Introduction

Let’s be honest – social media has grown into a major aspect of the digital world. It has easily blended into every scope and redefined the way we interact online, the way we shop and simply the way we live in general. It has helped us to view the digital world from a prism of safety and also be informed about practically anything related to our interests.

And that is simply how social media should function. But when it comes to brands and their social media outlets, the situation is kind of different.

The truth is, many business owners actively involved in the social media world are asking themselves: ‘Why can’t I have more followers?’ ; ‘Why my business doesn’t have followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram?’ and ultimately ‘How to get more followers on every social media channel?’

Folks, it’s time to change something. In fact, many things…

(The First) Signs Of Social Media Activity and Encouragement

There is one important thing related to the number of likes that every brand on social media focuses on – it really encourages the efforts. Gaining new followers on social media is a dream for every company, and the first signs of great improvement and building a base of a stable follower count are the simple ones:

• Great social page design (Profile Picture, Cover Photo, About Us section)
• Quality of Content

Without these two, no one is likely to follow a brand, unless it’s a brand established by their friends.

But hey, how do big brands do it? How are they active in growing their followers and publishing stellar content?

How Big Brands Do IT

Now, in order to have a social media strategy, you must know the most popular social media outlets to focus on, no matter the niche you are in. As much as it mattered few years back, now you can market ANYTHING on social media – even if you are selling fish rods.

So, what are the most popular social media channels a brand should focus to?

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Instagram
4. Pinterest
5. LinkedIn
6. Google Plus

In fact, here is a handy image about all of the popular social media outlets and the age groups using them. Although in general, every age group uses every social media channel, from this image you can find where your age group belongs and focus on that outlet more and more!

So, how to penetrate these marketplaces and position your brand as a high-liking authority? Some of the best but also common tips that go along the lines of this are:

• Filling in every form of content in your profile
• Sharing your social media links to your friends via email and other networks
• Placing follow links and widgets on your website to build organic traffic and promote your site
• Adding a social email signature – including every social media outlet as a button

Want more stats? Here is an image about Facebook, the leading social media giant.

While these are all beneficial, they are all group-focused to get you a better image about your social media presence. But how to do it on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – some of the major social media channels out there?

The Unified Approach

The most basic step you can undertake, as in every social media outlet is to fill out your profile completely. This comes as a MUST.

After you do this, writing an awesome bio with one or two select keywords or hashtags is probably one of the best ways to start gaining followers on Twitter. Additionally, adding your URL and location is important – as URLs are great for adding context, location is great for getting found locally via many tools.

Needless to say it, a profile picture and cover photo are essential for any social media outlet. But seeding the first five to ten tweets is even more important – to kick-off with quality content and tweets directly linked to you and your company.

And here it comes.. The big question: How to gain more followers on every social network?

We present you to the 4 way-recipe:

1. Share a link – make sure you share a link in every post you publish
2. Follow – follow people if you want real followers, as easy as it is!
3. Hashtag – explore the world of hashtags and use them in every post, especially on Twitter from where they come
4. Mention – a great way to trigger the interest of online users and get them to know more about your brand, especially useful on Twitter with its direct tweets option but also handy on Facebook when you need to address an answer to a particular person in a group comments section
5. Add your phone number and email address on Facebook to let your followers contact you directly
6. Reach out to real influencers on social media and sharing their content – a great app for this is Buzzsumo, where you can search for the most shared content
7. Stick to the influencers and ‘steal’ their followers – Especially useful on Twitter, find an authority in your niche and get ready to follow his followers. This is useful simply because the interest group you are targeting is exactly your target group
8. Include social media share buttons on every blog post you publish
9. Hold ‘best photo of the week/month’ giveaways and contests, which can be great on Instagram (ex. Post the most amazing photo with our X product, tag us in it and like our page for a chance to get the X prize)
10. Make sure your content goes viral – as much as it sounds generic, the Post Planner tool (www.postplanner.com) might come handy for spreading viral posts
11. Guest blog on popular niche sites of yours
12. Cross-promote with a business that is complimentary to your niche
13. Build a mobile version of your website or even an app – users are now more mobile than ever, and they really appreciate you caring for them (and their devices)!

Conclusion

Of course, all of this may sound easier said than done however once you get to know social media – you will get to know the effectiveness of the tips we shared. Like, follow, share and repost – as the main formula to social media success in the form of more followers!