Top 3 Strategies for Building a Targeted Social Media Following

In today’s ever growing digital world of social media and content, large brands and boutiques alike are all racing to create viral, engaging marketing initiatives to grow their brands. Anyone with experience in social media knows how difficult it can be to grow your following. While it is true that posting a ton of content can cast a wider net to potentially reach virality, it’s important to remember that the type of content you are posting should align with the vision and core values of your brand and/or products. You’ve seen all the ‘gurus’ tell you that you need an “organic following” to create buzz and funnel users into customers, but how?

Build an attractive feed

When your content brings users to your page, make a good impression! Choosing tasteful thumbnails and creating an aesthetically pleasing feed can attract followers.

First and foremost, it is important to avoid any of the schemes that involve buying followers in bulk. Users have been on Instagram and platforms alike long enough to be able to spot this behavior. Comments from bot accounts stick out like a sore thumb, and having 5 to 6 figure followings with extremely low engagement doesn’t add up. Overall, it is a bad look for your brand’s reputation and won’t yield you much of any results.

The first thing to remember is that growth takes time. With that being said, there are methods successful brands use to speed up the process while gathering a following that aligns with their brand.

Tip #1: Do A Giveaway

Targeted giveaways work because everyone loves free stuff. The objective here is to announce a giveaway on your Instagram account and require those who wish to enter to follow your account. Additionally, have them tag 2 or 3 friends in the comments and share the giveaway to their story. Now they have entered the drawing for the free item and have given you organic marketing and engagement as well. To go a step further, spend $20+ a day for the duration of the giveaway on a targeted boost for your post. Instagram allows you to curate your ads to specific audiences. For example, if you’re giving athleisure clothing away, you’d want to target people who are interested in fitness, health, wellness, keto diets, weightlifting, training, hiking, etc. What you’re doing here is essentially requiring people in your targeted demographic to follow you to win. Once the giveaway is over, some of these followers will drop off, but many will stick around.

Tip #2: Collaborate With Influencers In Your Niche

Another initiative to build an organic social media following is collaboration. Influencers, or even “micro-influencers”, can be great to partner with to spread the word about your brand. Each creator is different, but ultimately you may be able to find someone who will shout you out if you send them some free product. Let’s go back to the athleisure example. Perhaps you find 5 influencers that are fitness models, or that have a large following recording themselves doing exercises. They may wear your clothing in a video or picture and tag you, shout you out during an unboxing, etc. Furthermore, you can offer affiliate marketing discount codes to incentivize the creators. Setup a unique discount code for a specific creator and promise them a percentage of any sale that comes through with that code. This practice will help you get the word out, and both parties win because you grow your brand organically, get potential sales and customers, and the influencer can benefit financially.

Tip #3: Avoid Viral Trends, Create Engaging Content Relevant To You

Creating organic content that is true to your business is the ultimate key. All these initiatives to grow your following won’t mean much if you aren’t producing your own good content to keep them around and turn them into customers. In most cases, it’s best to avoid jumping on a viral trend that has nothing to do with what you are selling. Sure, you may go viral, but people will simply scroll past this video as it is just another silly trend video. The goal is to create content that will get the right people to stop scrolling, visit your page, and hopefully follow your account. Some important tips when creating content are as follows:

Create meaningful content

Whatever your niche is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. Provide value with your posts and the right followers will visit your page.

Create a good hook. We’ve all been there, mindlessly scrolling from video to video. It takes a good hook to grab our attention. Engaging starts such as a questions, challenges, or quick reasons for them to stick around can get them to initially pay attention. In today’s world, that is half the battle.

Provide value. Solving a problem is one of the greatest ways to get someone to check out your page and follow you. If you’re making engaging content that is providing value such as a tutorial, what not to do, how to fix something, actionable ideas, or showcasing what problem your product is solving, the right user is likely to click on your page and follow you. On social media, you generally must provide something to the user for them to be intrigued enough to break the “scroll”.

Be authentic. Creating content that is authentic to who you are or what your brand represents is key. People can sense when you’re being disingenuous, and when you’re comfortable and confidently YOU on camera, it is attractive to your viewers. While it is certainly ok to garner inspiration from other videos, beware of blatantly copying other videos or creators. This dangerous behavior can hurt your brand’s reputation and break trust with your customers.

Keep it short and sweet. Given the nature of today’s popular platforms, attention is everything. The average attention span on social media is very short, as there will always be another video to scroll to as soon as the viewer loses interest. Establish the content early with a good hook, get your point across, and wrap it up without rambling on or oversharing. Remember, if you have more to say, you can always break it up through multiple videos.

Ultimately, don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun. If you are being authentic and consistent, it will pay off over time!

If you’d like one-on-one guidance on building a strategic game plan for your social media marketing, click the “Contact” tab above and send me a message.