Jump back in time to even five years ago, and having a social media following wasn’t really anything to shout about. Fast-forward to the present day and suddenly the follower count on your social media channels is now an indicator of your brand’s success and reliability. With so much pressure on businesses to grow their followings online, and every competitor also trying to do the same thing, it’s no wonder that growing and maintaining a social media following as a business is a hard nut to crack - so here are some things that may help you. 

Focus on growing just one platform at first 

One of the reasons why social media can be tough for businesses is that there are so many platforms to choose from and it is near impossible to keep up with all of them. At the start of your social media journey, it is often best to focus your time, energy, and available resources on just one or two platforms, rather than trying to cover too many. To find your primary social media platform, do some research into your target market and find out who exactly your customers are and where they prefer to hang out. 

Determine your goals and have a strategy

If your goal is to grow your social media following, then define what this looks like to you and your organization so that you can create a social media strategy that complements it. If you’re struggling to determine what your goal should be or do not know how to create a social media strategy for your business, then you should try to sit down with a social media expert, such as someone from dappergoat.com. Even if you go on to create and post your content yourself without the help of an external agency, it is essential that you have an effective strategy in place first. 

Be consistent with your content 

Social media isn’t something that can be dropped in and out of - you need to be consistent if you want it to work. Through your customer research, you should have revealed some of the kinds of content that your target customers are currently engaging with and this can be used to craft your own content plan. Whatever kinds of content that you choose to post, you need to be posting at least once a day for most platforms, and even more for platforms such as Pinterest and Twitter. 

Don’t bombard your followers with a sales message

The best advertisements on social media are those that consumers do not realize are adverts. No one will want to follow your brand if you are constantly pushing sales-focused content, so be sure to create content that adds value to your consumers and to craft your adverts wisely. There’s nothing wrong with promoting a product launch or a sale every now and again, so long as they are interspersed within value-added pieces that people want to subscribe too. 

So there you have it - a few simple tips that should help you grow your social media following and to stand out from your competitors.