“How can I get more social media followers?” You know because we all want the best social media!
This is among the most common questions business owners ask, and the driving force behind many of their social media strategies. The reality is, “total followers” isn’t the best metric for success, and in fact, chasing numbers can actually be counterproductive.
As SOCO Studies Creative Director Jeremy Cross explains, social media algorithms are based on engagement. When you publish a post, it doesn’t go to all your followers, but rather a small percentage. If many of these people engage with the post, the algorithm then serves the post to more people.
While increasing followers is certainly a reasonable goal, the key is converting individuals who actually care, not randoms that you bought or coaxed.
Obsessing over followers is one mistake businesses make on social media. Here are a few others:
Posting Too Much
We know you’re excited to engage your followers but exercise some restraint. Oversaturating your feed can annoy your followers and ultimately drive them away. So how much is too much?It really depends on the channel. On Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, institute a two post per day policy, with one post going live in the morning and the other in the late afternoon/early evening. On Twitter, limit to 10 tweets per day. And remember: don’t post just for the sake of posting. Content matters.
Not Posting Enough
On the other side of the spectrum, posting too little or going long stretches without posting can engender apathy among your fans and hinder your marketing efforts. It’s important to post at least a few times a week to keep your business fresh in people’s minds. Finding the right frequency is certainly a delicate balance but mapping out a schedule or calendar at the beginning of each month can help.
Not Including Visuals
The cardinal sin of social media posting, failing to include a visual asset significantly limits the potency of the posts. According to Quick Sprout, content with relevant images gets 94 percent more views than content without relevant images. It’s no wonder then that 80 percent of marketers include visual assets in their social media marketing, according to a report by Social Media Examiner.
Copying and Pasting
The average internet user is active on 7.6 social channels (Hubspot) and has different expectations for each of them. Instagram is about fun, personal content, Twitter is about quick-hitting news and events, LinkedIn is strictly about business and Facebook is a sort-of mishmash of them all. Copying and pasting your posts across each of these different social mediums is a poor and lazy way to present content.
By Alex Altman
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