We all want to see our social media following count and engagement grow, but keeping up with new features that vary between platforms can feel overwhelming. While you may want to do more in-depth research for specific platforms you want to see growth with, here are seven simple tips for growing your business accounts for any platform.
Be consistent
Stop worrying about how to make your posts go viral and focus on showing up consistently. If you can’t post daily, experiment with posting every other day and notice when your audience is more active online. Post when you know people are scrolling and show up at these times to build an expectation with your community. Consistency in your brand’s messaging is also key in building trust with your current following and attracting new followers.
Observe what works for successful competitors
Don’t copy. It doesn’t work reliably for long and weakens trust with your followers. Do consider successful engagement strategies you observe in your competition. Notice that people seem to engage more with a certain type of content? Try your own take on that method.
Use reliable formulas
Look at your impressions and see what post did best. Is there a part of it you can replicate for fresh content? Try recreating it with another post idea. Creating posts in a series where you share behind the scenes or insider tips is one approach to creating your own formula for successful postings without coming up with a completely new idea each time you want to share content.
Share original content
Getting inspired by other brands in your niche and their successful social media strategies is not plagiarism but it’s important you’re not relying on others to craft your content. If it’s too similar, it looks scammy and it’s unsustainable.
Tiktok, Facebook, and Instagram have made it easy to use other users’ “sounds” for your short video posts. This isn’t copying because your visual content and text are meant to be different. Another example is using a popular meme format to convey a specific idea related to your products, brand identity, or industry. This type of posting is okay in moderation and may help you go viral but it’s important to create your own original content and set trends rather than hopping onto whatever the new obsession is this week.
Take advantage of paid ads
Organic posting that’s easily shareable and educational is a focus for many brands just getting started on social media because it’s free! If a post doesn’t do well, at least you didn’t invest money in pushing it into the feeds of your target audience. Once you know what posts your followers engage with most by looking at your impressions, then you can tailor your paid ads around what gets the most positive attention from your potential customers.
Share clear CTAs
Make it so easy to engage with your content that your audience will do so without thinking twice. It is a good idea to tell them to engage. Keep it simple. “Hit the like button if you enjoyed this video”, “subscribe for more”, and “check out the link in our bio” only take a moment to say but help convert more passive users to engaged followers.
Try Humor
Laughter works! And sells. There’s a reason it’s called the universal language. If your audience perceives that you’re having fun and able to laugh, they’re more at ease while viewing your products and services.
While not every brand can easily find ways to add in jokes, sometimes the unexpected nature of memes and injection of funny content is exactly what your followers will interact with and share.
What’s been working for you?