Published on May 31, 2018 All Categories, Marketing

Introduction

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.

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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

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.


Chapter2. How To Boost Your Engagement With The Right Content Type

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:


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

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:


Chapter4. Why having an upload schedule is vital

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:


Chapter5. How to use paid advertising right

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.


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

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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.


Chapter7. Tools and software that can aid your growth

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.


Chapter8. How to network with influencers to increase your reach

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.


Chapter9. Achieving brand consistency

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.


Chapter10. Ensure your posts benefit your audience

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.


Conclusion

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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Mícheál Brennan

Mícheál Brennan

​Mícheál Brennan is a Marketing Manager. He likes creating content that is easy to consume and also builds relationships. In his spare time he likes to listen to marketing podcasts, study marketing information courses and complain about the weather. Mícheál also likes to use free graphic design software by Design Wizard such as Add Image To Video Online and Add Text To Image tools. ​