8 Social Media Growth Strategies You Need In Your Corner
Use these tips to expand your reach across social media
If you run a business, you need social media. There’s no way around it in today’s digital age, but it can be difficult to keep up with the latest trends driving social media growth. As marketing experts, it’s our job to stay up-to-date on best practices and emerging trends—we use them every day to help our clients connect with their customers and grow their social media presence.
Here are our top 8 social media growth strategies that we think every business needs in their corner:
#1: Update Your Bios
Your bio should reflect who you are, what you do, and how your company provides value. Keeping your bios up-to-date across all your social media platforms creates consistency and allows people to get the jist of your content when they visit your profiles. Update your linktree or link in bio, and make sure your photo or logo reflects your brand. The same rules apply to your business account—be sure everything is updated and that your logo is eye-catching. First impressions matter!
#2: Run Giveaways and Contests
Doing a giveaway or starting a contest can be a fun way to get people to follow your account and increase audience engagement. Giveaways and contests can be promoted across all of your social media platforms, on your website, and through your email list. Here are some examples:
Photo contest: Ask your followers to post a picture with your product and tag your company. Winner gets a prize of your choice, as long as it’s from your brand!
Comment to win: People leave a comment or answer a question to be entered into the giveaway.
Caption contest: Post a photo of the product you’re giving away as a prize asking people to caption it for you. Winner takes the product home!
#3: Collaborate
Collaborating with other businesses, content creators, or individuals can help you increase brand awareness, form strong networks, generate leads, and find new inspiration. Guest posting is a great start, or try giving a shoutout to a business with the same target audience as you. If you want to take it up a notch, co-host a webinar, live stream with another business, or co-design a product with another company. Their audience becomes your audience and vice versa.
#4: Work with Influencers
Working with social media influencers can help you grow your social media presence, especially on Instagram. Influencer marketing can help you engage with your audience and tap into valued third-party credibility. Your potential customers want to know what they can gain from using your products or services, and influencers can help showcase them in real life scenarios. When you work with influencers, you gain extra exposure because they’re showcasing your content to their thousands of followers.
#5: Create More Video Content
According to HubSpot, 86 percent of video marketers say video has been effective for generating leads, and 94 percent agree that videos have helped increase user understanding of their product or service. Human beings are visual, so it’s important to consider that if you want to grow your social. Compared to a blog post or long-form Instagram caption, your audience is probably more likely to watch a short video. Use Instagram Reels to your advantage, go live when you can, and try to create fun videos featuring your products or services to post across your social media channels.
#6: Meet Your Audience Where They Are
Many people make the mistake of assuming that they have to be on every single social media platform in order to create growth or success. This simply isn’t true. In fact, it can actually hurt your business. If your customers aren’t the type of people who use Pinterest but you’re putting a lot of effort into that platform, you’re wasting your time. You need to meet your customers where they are if you want to see any type of social media growth. Ask yourself what platforms your current or ideal customers would use the most, and focus your attention there.
#7: Engage With Your Audience
When it comes to growing and maintaining a social media presence, engagement is key. Your audience wants to know that there’s a real person behind every post, so show them! Respond to their comments and questions in a timely manner, comment on posts, and reshare a post anytime a customer tags your brand. This might seem like a lot of work, but the payoff will make a huge difference and help grow your following, because your brand is about what you share and how you share it, not about what you sell.
#8: Post At the Best Times
An easy way to boost your social media growth is to post at optimal times across your social media platforms. This will ensure as many people as possible see your posts, which could up your views, likes, and followers. Here’s a guide from HubSpot on the best times to post on social media—as a general rule of thumb, aim to post between 6 pm to 9 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm.
If reading through these tips just added 8 items to your to-do list, remember that social media growth takes time. Consistency and quality win the race, so take your time and don’t expect results overnight. If you feel like you need help with your social media strategy and want to connect with your audience in a more authentic way, reach out to us. Our team of overqualified creatives will think outside the box to develop original strategies that establish your brand in the market and increase your reach and growth.