Mastering Social Media (1 of 3) - Gaining More Followers

You’ve probably heard of the many benefits that social media can provide for your company. But, despite your best efforts, you’re struggling to receive those benefits. To your knowledge, you’re already posting the right things, at the right times, on the right channels. No matter what you do, you just can’t seem to get more people to follow your pages.

Let’s assume you are posting the content your audience wants: informative blog posts, relevant technology-related facts and statistics, newsworthy events, product and service offerings, promotions, company culture posts. You’re taking your time and crafting the perfect posts, including visuals, and links to learn more. You’re interacting with your audience, and responding to all comments and messages in a timely manner.

All of this is correct - you are doing the right things. So, why isn’t your follower count increasing?

Why People Follow You

If you want to increase your follower count, you should know why people are choosing to follow your social media channels in the first place. Here are a few of the common reasons:

• The convenience - They’re already using these platforms on a frequent - sometimes daily - basis. Following you here will allow them to receive updates as they go through their routine of checking their social media feeds.
• The quest for knowledge - Because of the outstanding services we know that you are providing for your clients, they likely see you as a subject matter expert for all things tech-related. As such, they should want to learn as much as they can from you.
• The possibility of deals - Many companies - especially B2C ones - will post social media-specific deals from time to time; the type of deals that are only advertised on a business’ social media channels. This practice isn’t exclusive to B2C companies though: B2B companies can do this as well. You may not, but the possibility that you may in the future can be too good to pass up.
• Updates from you - Your ‘star’ clients are going to want to know when you release new product and service offerings as soon as you do, as well as other general news about your company. Emails can be easy to miss, but it’s easy to check for updates on social media.
• The ‘personal touch’ - Your website, like most businesses, is probably centered around showcasing your expertise in delivering the products and services you provide. But, that’s not all your company is. You probably have a lot of content that may not fit with the rest of your website. B2B decision makers want to see what makes your company human. That is, your employees and your company culture. Social media is the place to really showcase that.

Why You Want People To Follow You

There are a lot of benefits that you can receive from having a lot of followers on social media. To explain them to you, we’ll let these statistics do the talking:

• 70% of the U.S. population has a profile on at least one social network.
• On average, users spend two hours on social media sites every day.
• Adults aged 18-34 make up 95% of the people who follow brands via social media (so, in time, these people will make up most of your target audience!)
• Customers report spending 20% – 40% more money on brands that have interacted with them on social media.
• 71% of consumers who have a good social media service experience with a company are likely to recommend them to others.
• In 2015, Facebook influenced 52% of consumers’ online and offline purchases.

Now, you should understand the why. But what about the how?

Promoting Your Social Media Channels

The first step in gaining more followers is to let people know that your company is on social media. Here are a few ways that you can do that:

• Make it easy to find you - It shouldn’t be difficult for people to find you. Include links to each of your social media pages on the top and bottom of your website, and on all relevant pages. Make sure that your usernames are consistent, and that your channel is branded to your company’s logo so that people who try to find you through Google or the platform’s search feature easily can.
• Run a social media awareness campaign - You can promote your social media channels to your clients and prospects through email, letters, postcards, and your newsletter.
• Include social icons on your marketing materials - At the bottom of your email blasts, link to your social media channels. On your printed newsletters, include a space to list your channel names so that recipients of your newsletter can easily find you. Be creative and include them tastefully so they don’t take away from what you’re trying to promote in the marketing piece.
• Connect with other pages - Like or follow relevant businesses and profiles. These could be other managed service providers like yourselves, or local business within your service area who you think would benefit from managed services (especially with Twitter). Remember - they’re probably monitoring people who are following their page just like you are!
• Use hashtags - Using relevant hashtags can help people who are interested in that particular topic find you.
• Cross-promote - You may have people who follow you on Twitter, but not on Facebook or LinkedIn. So, remind people on each of your platforms of the other ways that they can receive updates from you via social media.

Another way you can promote your business’ pages is to promote your social media posts themselves. The easiest way to do this would to be to boost your posts that you are already making. If you’re willing to put in the extra work, you can also run an advertising campaign though that platform and create content that encourages people to like or follow your page.

Anything Else?

If you need further help, we can help you promote your social media channels via your current marketing efforts, or by running a campaign designed specifically to direct new followers to your channels. Contact us today for help.