Social Media has evolved a lot in the past few years and has turned into a platform that drives engagement. Now whether you are an aspiring influencer, a start-up, or an established business, online presence is very important.
Having a social media audience is pivotal nowadays. It can boost your business sales or push you into stardom. The power that some platforms provide makes it quite lucrative to have an account on these social media sites.
However, getting that audience is no easy business. While it is easy to bait people into following you, getting a dedicated audience is difficult.
But don’t worry, in the next few minutes, you will have a good idea about growing your online presence. There are a few ways (8 to be precise) that will help you in growing your social media audience.
Let’s delve into these eight best ways to grow your social media audience.
#1. Creative Content
That’s right, the first and foremost way to increase your presence will be through content. There is a reason why being a social media influencer has become a lifestyle.
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The reason is known as content. More often than not, there is a saturation of content after some time has passed. This is why influencers and social media personalities constantly re-invent their content.
Consistency is the key
As a business or as an individual with no contacts, the most important thing to remember is to churn out quality content.
Not only does it give you credibility, but it will also give you a dedicated following. Photos, videos, blogs, or whatever you rely on must be appealing to your audience.
Another important thing to remember is that you will have to churn out content at a consistent rate. This makes it so much more important to ensure that you do not compromise on the quality of your content.
#2. Engage with your audience
If you have come across a competition, Q&A, or Ask me Anything posts on social media platforms, you already know some of the best ways to engage with an audience.
These activities are a great way to engage with your audience. They allow you to build a personal connection with your audience.
Increased reach
You and your business will build an image just by doing personal engagements and building a community. This might result in increased views or even clicks to your products or your affiliates.
One of the easiest ways is to have a simple discord server where your followers can engage and discuss your content. Any method that suits your audience and your content will suffice as long as there is engagement.
For example, take YouTube’s Member system that allows content creators to create and engage with dedicated followers. It also allows close interaction with your audience to understand them.
#3. Understand your audience
Even if you have one dedicated follower, know what they want from you. Gauge their expectations. One of the easiest ways to do it is obviously by engaging with your audience.
One of the most rookies’ mistakes committed when building a portfolio is that you fail to identify your target audience.
Mis-identifying audience
This is quite dangerous since not only are you wasting your time and resources, and you will also lose any plans for progress.
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When your aim is to grow an audience, ensure your content is targeted towards the audience you want. This obviously is only possible if you manage to understand your audience and their needs.
Keeping track of interests and reactivity to different posts will prove immensely helpful as you figure out what works and what doesn’t.
For example, if you are a company, that let’s say, deals with escape rooms, the important thing to know would be what themes and difficulties people prefer.
It won’t matter if your escape room is good or not. People might not come to it simply because it is horror and not crime/mystery. Thus, know your audience will help you build an identity.
#4. Build an identity
Having an online identity is quintessential for all intent and purposes. You will need your community/audience to recognize you or identify your presence.
Most brands do it through their conduct, products, or even through their fans. In order to establish an identity online, you will need to conduct a deeper analysis of yourself.
Analyze your content
As complicated as it may sound, a deeper analysis is simply researched into the impact of your content.
Is it something that creates hype? Does it become a trend or a viral challenge? What will your perceived image be?
These are some important questions that you need to ask yourself. Once you plant a seed, as your community and audience grow, your identity will be well known and established.
#5. Platforming
While the term is much more familiar to gamers, platforming is a great skill and asset in the social media world.
Platforming simply means that you will not be using just one single social media platform. You will be actively engaging and posting content on multiple platforms.
With the growth of social media, the number of platforms has significantly increased as well. With that, the number of users has increased. Diversifying your services or presence will help you reach a much bigger audience.
Don’t Be Boring
Keep in mind, however, people will expect different things on different platforms. Instagram, Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn. etc., are all quite unique and will require you to work a lot in order to engage, socialize or create and build networks.
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It is understandable if you don’t want to manage multiple profiles and accounts. But remember, you will still have to work regularly to remain relevant and interesting.
#6. Digital Marketing
If you are hoping to generate leads through social media, your original posts will not help you a lot. Yes, you will gain an organic audience, but the numbers won’t grow. Your presence will plateau rather than increase or decrease.
Plateauing
Plateauing is desirable only if you already have a huge following. As someone interested in growing your audience, you need to reach a level beyond.
Digital marketing helps you do just that. Not only do you get recognized, but you will also get clicks and views from people out of your reach. Even if you are not on a particular platform, digital marketing will help you draw people over to your profile.
Marketing has been quite effective in increasing a product’s reach beyond the targeted audience and, if used efficiently, will increase your audience significantly.
#7. Don’t shy away
As obnoxious as it may sound, asking people to share, like, follow, the comment is an effective technique. When done in a humble way, deserving content will attract attention.
Reminders
Think of such a call to action as reminders. Tell people about the links or products. Tell them to follow for more. Even a simple hyperlink to your website would be a great call to action.
Being shy in such a situation might not be ideal, but once you take those first few difficult steps, it becomes easier.
There is a reason why most YouTubers, influencers, and other social media personalities constantly remind them about subscribing. To put it very simply, it works.
If there is any product or merchandise you want people to buy, simply ask them to check it out. Obviously, there are creative ways to go about it, but these are some basic pointers you should probably remember.
#8. Affiliation
Affiliation is a great way to become acquainted with people from the same line of work as you. Affiliation involves affiliate marketing, backlinking, collaborations on projects, etc. There are plenty of reasons why you should seek affiliation.
Reason one:- Affiliation is great for networking. You get to meet people in the same line of work or with similar interests.
Reason two:- Affiliation increases your reach. Collaborations and acts of affiliate marketing will take your name, product, or services beyond your target audience.
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Reason three:- Affiliation or collaboration with a popular and trustworthy name would greatly increase your credibility.
Affiliation is thus one of the best ways to launch your online profile into a whole new domain. If you are looking to expand in a new area, affiliation is one of the best ways to do so.
Conclusion
These are the 8 best ways to grow your social media audience. Apart from these, here is a bonus tip, set a plan and routine. This is what will help you in establishing a schedule.
Bonus tip
- Planning your social media route is extremely important. Keep in mind to incorporate these 8 ways and be proactive with your audience. Build a safe space or a community for your audience.
- Remember, social media is a dynamic thing. It is constantly changing and devising new trends. What works for you won’t work for others. It is possible that what works for you won’t work for you next week.
- Thus, remember to keep trying and experimenting with what works best for you. If you expect your account to adapt to the dynamic nature of social media on its own, you are setting yourself up for failure.
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