Let’s just admit it. We all say we don’t care about the number of followers we have on social networks…but we all do!If you’re a mature digital marketer, you know that follower count isn’t any guarantee of the value of a social media account. But at the same time, you also know having a lot of followers is far from worthless. Like it or not, people do look at your follower numbers, which affects their decision to follow you. In addition, the more followers you have, the larger the potential reach and influence you have (provided those followers are real and relevant to your business). There is no scarcity of posts and guides online about how to build social media followings, so what’s different about this one? Simple: I’ve boiled it down to just nine essential tactics that meet the following requirements:
They build real followers (i.e., not bots and/or people who could care less about you and your business).
They are useful for marketing and business accounts without causing any potential damage to your brand reputation.
- “Best People to Follow on…” lists. Search for published lists of recommended accounts to follow in your areas of interest. Be careful though; not all of these lists are well-curated. Sometimes they recommend people just because they are famous. For instance, I’ve seen recent lists for top marketers or SEOs that include Matt Cutts, even though Matt has had almost nothing to say about those topics since he left Google to take a job with the government early this year. Best are lists created by people whom you already know and trust.
- Groups and communities. Join groups and communities on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other networks that have them, and watch for those who consistently make valuable contributions. Follow them, and they will probably lead you to other good people to follow.
If you want to be worth following, there has to be some “there” there. You have to have some substance to your profile. Your best followers will be people who take the time to check out your profile before following you. They’ll want to see that there’s something worth following. Many people also Buy Instagram Followers and Buy Instagram Likes to grow quicker on social media. Make sure you have all of the following:
- A complete profile. Fill in every field that applies to you. On most social networks you should try to make your bio tell a story. Intrigue visitors into following you. On Twitter, where your bio space is limited, use keywords that you want to be found for. Also, have an attractive, close up head shot (preferably shot by a professional) and a relevant cover image.
- A valuable feed. Make sure your feed/timeline is always showing recently-shared, valuable content. Some careful users will browse a little way down your feed to makes sure your active and that they won’t be getting junk if they follow you. For social networks that allow a pinned post (a post that stays “sticky” at the top of your feed), make sure you always have your latest, most valuable piece of content pinned.