How to build a following on Social Media
- Erica Johns and Charlie Wheeler-Osman
- Aug 30, 2017
- 10 min read
Building a following on your website
Creating a website is easy, but getting people to visit your website is the hard part and some people forget this and soon give up on their site. It can take months or even years to get anywhere with your website, especially if you are trying to make a living through your site. You need to not only have an aesthetically pleasing website, but you need to have social media platforms in order to share your content on. There are a number of ways that you can build your own following on social media and we are going to share with you what we do and some others that we haven't yet done but you can try for yourself and let us know how good they are!
SOCIAL MEDIA
The power of social media today is spectacular and it is one of the best tools to build a following on your website, to get the most out of your social media accounts, read on below!
Facebook is one of the largest and widest used social media platforms across the entire world so as you can imagine there are multiple ways in which you can use your page to promote your website further, including:
Facebook Groups
Create your own Facebook group, dedicate an entire page to your blog content, add your current friends to the group and share your content from your blog. Post as often as you like, the more you post, the more you will be noticed on other peoples homepages. But remember, don't post waffle, always use original creative content to ensure that you don't lose your likes/followers on your pages.
Another way you can make use of Facebook groups, is to join other existing groups that relate to your content for example if your blog is like ours, travel related then join groups such as The Travel Hub and post your blog content! so other group members can check out your content!
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are a way you can reach viewers that aren't currently followers on your page, you can create this advert and choose your audience, you can be as specific or as broad as you like. Add a call to action to give your readers a reason to click for more, ensure your advert stands out to you, would you top scrolling your feed for this advert? If you wouldn't no one else will.
Facebook Pages
Create your own Facebook page like our page, just like a group you can use this as an area to share your content from you blog directly, send requests to your friends list to like your page and get them to share their content on their own pages.
On your profile
Share the content from your Facebook page on your own profile and your current friends will see these posts, maybe hit like and then it will come up on their friends profiles to reach even more people.
Twitter is is one of the largest online news and social networking services there is today, where users post tweets and interact with each other through messages so as you can imagine this is one of the best tools to use in order to promote your website.
Use of Hashtags #
One of the best tools on Twitter today is the use of the #'s, these hashtags can potentially be trending worldwide. You can either create your own so when people search for example "Travel" your tweet will come up in you include #Travel in your tweet. Or you can use a hashtag that is currently trending, as long as it is slightly relevant for example "#TuesdayMotivation", you could accompany with an image of a beach that you have taken, and add a link to your website, simple!
Share content
Sharing your blog posts on your twitter page is a simple but very effective way to use your page, try adding an image to your post, it will make the post stand out on their homepage.
Follow appropriate people
Following the right people is one of the most important things on any social media account, not only so the right people see your content but so the right people can retweet/like your posts, this then boosts your following, meaning that their followers will now see your content as well.
Links in Bio
Add a link to your website in the website section of your bio, whenever someone clicks on your profile there is then a direct link to your website, it's so simple but some people miss the simplest of features sometimes.
Message your followers
The best way for any business or website to grow is to know the right people, so why not message your followers and speak to them about your website, you never know you may get another viewer or even a subscriber for it!
Automated message
On some days you may get multiple new followers and you need a way to keep on top of them all, so simply set yourself up with a thank you for following automated message. The message doesn't have to be lengthy, just a short and sweet way to have your first interaction with your followers, it's a simple gesture and some of your followers will really appreciate it and it makes your life a lot easier so you don't have to scroll through and individually send messages yourself. We use a website called Crowdfire, it's a cheap way to keep on top of your slowly growing page. Set yours up today - www.crowdfireapp.com. You can use this tool on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and more!
Reply to tweets
Sending direct messages is a great way to build your following, but how about replying to peoples tweets, giving your opinions or views, interact with them directly, share your images. As long as you reply with an appropriate response to their tweets, you cannot go wrong here!
Google is obviously, to this day the most successful search engine, but they also have extra features including Google+ that allows you to discover relevant Google+ Communities. You can do a quick search on your Google+ page and choose the most active ones and start engaging there, post your blog posts, start conversations with people, post your photos and much much more. Start engaging today and create an account with Google+.
Pinterest is used to post images which you can then add Links to that will then direct your traffic directly to your website.
So if you add make a post you can then add your links to the captions below your pins, you can do this by adding a URL to a pin's description and clicking the red "Save Pin" button. Adding a link to the description will then encourage people to click through your link and drive traffic to your website, it's a really simple way to gain more viewers.
LINKED IN is a very business friendly website however there are ways that you can use this platform for promoting your blog without certain users saying you're treating it like Facebook, because unfortunately there are people that comment things like this on posts they don't approve of... So just be wary on where and what you post.
Connect with the right people
The main tip on linked in and how to avoid negative comments or followers, is to follow the right people. Following the top financial businessmen when you are a travel blogger isn't the right way to go, follow fellow travellers like yourself! Then simply share your content on your page, right regular posts with images attached or copy your blog posts into an article and post it with a link to your website. Either way,as long as you connect with the right audience, you will get results!
