35 simple ways to grow your social media following

I am a self confessed social media geek. I love using it, reading articles on it and I also train people on it, showing them how it will help grow their business. I now have over 90,000 followers across all businesses through using many tried and tested ways of which I am going to share some with you today.

But before we start, on top of all these ideas there are a few ground rules you need to follow on your social accounts.

E-ngage with everyone, answer their questions, like their comments – make them feel valued

N-egativity sucks so no bitching nor sharing too much information!

G-ive consistancy throughout all your social channels by providing the same tone of voice and type of content.

A-lways be polite and offer great customer service at all times

G-ain insights on who they are – age, sex, interests etc, as this will help you to write targeted content. Use your analytics to help you write content for them not just for you!

E-very follower matters even if it’s only 100 that you have. 100 loyal fans is worth more than 1000 unengaged ones.

 

So here are some of my simple ideas to grow your following for your blog or business that you could start today.

1. Be original – with your content and your images.
2. Ask questions – get them to engage by giving you their views
3. Post original photographs – don’t fill your feed with other people’s work and never pass it off as your own. A link back isnt enough if the photographer has not granted you permission.
4. Be consistent – share the same type of content at the same time of day, everyday
5. Share old content – new followers will love to read what you wrote 3 years ago
6. Share other people’s work – Facebook loves you sharing others posts and your followers will love that it’s not always about you. Share the original though so it’s clear that it’s not yours.
7. Hold competitions – entice them to want to follow you, but not too many as this can shout desperation!
8. Share buttons on your blog – add share or follow buttons onto your blog at the base of posts.
9. Link buttons on your website – and of course add them to the side bar
10. Create a video – they will LOVE to see what you are up to and get a better glimpse into your world.
11. Use relevent hashtags – research which hashtags work best for you and always add them as this is how people can find you.
12. Follow similar businesses and talk to them – it’s all about networking after all.
13. Post frequently – every day, twice a day. You can of course post more than this but be careful on Facebook as can look spammy.
14. Share your story – everyone wants to know about the person behind the brand.
15. Create Pinterest boards of your work – everything you do, write about or create should be on Pinterest with a link to your site.
16. Post content on Linked In – don’t forget Linked In. Share your work here too
17. Embrace every new social channel – whether you want to or not, register your name on every channel as and when they launch. You never know which one is going to be the next big thing.
18. Make yourself human – no robot like status updates please; be funny, be yourself, be topical, be human
19. Guest blog on other sites with links – get yourself on others sites to be seen by more people but remember to share this on your own social sites.
20. Use nostalgia – everyone loves to remember the good old days
21. Talk differently on each site – Don’t link every site together as your tone of voice should alter slightly for each place. Be slow and descriptive on Facebook, be snappy and clever on Twitter.
22. Treat Instagram like your magazine – every image must be magazine worthy!
23. Discuss trending stories – be current with the correct hashtags
24. Comment on other peoples updates – engagement is not just about your site, go chat on other peoples  too.
25. Share your pages on other sites – Share your URL with people where it feels appropriate to do so such as Facebook groups. Don’t be spammy!
26. Try Facebook adverts – probably the BEST adverts you can use are Facebook linked to Instagram adverts as you can target your audience perfectly.
27. Create a content strategy – have a plan in place!
28. Use the same names on all your pages – use the same name on all social sites where possible
29. Consistent branding on all of them – use the same branding on all of them!
30. Update your bio – make sure your bio is up to date on all sites with the correct URL.
31. Make your content useful – create content that people need
32. Include your pages on your business card – your social sites should be on all your marketing material
33. Place links on your email signature – create a signature on your email with key social urls.
34. Join Twitter hours/Tweet Ups – join in social Twitter hours to engage…but not too many posts about yourself please!
35. Join Snapchat NOW – and reveal the behind the scenes action of your business

These of course are just some of what you can do! For more ideas and in depth strategies get in touch and see how I can help you and your social media! I offer one to one coaching as well as actually doing it for other businesses!

Kate x