When you use social media correctly, you can build up a large and strong following for your brand. That can mean increased traffic to your website, more sales conversions, and greater brand awareness that can help you pull ahead of competitors in your industry.
But it’s not easy building up a social media following. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating and sharing content. You need to make sure you’re choosing the right social media platforms for your business, and that you have a unique content strategy for each of them. You should take the time to get to know your target audience on social media, post on a consistent schedule, engage with your followers and collaborate with microinfluencers to drive more traffic to your brand.
Choose the Right Social Media Platforms for Your Brand
Social media platforms have definitely diversified since their emergence in the mid-aughts. If you want to build up a social media following, you have a number of platforms to choose from.
Choose the right channels to reach your target audience. Consider which platforms your competitors are using – they’re using them for a reason, after all. You should also consider where your target audience hangs out. Are they Millennials? They’re probably on Instagram. Gen Z? Probably on TikTok.
Of course, most audiences are going to be using multiple social media platforms. Choose one that makes sense for your brand. If your brand is very visual, visual platforms like Facebook and Instagram make sense. If your brand isn’t very visual, a microblogging platform like X or a forum-based platform like Reddit might be the better choice.
Develop a Different Content Strategy for Each Social Media Platform
Each social media platform you decide to make content for needs a different content strategy. Once you’ve chosen the platforms that make the most sense for your business, you can use social listening tools to see what competitors are posting on your favorite platforms. Then you can create similar content to attract users to your brand.
Understand Your Target Audience
You can’t expect to build a meaningful following on social media if you don’t know what your target audience wants. Do careful market research to determine things like the age and gender of your target audience, what kinds of things they buy, and what personality traits they have. Then you can craft content that is designed to appeal to them.
Post Frequently and Consistently
Here’s where the work of building a following on social media really starts to kick in. You have to post engaging content regularly and consistently in order to not only attract followers, but keep them around. If you’re not posting consistently, followers will lose interest in your channel and eventually seek more interesting pastures. Post frequently to drive engagement and increase visibility.
It’s best to use a social media posting calendar so you can schedule posts in advance. Some companies even schedule their social media posts months ahead of time! Find a good company for SEO services in Phoenix to help you not only create content, but manage audience engagement as well.
Engage with Your Followers
In addition to studying your audience and creating content for your social media channels, you must also take the time to engage with your followers. That means replying to comments, reviews, and direct messages promptly. If a review or comment is negative, try to take the conversation into direct messages where it can be resolved privately. Remember that many of your customers will turn to social media with questions and complaints, which is why it’s becoming increasingly important for brands to be available on these channels.
Enlist the Help of Microinfluencers
Sixty-one percent of people are more likely to trust product endorsements from “people like them” instead of from celebrities, which is why working with microinfluencers can be such a powerful tool for driving traffic to your social media profiles. Microinfluencers with less than 50,000 followers tend to have higher engagement levels than macroinfluencers with hundreds of thousands of followers or more. Microinfluencers are more likely to connect with more of their followers on a personal level, which can inspire their audiences to trust them more.
If you’re looking to build up a following on social media, you need to be willing to roll up your sleeves and put in the work. Building a large social media following isn’t easy, but it’s the right thing to do to promote your brand and products in this day and age.