More followers, more likes, more comments. In this digital age, brands literally live by these three phrases. Some want to get noticed so bad that they resort to purchasing followers and likes often leading to irregularities on their social media profile. In the long run, no brand can sustain this expense and hassle. Instead of blowing thousands of dollars, they need to rethink their strategy and grow their social media organically with real-time followers.
With that in mind, here are some tactics to help you plant the seed to nurture your brand and business watch it grow.
1. The Maximized Post
A maximized post is one that has all the sections of the post filled up. For instance, your location, tags, description and hashtags. This makes it easy for the audience to find your brand instead of you having to reach out. Netizens can locate your brand from their preferred method via location or through the ‘tagged’ sections of other similar brands or infamous hashtags. This technique is used by photographer, Marie Barch on Instagram. Barch specifies the location and tags everyone involved in the photoshoot. She also adds a short description, peppered with different but relevant hashtags.
Marie Barch’s Instagram
2. Increase Your Engagement
For many, the word ‘engagement’ carries a heavy weight and may seem like a lot of work. Regardless, it’s a sure-fire way to get to know the likes and dislikes of your customers. An engaging post can simply start with asking a question in a post that will prompt the audience to action. A to and fro with the followers will create conversations in the comments section. As more conversations occur, the algorithm from the social media platform will push this post to the top of your demographic group, and this, in turn, expands your reach.
3. The Art of the #Hashtag
A common misconception is that hashtags tend to garner more likes and followers to your page. While the statement is somewhat true, brands often get lost in a sea of posts. The art of the hashtag is to use a mix of general and niche hashtags to get the best of both worlds. A general and broader hashtag would appeal to a larger group of audience. The niche hashtags allow you to segment your demographic accordingly. Many social media platforms have implemented a “shadow-ban”. The ban aims to remove automated bots and/or filter out posts with irrelevant hashtags. So, if you don’t want your posts to get shadow-banned, switch it up or create new hashtags when posting on Instagram and Facebook.
4. Let the Image Speak for Itself
Airbnb’s Instagram
A picture says a thousand words, so why not let it speak for itself? It’s good to have an engaging description, however, don’t overwhelm your audience with a long essay. A short description of one or two sentences is easy to read and won’t take away attention from the photograph. That being said, it is also essential to have a bold and original picture that will catch the eye of the public and stop them from wandering off the feed. An example of a brand that follows this rule is Airbnb. On their Instagram and Facebook pages, the brand posts bold pictures of their rental homes, like an igloo in Pelkosenniemi, Finland. Along with the picture, the brand advertises its rental homes in the description.
5. Consistency
A key driver to growing your brand on social media is consistency. When you post regularly on social media, the audience will become more familiar with and recognize your brand instantly. Creating a posting schedule can help brands in their social media management. It creates a balance between not posting at all and bombarding your followers with too many posts. A helpful tool for scheduling your posts in advance is an online service called “Later”. This service allows you to upload photographs in advance and even save captions. After selecting a specific date and time, the website will auto publish the posts.
Preview App’s Website
Consistency can also be reflected in the theme for your social media profile – for example, a theme that allows for easy posting of photos with similar design aspects or colours. This way, your brand’s profile will not only look professional but aesthetically pleasing as well. In terms of visualising themes, “Preview” is a good choice. This application can be downloaded on any smart device and allows you to drag and drop photographs. This way users get to preview the post before publishing. It is a helpful tool for coordinating and inter-relating all your posts.
Social media is, without a doubt, an essential and popular direct marketing strategy. It allows you to create awareness for your brand without spending millions on advertising. Social media platforms also enable you to get closer to your customers and listen to their issues and concerns directly so that you can take action or respond quickly. Maximizing audience engagement with scheduled posting, a mix of hashtags, bold pictures, and maintaining consistency is the holy grail to grow your social media authentically and organically. Keep these tactics in and you won’t get lost amongst the 3 billion users online.
Written By: Tanisha Khanna
Corporate Media Services 