Did you know that 66% of people between 18 and 54 view brands more favorably if they reply to customer service requests on their social media?
We all want to use social media to push our brand forward. Whether you want to boost your sales, increase engagement, or raise awareness of your brand, social media can be a powerful tool. Social networks become more powerful when they have a lot of interaction.
People love having positive interactions with brands. Engagement is key.
To learn how to build and boost your social media influence, follow these tips:
Understand Social Media’s Influence on Society
Before you start trying tactics to increase your social media influence, you must first understand the impact on behavior. You want to be a positive influence for your followers.
Influence can be measured by the size of a brand’s social media pages. When a brand gets more likes and follows, its influence grows.
Social media generates more visibility and discussion of political, societal, environmental, and other issues. Information spreads very quickly on social media. For companies, social media gives them new marketing opportunities and new ways to recruit employees.
On the flip side, social media can become a breeding ground for misinformation. Social media also causes depression, which is a specific influence of social media on youth. Youth on social media experience negative feelings when they see people who they perceive to be better looking or have better lives than them.
What is seen on social media is only a small part of a larger picture. Everyone wants to post their best picture on Instagram or the best 30 seconds of their day on TikTok. As a brand, it is important to stay authentic with your followers.
Build a Following
Once you grasp the power social media has on society, it is time to start building your community of followers.
One way to start building a following base is to use a tool to buy Instagram followers. Be careful and choose a reputable tool that will supply you with high-quality followers. Buying Instagram followers can help you jump-start your page to help get your name out there.
People are more likely to find a page reputable and follow it if they have a substantial following. Instagram’s algorithm favors pages with more followers. Pages with higher followers have a higher chance of ending up on the Explore page, which will earn you more traffic, likes, and followers.
Stay consistent! People want to follow a page that posts and engages consistently. Stick to a monthly content calendar for posts.
Use hashtags to reach new audiences on Instagram. Focus on niche hashtags that zero in on specific topics. This is a great way to gain followers that already have an interest in your industry and increase your brand’s awareness.
Ensure your caption game is strong. People are drawn to social post copy that draws them in or makes them feel something. Get creative so that when people visit your page for the first time and look at your posts, they can’t help but give you a follow.
Make sure your bio and feed look attractive. People move fast on social media, so make sure your account is informational and eye-catching at first glance to grab more followers.
Utilize Sources
Looking to sources beyond your social media accounts can help you gain traffic.
If you’re a company that sends out regular email newsletters, always add social media buttons that link back to your social media pages. This is a way to capture an audience you know is already interested in your brand but may not be following you yet.
The same thing goes for your website. Ensure you have social media buttons visible on your site that can link people to your social accounts. This is a great way to make your website visitors aware of your social media.
Use social media influencers! A social media influencer is an established user that has credibility in a specific industry. Influencers have a large following and power to encourage action or behavior in their followers.
Build your social media influence by hiring influencers. They can promote your products and services to their following, which will help increase awareness of your brand. There are a few types of influencers you can choose from:
- Celebrity influencers: Well-known influencers who have gained their following from their celebrity status.
- Consumer Influencers: Influencers who gained large followings due to their relatability.
- Micro-influencers: Influencers who are trusted subject matter experts.
- Content creators: Bloggers, photographers, and vloggers can send your products to them to share with their readers or viewers.
Be Smart About Posting
Your posts have a lot to do with the amount of social media influence you’ll have. Your posts should be consistent and appropriate.
Don’t Over-post
While you want to post consistency to stay relevant, you also don’t want to. annoy your followers by posting too often. This will make them unfollow you. When your social media followers decrease, so does your brand’s social media influence.
Have Something New to Share
There’s a lot of content out there on social media. Do not just post the same thing you see another brand posting. You should be looking at your competitors to get a feel for what they are doing or get inspiration, but put in the work to make sure your brand’s content is fresh and unique.
There is a lot of information and “noise” on social media. Be original and stand out from the crowd!
If you’re going to re-post, share, or re-tweet a post from another source, add your own commentary. This gives your brand a voice that your followers can relate to and interact with. When your brand has a personality people can latch onto, you increase your influence.
Create Shareable Content
Social media platforms offer an option for followers to share the content you post. Make sure your content is not too long and is digestible for readers. Offer something useful like an infographic or a video.
Your goal is to increase sharing opportunities. The more people share your social media content, the more your brand’s voice, message, products, or services are being put out there. Make your content so compelling that people want their friends and family to see it too.
Write catchy captions and take and post beautiful pictures. If you are working on an Instagram campaign, share your Instagram posts on your other social media platforms to help boost engagement and sharing opportunities.
Be Human
Followers want to see humans behind your post. Humanize your brand by posting behind-the-scenes photos, fun videos of staff awards your company earns, and highlights of the differences your brand is making in the community.
People don’t want to follow or engage with a brand that has no personality or human element. Once you start interacting this way and sharing content that reminds them of the human element of your brand, you’ll build more engaged audiences.
Produce Action-Inspiring Posts
Think about the types of posts your followers will want to engage with.
Maybe you can post a graphic that asks a question they can respond to in the comment section. Or, you can post a giveaway or contest that they can get involved in. Having them tag friends and sharing the post on their story is a great way to get your followers to increase your brand’s awareness and influence as they share it with their followers.
Engage Always
Content is important on social media, but the customer service aspect of social media is also important.
Reply to All Feedback
You should respond to every question, comment, concern, review, or request you receive on social media. These can come in the form of a review post, a direct message, or a post comment. Monitor your pages every day to catch and respond to this type of feedback.
When new viewers see that you are engaging and answering questions, they’ll be more likely to give you a follow. This also builds trust.
Whether it is positive or negative feedback, have a game plan for how you want to handle your feedback. You can create templated responses for different types of feedback your brand receives so they are ready to go.
Spark Dialogue
You should also be actively trying tactics to gauge sentiment from your followers.
You can gather feedback through Stories. Your followers will love that you care about their opinions, which in turn helps you build stronger connections with them and have more social media influence.
Utilize polls and question stickers in your Instagram stories in order to learn more about your audience. This will get people talking, and you will learn how to deliver content that your followers want to see. When your brand posts align with your audience’s feelings and interests, it’s a win-win for everyone.
Creating a more engaging experience for users makes them more likely to follow your page. Social media platforms are always changing, so ask for feedback on a regular basis.
Start Boosting Your Social Media Influence
Building and boosting your social media influence can be intimidating, especially if you are just starting out. It will not happen overnight, but with consistency and hard work, you can slowly increase engagement and influence.
Once you work on increasing followers, posting the right content, and interacting with users, you will be on your way to having more power and impact. Use your power to have a positive influence in the social media space!
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