Whether you have a business Instagram page or Facebook site, LinkedIn profile or Twitter feed, chances are you’re constantly looking to grow your follower numbers. You’ll no doubt have received numerous e-mails from companies offering to achieve this for you – for a fee. It often includes one of two things – the first is they will ‘buy’ an audience for you. This is a big no-no if you want to keep your feed free of spam accounts and people who are not in the slightest bit interested. So here are a few tips on how to grow your social media presence organically.
How to grow your social media presence organically
Alternatively, they will use an algorithm to follow and un-follow multiple accounts, with the view that people will start to follow you back out of reciprocal interactions. This is dangerous ground to play on though, as it can frustrate your audience before you’ve even connected with them and make them feel like you don’t actually care about them personally. As such, many brands look to grow their social media presence organically.
So how can you do this?
Consistent posting
Firstly, there’s a lot to be said for consistent posting. Try to find a frequency that is manageable and post as often as you can. People will get used to seeing you pop up at regular intervals, and will start to interact with you. When people comment or engage with your posts, make an effort to respond to everyone who is engaging with you. Additionally, find accounts that are relevant to your business or industry, and start engaging with them. When leaving comments, try to leave messages that are thoughtful rather than something generic – this will make them more interested in replying or following in return.
Use hashtags
Next up, start using hashtags in your posts. This will help your audience find you naturally through shared interests or similar posts. You will also find cross-promoting other people’s accounts will help to boost your audience, and you can do this through sharing their posts or regramming their images. Make sure you credit the original source though, with a tag to them. This will make it clear you are not trying to take their content as your own, and may also see them do a similar post with a tag in return.
Include emojis
Include emojis in your description and hashtags, as these are a universal language, regardless of the country, that everyone can use when searching on Instagram. As an example, including the camera emoji in your biography on Instagram can be hugely beneficial for photographers. It also makes it really clear to people browsing quickly what you do, in case they’re not sure from your name alone.
Theme photos and posts
When producing content, find ways to make your photos and posts have a sense of a theme. The more cohesive and on-brand everything feels, the more chance people will start to engage with it and feel as though they understand who you are and what your message is. Integrate competitions and incentives into your content to get people sharing and tagging their friends, drawing them to your feed.
As well as having a clear bio that describes what you do, ensure your social media handle relates to your business so it is clear for people to find you. Anything cryptic will go unseen. You should also make sure you have your website link in your About section, as this will help to turn social contacts into sales leads.
How to grow your social media presence organically – where to get more help
We can take the pain out of managing your social media channels. Find out about our social media management services here.
We can help you turn your website visitors into active leads, including those from your social channels, with a 14-day free trial – find out more here.
