Social media marketing takes a bit of effort. From brainstorming post ideas, thinking of captions and generating social content, staying active on your social media accounts can take up a good amount of time. 

Unfortunately, without a substantial social following, all this effort can seem wasted. 

Grow your social following using these five techniques, and enjoy better-performing social media marketing campaigns. 

Before you start

Before you ask people to follow you on social media, make sure your profiles are up to date, on brand and have recent posts. Having optimized social profiles helps make a good first impression, and can help improve your social presence by signaling trust. 

How to increase your social following for your business

#1 Contests and giveaways

Incentivize social followers by creating a social media giveaway by following these steps: 

1. Create the contest or giveaway terms and conditions, and make sure they follow your industry’s legal guidelines. For example, decide how long the contest will run, what will be given away, how people can enter, who is eligible to win and how the winner will be decided. Make sure you’re following Instagram and Facebook’s promotion guidelines, and talk to your legal team to make sure your contest is good to go.
2. Once your contest terms and conditions are set, it’s time to promote it. Share a photo of the prize (for example, a pair of earrings from your local boutique, a free lawn care service from your landscaping company or a free one-month membership to your fitness studio), and include a caption with the giveaway details and rules. 
3. Let the giveaway run until the end date, and then pick a winner! By the end, you’ll likely notice more followers and engagement on your social channels. 

#2 Email marketing

Email marketing is a fantastic way to retain customers and improve the lifetime value of your most devoted clients. Plus, it can grow your social media followers in a couple of ways. 

1. Link to your social profiles within your emails. For example, you can share a recent post you made on Instagram, and link to your social profiles at the bottom of the email. 
2. Send out an email blast that asks for people to follow you on social media. Just make sure you add value. The email can say something like, “Follow us on Instagram to see our latest news and promotions.” Or, if you’re running a contest or giveaway, you can send an email blast promoting it. 

#3 In-person promotion

Train your employees to promote your social profiles whenever they interact with a customer. For example, have cashiers mention your social profiles during the checkout process. For even more incentive, give customers something in return when they follow you on social. Whether that’s a special promotion, like 10% off their order at your coffeeshop, a chance to win something or a free add-on to their order. Incentivizing followers can increase the likelihood of social subscribers. 

You can also feature your social media handles in the real world, like company vehicles, in-store signs, menus and table flyers. Efforts like this can add up and play a part in increasing social awareness. 

#4 Community engagement

Creating social posts isn’t the only thing to do on social media. Engaging with your followers and connecting with other businesses in your community can set you apart from the rest and grow your social connections. You can improve community engagement by: 

• Asking your followers a question, and encouraging them to start a dialog in your comments 
• Liking and responding to any comments on your posts
• Following other businesses in your area, and commenting/liking their posts
• Using tagging appropriately, and tagging others in your posts when relevant

#5 Links, links, links

Last but not least, include links to your social media profiles on your website and on your local listings, like Google My Business and Yelp. If someone is already visiting one of your other online entities, having social links makes it easy for them to find your social media information. 

About Marketing 360®

Grow your social following with help from Marketing 360. See our plans and pricing to learn more.