3 Simple Ways to Get More Followers on Social Media

Many times, I have clients that often ask me for easy ways to:

1. Get more followers on Twitter
2. Get more likes on Facebook
3. Get more traffic to their Website

All three can be answered quite simply in six words–give them a reason to visit. If your social media accounts or your website just sits there and collects dust, why would anyone to follow or check in with it regularly? Similarly, if you don’t tell anyone that your website or social media accounts exist, you will be disappointed in the lack of interaction you receive. So how do you get the word out? These three simple ways to get more followers on social media have worked for me in the past:

1. Follow, Follow, Follow on Twitter

Following other accounts may be the easiest way to gain more followers for you or your business.

• Follow people you know
• Follow local businesses
• Follow well-known public figures in your industry

Most social media managers have an unspoken rule to “follow back.” If they don’t follow back, some will still acknowledge your new follow with a personalized tweet. Well-known public figures, or other accounts with a great amount of followers, are beneficial to follow, because their followers will follow you as well. Don’t get too follow-happy, though, as Twitter may recognize users that follow large quantities of people at one time as spammers.

2. Invite People to Like Your Facebook Page

The majority of the people that you are “friends” with on Facebook are usually your close friends and/or family–a.k.a. people that will support you in your business endeavors. By inviting them to like your Facebook page, it saves them the extra step of having to find your page and like it themselves.

• To invite your friends to Like your page, view the front end of your admin Facebook account, and you will see a list of your friends on the left side, each with a button to invite. Don’t bother looking for an “Invite All” button, as Facebook had removed this option years ago.
• If you’re not an admin, you can still invite anyone you would like by selecting the ellipses (…) in the bottom right corner of the cover photo, and selecting “Invite Friends”. Have your employees do this too! They are your best resource in social media engagement and promotion.

3. Include Icons on ALL Marketing Materials

So now you’ve set up your social media accounts, followed friends, family, and businesses on Twitter, and invited friends, family, and employees to like your page on Facebook. Now what? Unless you keep pushing your social media efforts to increase followers and page likes, your account will remain sedentary.

• Posting regularly will engage your audience (remember: content is king). In turn, this will cause the Facebook friends and Twitter followers of the engaged users to see what their friends have been up to on social media.–but that’s not enough.
• All of your marketing efforts must direct back to your social media accounts and your website. By simply adding a Facebook or Twitter icon to the bottom of all marketing materials, it gives the consumer a chance to search for you on their favorite social media platforms. Even putting your Facebook or website URL on your email signature can have a significant increase in traffic!

These three simple ways to increase your following on social media are a great start to step up your online marketing. They are free (apart from the cost of labor), which is something you’re not going to see in the social media world for long. It’s turning into a pay-to-play sort of game, but these three simple ways to get more followers on social media are a great place to start for social media-emerging businesses.

SEE ALSO: Should your company be on Facebook?