Do you ever look at your favorite Instagram account and wonder, “How did they get fifty thousand followers? I have two hundred.” Maybe you shrugged, liked the photo, and then left a supportive comment…which was replied to within the hour with a fire emoji and a thumbs up. You hearted that, too.
You’re left with a feeling that that your support is valued, and also that your voice is heard even in a crowd of fifty thousand. You appreciate them, and they appreciate you. No matter how they grow their community, they recognize you. Engagement 101, right?
This is one way to maintain a loyal community through engaged content. But how do you get fifty thousand followers? Maybe these tips will help:
- In order to follow you, they’ve got to be able to find you. So, make your social sharing icons prominent on your site and print media, and track your hashtags. Most importantly, engage with every comment, like, or follow. The internet is a big place with a lot of distractions around every corner, so real engagement tends to make us all pause. It’s during that pause when the magic happens and communities are built.
- Be likable. We’ve all got a friend who ditches the check every single time, borrows our cutest clothes and claims she returned them ages ago, and never apologizes. Ever. When she calls or texts, we cringe and shoot off a quick “Sorry! Can’t talk right now. In the car. Driving as far away from you as possible.” Kidding. (Kind of.) Be the opposite of that: accountable, generous, and honest.
- Forget selling for a minute. At this point, users are pretty savvy. They recognize when their attention is being used for a sales pitch, and they don’t like it. Hit pause on that, and instead focus on solving a problem they may have, or adding value in some way.
See, if you’re doing your homework, you know a lot about your followers and the demographic into which they fall. The next step is figuring out what matters to them. Find that answer and your content marketing is a piece of cake. (And who doesn’t like cake?)
At The Found Gen, we love cake. And we love growing communities for our clients just as much. Give us a call if you want to chat more about it – the community building, not the cake. Although, sigh, we’re always happy to talk about cake. Sorry, diet.