How To Grow Social Media Followers – The 7 Easiest and Most Effective Ways

Are you trying to determine how to grow social media followers? With the right strategy and the right tips, it’s possible to increase your followers on any social platform dramatically. Here are some simple and effective ways to build a large, engaged community of followers to engage with your business audience.

How many of your followers see your current social media posts?

First of all, you need to understand who is currently viewing your posts. This is a question that many social media marketers ask themselves. The answer is not as straightforward as you might think.

• Facebook is the most popular social media platform and has over 2 billion active users.
  
• Twitter has 330 million users
  
• Instagram has 400 million active users.

It’s no secret that these platforms have become extremely competitive platforms. With thousands of businesses competing for the same limited attention, it can be difficult to get your content seen by the right people.

Each of these platforms’ business models is to attract viewers and keep them on their platform.

This means that they try to make the experience as pleasant (and as addictive) as possible. Their algorithms adjust what is displayed on their feeds in order to keep their users engaged.

If every user saw EVERY post from every one of their ‘friends’ or ‘connections’, they would be inundated with a lot of information that they may not want to see. That is why the platforms filter the feeds to just those posts that the user might enjoy, based on past engagement.

So, when you publish a post on any of these platforms, only a small percentage of followers will see it in their feed. This number can be affected by various factors such as:

• The content you post
• The type of post (photo, video or text)
• Your engagement rate (likes and comments) for that particular post
• Past engagement rates

It is said that most Facebook posts reach around 6% of your total followers and sometimes less. This Facebook reach number represents a unique view.

And for a business-focused platform like LinkedIn, the average engagement rate is 3.16% in 2022, although this rate increases when video is used.

How to Grow Social Media Followers for Business

For the reasons we have mentioned above, you want to post those images and messages that are most relevant to your audience on a consistent basis. Here are some strategies for doing just that.

1. Focus on a specific topic or niche

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when creating their social blogs is posting about everything under the sun and trying to appeal to everyone at once. This leads to a lack of focus in their posts and makes them seem unprofessional or amateurish. Instead of trying too hard to appeal to everyone at once, pick one specific topic or niche that your blog focuses on and stick with it!

2. Share quality content

Quality content is the best way to get people to follow and engage with you on social media. Don’t just post anything for the sake of posting; instead, focus on providing engaging and informative posts that will encourage followers to interact with you. Additionally, make sure to use relevant hashtags and visuals to further draw in your desired audience.(see below)

3. Post consistently

If you want to increase your number of followers, then it’s essential that you post regularly and consistently. Having an active presence on the platform will let followers know that your content is worth seeing and encourages them to come back for more. Aim to post at least once or twice a day, while paying attention to the quality of your posts as opposed to just quantity.

4. Use high-quality images

Most people don’t realize just how much impact an image or video can have on the success of a post.

You can use images from professional photographers and videographers. Or you can take them yourself. Either way, make sure they are high-quality images that will help draw people in and make them want more.

The other thing that matters is the caption that goes along with the photo. Your caption should be short and sweet, but also interesting enough to make people want to click on the link in order to learn more about what’s going on in the picture or video.

5. Use engaging and popular hashtags

One of the best ways to grow your following is by using hashtags – #. Hashtags are a way to connect with people who have similar interests and goals as you, or who may be interested in learning more about what you do. You can also use hashtags to find new people who are posting content related to yours.

Spend some time ‘listening’ to other people’s and/or companies’ posts to see if there are trending hashtags that you might be interested in using.

Also, consider referring to involved companies or individuals that are part of the story, as there is a greater chance that their followers will see your post. Most platforms use the @ symbol to link to companies and individuals.

6. Use the platform tools to invite your network to follow you

To grow your social media following, you need to use the tools that are available to you on the site. Most social media platforms have tools that help you to invite your friends and family to follow you by sending them a link.

7. Offer incentives or promotions for following you

Incentives and promotions are a great way to get people interested in following you on social media. Offer special deals or discounts to followers and make sure they know about it by publicizing the promotion on your channel. Not only will this draw more attention, but it will also reward current followers and encourage them to stay engaged with your content.

At a bare minimum, make sure that links to your social media appear clearly on your website, email signature and other communication pieces. Invite your contacts to follow your social media channels to get the ‘latest’ news and information on your business and the marketplace.

Start Growing Your Social Media Followers!

A strong understanding of your target audience and the right social media channels are key to learning how to grow social media followers.

Of course, all of the social media platforms that we are discussing allow you to promote a post to reach a wider audience. As your marketing budget allows, you can certainly test some promotional avenues on one or more of the social media platforms. But, in this article, we are focusing on organic growth.

Using this knowledge, you can easily grow your social media presence by starting out small and growing organically as you develop more content that fits the needs of your audience.