
- Put your Twitter username and Facebook page URL and website URL everywhere. Add the URL to your business card, your email signature, the sign outside your business, everywhere where you have information about you. Let everyone know where they can find you on social media sites.
- Give back. If people like you; then like them back. If they follow you; follow them and if they endorse you; endorse them too. Acknowledge in some way that they have connected with you. Do make sure though that you are liking or linking to people that are sympathetic or at least compatible to your industry or brand.
- Be human. Use your own identity rather than your brand or logo or a cartoon to represent you. On Twitter, it is often the people behind the business rather than the businesses themselves which have more followers. You can link your business page on Facebook to your website. Also, connect with other people who have other businesses as this can help you to establish a rapport and even talk about or even promote each other’s businesses.
- Use photos. Photos capture people’s attention. However make sure they are good quality and appropriate for your audience. They can be equally effective on your Facebook posts and in your Twitter tweets as well. Well-chosen photos can be sometimes more effective than writing a large amount of text. Do make sure you have the correct permissions or rights to use the image, and that they are not simply ‘taken’ from someone else’s website.
- Look for new developments. Every social media site is constantly evolving and trying to remain fresh and innovative in what it’s delivering to its users. As a result, there are always new options that are being released which you can benefit from, increase your following and grow your brand. You may not use all the features that the social media site offers but it’s worthwhile to stay current and up-to-date on the latest developments.
- Put some time aside. While you may not be online all the time, set some dedicated time aside to make your presence felt on your social media channels. You need to take some time to make valuable comments to your followers so that they feel loved and appreciated. It takes time to think of something worthwhile to say. Consider sharing (and elaborating on) a few relevant updates from your business profiles to the ‘inner circle’ on your personal profiles.
- Monitor what’s working and what isn’t. Regardless which social media platform you’re using, if you are developing a following and building your brand then you need to have a way to measure how effective you are. If you are posting comments and re-tweeting messages but you aren’t getting any responses you might need to change your strategy. If you find that many people like your Facebook business page and you don’t find any response to your Twitter page – then focus your efforts instead on your Facebook page. Use tools like Facebook Insights to find out where your likes are coming from – you may find you have a different demographic of followers on each platform.
- Be interesting. If you are interesting and compelling, then people will engage with you. If you are boring, they won’t. Write your posts or tweets carefully. Give your followers an interesting story, something original or uplifting to make them feel good so that they want to come back and read more. Cute pictures of cats or ‘epic fails’ may get a lot if shares – but are they relevant to your business? You need to find a balance that works.
