Do you want to get more business, by growing your social media following? These tips will help you grow it the right way.
Point People In The Right Direction
The notion that if you build it, they will come is one that you need to disregard unless you are a celebrity or have an iconic brand name. People will not come if they do not know that you exist on social media unless you are pointing them in the right direction. This means that you should do this whenever possible. Signage in the lobby, on the wall or on your counter that drives your customers online is very important.
Shout It Out Loud
If you have anyone in your business who is on the speaking circuit, they should be incorporating your social media into their presentations. They need to strike while the iron is hot. When caught up in the moment, the live audience will have a greater urge to connect with the person on stage. When they tell the audience where the brand lives and invite them to join, you will see an improvement in your social presence.
image source: makeawebsitehub.com
Arm The Troops
You need to divide and conquer. There is also strength in numbers which is why you should take the time to identify the employees you have with strong social media followings. You should then encourage these employees to passively recruit for the business.
You can provide these employees with talking points and reward them for their thought leadership. The more employees you have spreading the work online, the quicker your online presence is going to grow.
Drop Names
A lot of people never want to mention someone else’s content in their social media stream. However, this is actually good form, particularly if you are going to be quoting from an article that you want to hare. Tagging other people in your content is another way to get more curiosity around your posts, get new followers and trigger some professional engagement.
Use Tools
There are plenty of great tools out there that can help you grow your social media following and really help you succeed. One that a lot of people are pushing to the fore of late is Atom – it’s an excellent social media tool and one to consider.
Showcase Your Social Media Streams
You can get more mileage out of your social media activity by embedding the content somewhere else. There are a lot of widgets that you can use which make it possible export your timelines and display them on your website. This will not only place your content in front of a larger audience, but it will also increase the chance of establishing some more lasting social connections. The widgets are available from third-party providers as well as the social media platforms.
image source: anthillonline.com
Put Others First
You should avoid being a brand that only talks about itself. These brands will spend all of their time being promotional instead of being social which defies the point of the platform. This does not mean that you cannot toot your horn on the platforms, but it is simply not the best way to get new fans and business in general. It is better to help others in as many ways as possible because your turn will then come.
Make A Really Good First Impression
Are the cover and profile images the right size? Do you have a clear and convincing description of your business that includes keywords and hashtags? Are you linking back t your website and other social media profiles? Have you prominently featured your business logo?
Are you actively responding to comments, questions, and mentions? Do you thank the other users who have shared your content on their streams? These are all things that you should do in order to make the best first impression.
Host A Chat
Building a community of like-minded people is possible by interviewing popular guests online. A chat will be two or more people talking about a topic that has broad appeal. You will need to promote the event in advance and have a strong hashtag. You should also take some questions from the audience.
Give Something Away
People will come if you are hosting a competition. However, the prizes that you offer for the competition should be something that is associated with your brand. This will increase the connection for qualified prospects and weed out the people only interested in free items.