Join Linked In groups/communities
Similar to Facebook ,you can join groups and communities on Linked In, you can request to join them and await approval by the admin, once accepted you can share your content in the groups. Again, only request to join groups that are appropriate to yourself and the style of blog you have, so as obvious as it is, don't join a football group if you are a fashion blogger...
Instagram is becoming increasingly more popular today, so use it to your advantage:
Post original content
For example if you are a travel blogger, chances are you will have thousands of photos that you can post and share your experiences on where you have been. Don't just post the image, write a description of where this was taken and what you did there, draw your readers in with more than just an image. Use your best images, don't just post any old photo, make sure they are going to be something that will stop someone in there scrolling spree, stand out from the rest of the posts with your stunning photography.
Use your profiles bio
Use your bio to add a link to your website, unfortunately you are unable to add links to each individual post but by simply adding the link to your bio you can still get more viewers!
Instagram Ads
Just like Facebook you can add Instagram adverts, or you can link the two together, by linking your pages, you can create the exact same adverts on both social media platforms and the payment of the advert is usually cheaper when you do this. Create a stunning looking advert that will appear on peoples feeds and ensure it is something that you would also stop scrolling for, add a call to action to give the viewers an incentive to click to view more.
If you are a blogger, be a vlogger too! Youtube is the largest video sharing website in the world so why wouldn't you post your video content on here, add a link to your website and boom you have yourself more viewers! There are so many types of people, and some people prefer films to books, so therefore some people will prefer a vlog to a blog, so broadening your audience, may mean you have to face the camera every once in a while. Add a separate page on your website especially for these types of viewers, let them have a place on your website that targets the viewers that want to listen and not read.
Manage flitter is a website used to partner with Twitter, in order to Follow/Unfollow people with a limit of 1000 people of each, as Twitter itself does not let you follow this many people due to security restrictions on your account. You can do many things with this website such as:
> Sort your followers/following lists by a range of criteria
> Find new people to follow
> Find out when most of your followers are online and schedule tweets appropriately
> Answer "Who unfollowed me on Twitter"?
> Track who has unfollowed you
> Easily manage multiple Twitter accounts
And much more!
There are 3 different types of accounts you can set up, a freebie account, a pro account and a business account, depending on which features you wish to use the site for. Set up your account today and connect with your twitter account and start building your following.
Hootsuite is a website you can use to manage all of your social media platforms in one place, you can schedule posts across all your platforms all at once, you can schedule for that day or a specific date/time in the future. Just be aware that some of the platforms do have a word limit for example there are 140 characters on Twitter and Linked in with 600 characters. Sign up with Hootsuite - www.hootsuite.com
There are three plans, a free, a pro and a business plan, so depending on which best suites you will depend on which one you purchase but you can test them out with a free trial!
Through your blog
There are a huge number of ways you can direct traffic back to your blog, through your blog itself, as silly as that may sound!
Subscribe box
Simply by adding a subscribe to your blog box on your page, means you can send your readers an email every time you post so they never miss a post from you. New viewers will come on your site in time and if they like what they see, your subscription list will grow and grow. Add this feature to your page and your readers will think there is more to your blog, even if there isn't it's great to get their emails for future references when you do have Travel Guides, Fashion tips etc.
Gallery/Videos
By posting gripping photos and videos you are automatically going to draw in an audience, especially if you are a travel blogger, this is the main thing you cannot do wrong on your website. If they like what they see, they will keep coming back to see more, so make sure your page is filled with stunning photography.
Pop-Ups
I'm sure we can all agree that a pop-up is by far one of the most irritating features so make it a good one, grab their attention with your latest offer or give them an incentive like "receive free travel tips when you subscribe to our blog today"
Blog posts
Through each of your blog posts, why not add links subtly to redirect back to other posts, for example on our post for Top Things to do in Florence, we add a link at the end directing our readers to a blog post from when we were in Florence, simple but it then draws traffic back to other posts.
Through Wix, you can also view what posts are the more popular blog posts, use this to your advantage, keep sharing these posts and add links to other blog posts at the end of this one, keep the same one and notice the numbers growing on your individual blog post stats.
Through another website
Second Website
Do you have another website that you can use to share your content on? Well then, what are you waiting for, make a post to promote your other website!
Guest blog posts
If you don't have another website, connect with other bloggers on Facebook, Linked In, Twitter etc in groups or directly and see if anyone is interested in doing guest posts with you. You can do a post about each others pages on each others blogs, and therefore both of you will then build your following by using someone elses page. Blog post for a blog post is just as effective as a like for like system.
Other ways include:
Most people cannot stay away from their emails, due to work commitments, so if you can compile a good enough email list then why not send out your blogs to your contacts. At the end of you email, add all of your links into your signature, you may get some likes/subscribers out of it!
In person
Design and print out leaflets/fliers/business cards to post through doors, stick to lampposts etc, and somewhere on them add links to all your accounts on them.
GOOD LUCK!!
and Continue following us around the world!
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