In our previous blog ‘Social Media; why you should be present on more than one platform‘ we discussed the benefits of being present on various platforms of social media. So we thought it would be a great opportunity to hone in on how to boost your social following.
You can adopt many different strategies and tactics to increase your social media following. At Viewpoint Digital Media in Ocean Grove, we know that some of these digital strategies cost money and others will simply require you to invest some time and creativity!
During this very unusual time in our lives we, as consumers (and business owners), are ALL spending more and more time online – looking for solutions to our new and existing problems. So now is NOT the time to let your digital presence fade; it’s time to focus and build on the foundation you have already created.
Here are our team’s TOP 10 TIPS (plus a sneaky bonus one) for increasing your social following:
1 – Be regular and consistent
Don’t drop off the planet or get complacent right now; stay in front of your audience and look for opportunities to expand your reach. Whether you’re doing business as usual, doing things a little differently or you’ve shut up shop for a little while – keep talking, engaging and sharing with your audience so you are always front of mind.
2 – Be social
Don’t just post messages. Participate in conversations. Interact with your followers – encourage questions, answer online enquiries, comment, like and follow other businesses, organisations, groups and individuals you follow (particularly local) and engage in what’s happening around you.
3 – Make the most of your bio
Social platforms allow for a snippet of information within your business profile/bio so use it wisely and update it often. Link to new blogs/articles on your website (not just your homepage). Unfortunately, Instagram only allows you to display one link in your bio so utilise outside apps like Linktree that provide a landing page with multiple links! Keep the content up-to-date and list relevant info.
4 – Add valued engaging content
Think before you post! Are you posting because ‘you have to’ or because you have something of value to add? What will your followers gain from your post? Entertainment, information, inspiration, promotion? Remember not every post has to be a ‘salesy’ post either.
5 – Create your own style
Think about the language and tone of voice that you use. Think about the images you choose – how will these look in your Instagram flow? Do all of your posts work together – do they all look or sound similar? Is there a common thread with enough variation?
6 – Love where you live/work
Get involved with local events, activities and initiatives whether it’s online or in person and build your network. Be authentic, be genuine, be supportive and be seen. On Instagram, this is a great opportunity to tag other accounts relevant to your post – for example, if you’re a Geelong based business tag @lovecentralgeelong, not only is it going to get the attention of that account but it also means your post will show in their “tagged” feed, gaining you more exposure.
7 – Hashtags
#IRL hashtags aren’t just trendy words you add to the end of your post for fun! These are searchable, trending terms you want to be associated with. If you create your own #mybusinessisawesome style hashtag – use it everywhere! Online, on packaging, in print, on coffee cups, on staff uniforms – everywhere, so your followers/customers start to use it too. You can even include it in your bio!
8 – Calls to action
Don’t forget them! The purpose of most marketing messaging is to encourage an action to be taken – call me, visit my site, follow me on Facebook, order from my online store, save the date, join my mailing list – so keep it simple and tell your audience what you want them to do.
9 – Make life easy
We’re all after the quickest, easiest way to complete a task. So make life easy for your social audience – tell them how to do what you want them to do. Include a link to your website in your post, list your phone number, give them an option to share your post, use a hashtag – Keep It Simple!
10 – Use all the tools at your disposal
Whatever channels you have access to (website, social media pages, email database, etc.) use them ALL. You don’t need to create all new content for each channel, you can tweak one piece of valuable content and use it differently across your options. For example – if you wrote a killer blog you could:
- Upload it to your website to boost your SEO and improve your search results,
- Create social posts about it to direct followers back to your website to read it,
- Turn it into a podcast,
- Offer workshops to expand on the idea and offer training,
- Use it in an EDM to your database and drive traffic to your social pages and/or website.
Bonus tip!
The algorithm these days can be a hard one to work around, so just like tip #10, use all the tools Instagram provides to your benefit. When you upload a new post, be sure to share it to your story indicating it’s a new post and attracting your followers to check it out. Instagram isn’t just a picture sharing platform anymore either; video is loved by the algorithm, utilise that – whether it’s making a reel or using a video rather than an image for your post.
Remember to be consistent with your social media marketing and messaging, and work smarter not harder.
Help with your online presence
Now if all of these tips are sounding awesome and you can totally nail them all – that’s super! However, if you need some additional support and guidance or would like to talk about your wider digital marketing strategy, our Bellarine based team at Viewpoint Digital Media are here to help. Give us a call on 0432 049 330 or reach out via our Connect With Us page and let’s get to work!
