Like we said before, it’s important to focus on the numbers game, but equally as important to focus on organic, and not forced, growth. Forced growth could be defined as following 125,603 people and keeping your fingers crossed that they all follow you back. Organic growth is about building connections, creating a community around your brand. The difference is that with forced growth, people don’t often feel like they have a connection or relationship, and therefore will feel less inclined to truly listen to you.
So, how exactly to you create massive, organic growth in the social media sphere? Well, it takes patience and a firm understanding of the following tips.
#1: Create something worth paying attention to. It may seem like an obvious tip, but even after social media had its year and the hype has begun to die down and it has entered mainstream acceptance in the marketing industry, there are still people making the same mistakes. In order to get people to start paying attention, make it about their favorite subject: themselves. Instead of talking about you (or your brand, in this case), ask for their opinions or embrace topics that are relevant to what you do and to your audience. Then, to get them to keep paying attention, it’s essential to open up and share. Give fans and followers an inside look into your organization and the people behind it.
#2: Build connections. Focusing on your audience will large in part aid in creating a connection with your consumers, but there are other strategies that can help turn regular old customers into brand advocates. Contests where winners are chosen and featured are one way to build a connection with a select few. Giveaways and promotions (such as discount codes) are another way to keep your audience’s connection and help build an affinity towards your brand. Another simple strategy that will help build relationships is just simply to acknowledge your fans and followers. Did they retweet your latest blog post? Let them know that you’re appreciative with a thank you tweet or direct message.
#3: Reach out. One of the easiest ways to gain a large, genuine audience is to promote, promote, promote. Link up with influencers in your market on Twitter and work out a deal where they tweet and blog about your company or product. Do something innovative and unique enough in the social media sphere that your story is guaranteed to attract some press. When people find out about you, and search you out on social media to find out more, the connection is a lot more genuine than if they’re just thinking “Hmm, I guess I’ll follow them.”
The last and final step, is to have patience and be persistence. A large fan base and following won’t happen overnight, but it if you keep it up and constantly experiment with new strategies, it will happen.
photo: foxofthetrail
NPR published an article a couple months ago about the profitability of social networks and how often the best way to pursue profits is to charge users, instead of using ads.