Struggling to gain traction on Facebook, Instagram and other social media? Check out our definitive guide on how to get more social media followers in 2020.

How To Get More Social Media Followers In 2020

Today, there are numerous places that people live online that aren’t just Facebook. From LinkedIn to Snapchat to TikTok, there are numerous social media platforms where people spend their time.

Naturally, brands from all over the world flock to these social media networks for two things: followers and engagement. When a brand has both of these things, it’s social proof that 1) they are a trusted business with many happy customers, 2) their products are high-quality and useful.

To increase follower count and create a natural lift in engagement, brands need to create a holistic social media strategy, inclusive of profile setup, content, links, shares and hashtags. Take a look at some tips on how to grow social media followers and create meaningful interactions with your audience.

How to Increase Social Media Followers: Step-by-Step

Note: Before diving into our guide, we want you to take a step back and audit your current social media profiles. Here are some questions to ask:

    •  What social network is the highest priority based on where your audience lives?
    •  Where is your engagement the highest?
    •  What networks do you wish to see improvement in terms of follower count?
    •  Are there neglected profiles on other sites with outdated information?

Ideally, you’ll have built a spreadsheet where you have everything listed (or you have a third-party tool like SocialReport.com or Sprout Social that helps you track your social media interactions and traffic) that will keep this information organized.

Let’s get started. Here’s a simple step-by-step plan to start your strategic approach for increasing your social media following.

1. Focus on Networks Where Your Audience Is Active

It takes a lot of time and energy to consistently deliver content and optimize your social media profiles, so unless you have a team of social media managers and specialists, it’s best to focus your efforts on the channel where you currently have good engagement or where your competitors are receiving the most engagement.

This doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t have profiles on other networks. In fact, you should create business profiles on other networks and obtain control of your social media handles, if they’re still available. But, to kick off your strategy, you’ll want to focus on 1 or 2 social media networks that mean the most to your business.

Not sure what social network is best? Here are some tips to figure it out:

    • Use Google Analytics to see what social media sites refer the most traffic to your website
    • Look at your competitors and see what networks provide them the most engagement relative to their following.
    • Search hashtags related to your industry on each network to see the number of posts and likes.
    • Search influencers within your niche to see where they are most active.

Most likely, your most active followers are on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. However, if you are in a lifestyle niche, you may also want to look at Pinterest. And, if videos are important to your brand, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok may be the social media channels to prioritize when engaging your audience.

2. Optimize Your Social Media Profile for Follows

To start, you should look at your profile page and make sure that all the information is updated and correct. Specifically, you’ll want to ensure that you have the following:

    • Branded username and profile URL (@yourbrand)
    • Recognizable profile photo, such as your logo
    • Clear, short, and customer-friendly description of your business
    • Trackable link back to your website
    • Branded cover photo
    • Keywords in your description, posts, hashtags, and so on

Make sure that any on social media user can easily pick out your brand when conducting a search in Google and navigating to your site directly!

All businesses on social media should optimize their brand styles for an “omnichannel presence” online. This means that when you compare your business profile on social media to your website, you are consistently promoting the same brand look and products.

So, check for consistent contact information, branding, tone, content and product offers. Just starting out? You may want to look into social media branding templates to help deliver a consistent look throughout your profile and posts.

3. Create Engaging Content and Post Regularly

Optimizing your profile is just the first step. The next step is a bit more time-consuming and may require that you designate a content creator or social media manager to elevate your content marketing to the next level.

Content is king on social media. It’s always been that way.

There are millions of brands on these platforms, and the ones that exceed post content that isn’t salesy (and cringeworthy). They’re also taking things ten steps further and not just posting  – they’re replying to followers, as well!

Create Better Content

To create the best content, you’ll need to go back to your audience personas and think about what your audience is looking for. From there, create a list of topics and post ideas that are guaranteed to interest your audience.

Here are some good places to start:

    •  What is your audience’s intent when they search for a product?
    •  What other brands and influencers do they follow on social media?
    •  What are those brands and influencers posting about?
    •  What’s trending in your niche that they should know about?
    •  What hashtags would they follow to find your content?

Along with that, depending on your brand, it may make sense to post content that has nothing to do with your industry. For example, Arby’s has a long track record on social media of posting cardboard art taken from their packaging in-store.

