With your target audience spending hours every day on social media platforms, there is every reason to build strategies to grow your followers. However, it requires much more than just positing something on a daily basis. You will have to connect with people who have huge fan following, post and share high-quality content, and do lots more. Here are 4 essential strategies that you should use to building your genuine follower base.
1. Connect with Influencers
This is a proven strategy to drive more people to follow you. These can be brands or thought leaders in your niche and your goal will be to target their followers. This user base comprises of followers who are relevant to your niche, making them your target audience. This makes it one of the best strategies to get real instagram followers.
- Create a list of influencers and brands in your niche and follow and interact with them
- When you come across speakers at conferences and events, follow them on their social media accounts
- Interact with influencers about events and niche developments to increase the chances of getting mentioned
- Tag favorite influencers in relevant posts
2. Share/Post Quality Content
This is the most basic and essential strategy if you want to maintain a great social media presence and following. Posting quality content on a regular basis helps in building your brand as a thought leader in your niche.
- Post your own content from time to time
- Share content from other sources in your niche that provide value to your followers
- Be creative by including images, videos, and gifs in your content
Creating rich content makes your posts more enticing. It is important to share both text and visually appealing content. Using live video feature can help connect better with your target audience. According to studies, users spend 3 times more time watching live videos compared to pre-recorded videos. Such videos give you an opportunity to speak directly to your audience.
When it comes to creating content, there is specific emphasis on not always posting your own content.
- It is recommended to follow the 70-20-10 rule when posting social media content
- The posted content should build your brand and add value to your brand 70% of the time
- 20% of the posts should be about others or your industry (such as news)
- Only 10% of the posts should be promoting your brand
3. Post at the Right Time
Social media is a flexible and versatile online environment. People, based on their lifestyle, work, demographics, and other factors, use different social media sites at different times. So if you want to reach your target audience at the right time with your message, you should post at the most productive time. Some of the best times to post on the top 3 social networks are as follows:
- Facebook: The highest average CTR on the largest social network is between 1pm and 4pm, with Wednesdays having the peak time at 3pm.
- Instagram: It is recommended to post between 2pm and 3pm, with the engagement levels being different for different days. Thursday is considered the best day to post on this photo-sharing platform, at 5am, 11am and 4pm.
- Twitter: It is recommended to post content at 5am from Tuesday to Friday. On weekends, it is best to post at 11am.
When you post content on each platform, you can have access to analytics and insights that provides you more accurate details on what is the best time for you to post. Keep gathering the data and evaluate it on a regular basis from time to time.
4. Strategic use of Hashtags
When it comes to posting content on Instagram, it is the most important platform for using hashtags. There are endless hashtag opportunities that allows you to reach more of your target audience with your content.
When you use hashtags relevant to your content and niche, it helps connect better with your target audience. The result is an increase in number of followers.
It is also recommended to run social media contests from time to time to boost your followers.
