10 Tactics to Win More Genuine Social Media Followers
By 2020 eConsulting
Most people would not admit to being obsessed with follower numbers. But, if you are honest, you probably do check daily how many new people have subscribed to your feed. However, the number of followers is not an indication of success on a social media account. After all, anyone can click follow and then never revisit the account.
To be a social media success, you need genuine followers who read and interact with your posts. And you are not going to get those by buying social media followers. Sure, boosting the numbers with fake followers might encourage some genuine people to follow suit. But none of those fake followers will ever buy anything from you or share any of your posts.
Working day and night to produce great content will get you noticed eventually. But, if you are impatient to see your following grow, what else can you do to get the ball rolling? Here are ten tips to help you gain a long list of genuine social media followers.
1. Follow Genuine Relevant Accounts
The first thing to do to gain followers is to become a selective follower yourself. Avoid the temptation to embark on a follow-frenzy, though, following as many random accounts as you can in the shortest amount of time. Instead, seek out genuine, active users who are relevant to your niche. Follow influencers and follow the best of the people who have subscribed to the influencers. In some cases, you will get a reciprocal follow from the accounts that you select. Following genuine contributors in your niche will also provide you with a pool of valuable people you can interact with. And it will keep you up to date with what is trending in your niche.
2. Join Groups and Social Communities
Joining and being active in a group is another excellent way to gain new social media followers. Remember, though, the way to court followers in a group is to contribute to the discussion. So, try to add something that other members will find helpful. Groups can also be another source of contacts for you to follow. Look out for members of relevant groups that regularly make valuable contributions and add them to your following list. They may follow you back, and they will also lead you to other members you might want to follow.
3. Use Hashtags Wisely
Using hashtags on your posts will likely gain you more followers. However, it is not a good idea to try to piggyback on unrelated hashtags. It is also best to consider the possible alternative meanings of hashtags before you use them. Always research a hashtag before you add it to a post. If you pick a hashtag with negative connotations, it could be highly embarrassing. And you could lose some followers by associating your brand with a negative hashtag.
4. Maintain a Regular Presence
If you abandon social media, your followers will leave you. After all, why would anyone continue to follow an account that appears to be inactive? You need to post new content regularly if you want to win new social media followers. And you must actively engage with the community. The purpose of following any account is that you want to see more posts from that user. If posts on an account dry up, people will unfollow and look for someone new to follow.
5. Engage
As mentioned above, posting is essential if you want to attract followers. However, posting alone is not going to be enough. It is relatively easy to automate social media posts via a feed from your bog or an automated news aggregator. However, social media users are not interested in what an app or a bot has to say. Social media users want genuine interaction with real people. So, you will need to spend time engaging with other users on social media as well as posting. Commenting and resharing content identifies you as a genuine person. But it would be a mistake to share a few random posts every day. Instead, look for posts with value and add a comment of your own before you share.
6. Answer Questions
Answering questions will gain people's trust and showcase your knowledge. And people are more likely to follow the knowledgeable contributors on social media. So, pitch in with an answer if you see a relevant question raised. Or you could search for relevant questions on sites like Quora and post a response with a link back to your social media profile. If you keep an eye on your competitors' accounts, you might find that they have failed to answer questions posed to them. If that is the case, you might want to jump in with an answer of your own.
7. Share News and Trending Topics
If you become a source of industry news in your sector, more people will want to follow you. So, don't restrict yourself to only posting original content. Share and comment on relevant content from other accounts too. Opinion pieces, data-backed posts, and breaking news items are the most likely types of content to be shared. But be careful that you don't share any controversial opinions that may damage your brand.
8. Promote Your Social Media Accounts
Some people who visit your website may prefer to follow you on social media rather than subscribe to a mailing list. So, it will win you more followers if you promote your social media accounts in a prominent position on your site. It will also help if you display recent posts on your site to give visitors an idea of what they can gain by following you. Some of your existing email subscribers may also be interested in your social media presence. So, consider sending an email to subscribers encouraging them to follow you on social media. You can also increase followers by cross-promoting accounts across social media platforms.
9. Become Worthy of a Follow
People follow brands for a variety of reasons. Some people may love the content; others may merely be on the lookout for special offers. However, it is becoming more and more common for people to consider a brand's values before supporting it in any way. So, it is no longer sufficient only to advertise products and provide a reasonable service. Consumers, especially millennials, want to support brands with which they feel a connection. So, if you're going to attract loyal millennials, your brand must stand for something more than making money. Brands that support a social cause, for example, will attract like-minded followers. So, if you can find a way to demonstrate social responsibility, you will improve your chances of attracting followers.
10. Be Real and Graceful
You are communicating with real people when you post or comment on social media. So, avoid sounding too officious, and avoid excessive use of cut and paste comments and responses. If you get any negative comments or feedback, take on the chin and try to emphasize with the commenter. Wining followers on social media is like making new friends, and you won't make many friends if you are boring or rude. So keep it real, and play nice!
Conclusion
Most of the above points could be summed by saying that you need to be genuine on social media and contribute to the community. To gain followers, you must be real, follow and interact with other people in your niche, and post valuable content. You can buy social media followers. But just like in real life, you can never buy genuine friends.
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