Ways to Get Social Media Followers

While I am definitely an advocate of “quality” over “quantity” and “supporters” over “followers” when it comes to social media, you do still need some followers so you can turn them into supporters!

Despite all of this, 0ne of the number 1 questions I get asked as a marketing coach to Small Businesses is “How can I get more Followers?”. Because, after all, Followers can turn into Supporters who can turn into Customers who can turn into Advocates!

So here are some ideas for you.

1. Have an Appealing Profile

Is your Bio Description interesting? Or does it just say what everyone else’s says: what you do. Make it interesting and memorable!

What about your cover photo (FB), Header (twitter), last 9 Photos (Insta) and your Board Layout (Pinterest)? Do they truly represent your brand?

Also, use your name where you can! Yes, by all means, use your business name as your @ handle but introduce yourself too or if you provide a service, show your face in the profile picture. People love to connect with the person behind the brand.

2. Make sure your “Post” game is On Point

When someone first visits your profile they will make a decision pretty quickly if they are interested in what you have to offer. If all they are seeing is self-promotional posts then that is one way to turn them off. Instead, try to include more non-promotional posts that promotional ones. These could be behind-the-scenes pictures, great quotes, practical tips or sharing what others are doing well. Whatever your audience is interested in and whatever supports your brand.

3. Include Links to your Social Media on your Website

Sounds simple enough but amazing how many people skip this step. Or they do include them but they are hiding somewhere in the footer.

Make sure you add them to your About and Contact pages too!

4. Include Links to your Social Media in your Emails

Like the above, make sure you include all the links in your email footers. And not just in your “newsletter” but also in your normal email signature.

5. Encourage your Website Visitors to Share (And Make it Easy for them)

If someone is already on your site and loving what they are reading, whether it’s in your blog post or your product descriptions, make it easy for them to share. This could be share buttons at the bottom of the post or even better a pre-designed “click to tweet” and/or an easily pinnable image.

6. Ask customers to @ mention you in Tweets or Instagram showing them enjoying your products

When packaging your product for someone, include a little thank you note and ask them to share their enjoyment. If they do, you will reach their followers too!

7. Participate in Follow Threads in Facebook Groups

One of the best ways to get to get those first followers is to participate in follow threads in different facebook groups. If you can find the right groups, where your audience or businesses that offer complimentary products/services hang out, this can be a gold mine. And a great way to get to know people too. Sometimes this just does result in “following” for the sake of following or meeting the threads quota. But if you just want to have a number to start you off (or if your ideal customer truly hangs out there) then these threads are a great way to go.

 

8. Strategically & Generously Follow Other Accounts in your Niche

Please note I am not talking about automatic follow/unfollow methods. I’m talking about legitimately seeking out people that fit your audience or compliment you and following them. Then go beyond that and like, comment and on share their stuff. Not everyone will follow you back but a good number will. Even if you can find 5 people a day on your platform of choice.

If you are struggling to find people, have a look at who else is liking what you are liking. They will likely have similar interests to you.

9. Run a Competition or Giveaway

A brilliant way of gaining followers that are interested in what you do is to run a competition or giveaway that involves a requirement to follow you and to tag a friend. People love to enter these. A similar one is to arrange “loop giveaways” with a circle of Instagram friends that are in the same niche as you.

Then to cap it off try and personally message everyone who enters a special offer or another reason to want to hang around.

10. Use those Hashtags (Twitter & Insta)

Hashtags are how people find you in Instagram or Twitter if they are looking for accounts to follow in a certain niche. So make sure your include them. In Instagram try to go for the maximum of 30 (and place it in your first comment). For Twitter, less is better. Choose one really applicable hashtag for the tweet. Tweets with just one hashtag are 69% more likely to get more retweets than those with more.

11. Customise your “Name” (Pinterest)

Pinterest on the other hand searches for accounts and boards to follow by their titles. So don’t just use your name or your business name as your profile name. Include one or two main keywords. For example, include the word “Fitness” if you are a Personal Trainer or “Brand” if you are a Graphics Designer.

12. Participate in Facebook Groups

While the best way to participate in facebook groups is to be helpful rather than promotional, from time to time people will want to know more about you so they will ask, PM you or even just take a sneaky look at your personal profile (which should include a link to your business facebook page). By being genuine people will want to connect with you and these will be the best followers of all as they have already moved into the “supporter” camp.

13. For Twitter: Post Often

With Twitter, it really is a matter of the more you post the better. This is because people don’t always check twitter often and when they do they will only scroll through so many pages of posts. The same goes if someone is searching for a hashtag, they will only scroll so far. I personally was doubtful of this one but an experiment over just the last two days of me posting every two hours (with a hashtag in each post) has resulted in a 50% increase in followers. Not too bad!

14. Cross Promote across Platforms

Don’t be scared to mention your other social media platforms on the others! An easy way to catch a few more.

15. Write Guest Blogs (Even if you’re not a Blogger)

Blogs are now a very popular way for people to get information, and there are blogs on so many different topics you are sure to find one in your niche. If you sell to Mums especially (the biggest purchasers of any demographic), you can easily find “mummy bloggers” who might be happy for you to guest post for them or do a review of your product. Don’t be scared to ask!

16. Collaborate with Others in the Same Boat as You

Find complimentary businesses and approach them! Ask them if they want to do product swaps for your Instagram images so you can reach each others followers. Or find other ways to collaborate. Or even just share their stuff regularly. Business buddies will really help you to take things to the next level.

17. Join a Twitter Chat

Twitter chats are conversations based around a specific topic that happen at a certain time and everyone participating in the chat uses the same hashtag. If you can find one in your niche, this is another great way to be helpful and find people who have the same interests as you. Once again, it’s all about being helpful, not promotional.

What have you found most effective for getting followers for your business? Share your tips in the Comments below!

Want to know more? I’m in the middle of a post series on “Getting Social Media Savvy”.  Check out the other posts so far below and make sure you click here to get all the free worksheets that come with them!

10 Discoveries in Social Media for Small Business (A How to Guide to Effective Social Media without losing your Sanity or your Soul)

Top 5 Facebook Tips for Small Business

Top 5 Instagram Tips for Small Business