While this has nothing to do with the food they sell, it resonates with their target audience. Creating this type of content not only gains them new followers but also increases engagement and boosts their social media presence.

Focus on Images and Videos

The top social networks are very visual, and studies have found that visual content (like videos and images) gets the most engagement, especially when it comes to Facebook posts and Instagram posts.

Take a look at your profile feeds and see the types of images and videos you’re promoting. Do they relate to your audience’s interest? Do they instantly capture your attention?

When choosing visuals and other content for your page, consider the following:

    •  Make your followers laugh
    •  Look for symmetry in photos
    •  Focus on one subject at a time
    •  Capture the small details
    •  Don’t cover up your visuals with text
    •  When using text, say something meaningful and use a branded font
    •  Showcase interesting perspectives
    •  Highlight exclusive, behind-the-scenes content.

Set a Posting Schedule and Engage Every Day

Set up automation for your posts through scheduling and track all engagement. Whenever your brand is mentioned, you should be able to comment or even showcase user-generated content about your brand. This is where it helps to have a third-party social management tool like Buffer, SocialReport.com or Sprout Social, (all of which can show you this information in real-time).

The type of content you post can vary, as well, based on your vertical. If your business focuses on consultancy, it may make sense to do some blogging on your site and regularly post about those blogs on social. However, if you’re a fast-casual restaurant, it may make sense to exclusively post images on your accounts.

Ideally, you should post every day. Most brands post 2 to 3 times per day, depending on which network it is. And, once you start posting regularly, you’ll get a feel for the days when people interact more.

All that posting means that it’s also a good idea to create an editorial content calendar. From a content calendar, you can track your content from week to week, add new ideas, add hashtags and track your posting schedule.

Also, make sure you’re creating content for the “Stories” sections of each social media platform on top of your normal feed. Instagram Stories is a major example, and it’s a way for you to quickly get in front of your followers. Along with that, if you set up a live video, the algorithm of each platform is likely to push it up at the top of people’s feeds.

Use Hashtags That Are Relevant

For any good social media marketing strategy, your posts and captions should have at least 1-2 relevant hashtags. You can find the most relevant ones using tools like best-hashtags.com.

Many brands just getting started will have over 10 hashtags. While a few per post are fine, it can be a bit overbearing when you have so many in your Facebook post. Whatever you do, don’t add these directly to your caption. There are ways to hide hashtags that will help tidy up your posts and make them easier to read.

Engage with Followers & Mentions

Always remember that your followers are real people. Replying back to mentions and comments, even just a few times a day, can help increase your followers’ attachment and likeability to your brand.

The most engaging brands win more followers every day just by being present when they receive comments, shares and mentions. For instance, ask followers questions and have them answer, provide helpful information or link to (or retweet) posts or products that help followers and their friends find the content they were looking for.

Make sure to maintain your “brand voice” when you engage followers, though, so that you’re consistent with your company’s internal guidelines. If your brand’s voice is more professional, for instance, you shouldn’t be posting memes and jokes on your Facebook page.

4. Connect with Influencers on Social Media

When thinking about how to increase your number of followers and engagement, it’s best to focus on first improving your content and profile. However, once you have a lot of social media posts, images and videos uploaded to your profile, you now have some social clout to reach out to influencers.

It’s important to find and build relationships with movers and shakers in your industry. These social media influencers have access to thousands, if not millions, of real followers who are engaged.

Your first step should be to find and follow influencers who already appeal to the audience you want to target on social media. Perhaps you know bloggers who are legends in your industry, or maybe you search by hashtags to find influencers with 10,000 or more followers to showcase your products and brand.

If you’re not sure where to look, Twitter and Instagram are two great places to start. You can also use influencer platforms like SocialBakers.com or Upfluence.com to get started.

Next Steps For Your Social Media

When learning how to increase followers, you’ll spend a lot of time updating your profiles, posting more often and creating better quality content. However, it’s important that you don’t forget to actively participate in discussions and conversations happening on social platforms that are relevant to your niche and brand.

Remember, increasing your social media presence is more than just increasing the number of Twitter followers or Instagram followers you have. From digital marketing strategies like SEO or social ads, we can help take your social media to the next level. Let’s get to work!