Increasing social media following is one way of growing your brand. It is one of the easiest and it is all free.

Social media has grown exponentially over recent years. Many social media companies are now multi-billion dollar companies. This shows the influence social media has and its uptake in society.

If you look at the numbers, you will be surprised.

·     Over 3.5 billion people use social media worldwide. This is around 45% of the global population

·     The average time spent on social media is 3 hours per day

·     90.4% of millennials, 77.5% of Gen X, and 48.2% of Baby Boomers use social media.

·     73% of marketers consider social media a good marketing platform.

·     54% of people use social media to research products

·     71% of people have a good customer experience with companies using social media

·     Over 2.32 billion people use Facebook every month.

·     Over 1.6 billion use it every day.

·     The average time spent on Facebook is 58 minutes.

·     Instagram has over 1 billion monthly users.

·     Twitter has over 330 million, Google + over 395 million, LinkedIn over 303 million, Snapchat over 301 million, Reddit over 330 million, and Pinterest over 291 million monthly users.

Looking at the numbers, you cannot avoid using social media to grow your brand. It gives you almost half of the world population on your phone.

It is also important to note that growing your social media following can be an uphill task especially for those who lack knowledge. Many people start pages that never get 1000 likes.

No matter what you intend to do with your social media pages and profiles, increasing your following will be beneficial to you.

Although social media does not pay users for having more following, you can easily monetize your profile or page if you have a substantial number of followers.

Here are some of the ways you can monetize your social media pages and profiles:

·     Becoming an influencer. You can get paid to influence people to make a certain decision.

·     Direct marketing for your products. You may choose to start a business and market your products to your followers.

·     Send more people to your website. Social media is very effective in sending people to landing pages of websites.

·     Build your industrial authority. You can then get invitations to speak in seminars, conferences, or appear in television programs.

·     Get quality networks that can connect you professionally and socially.

Therefore, increasing your social media following brings more income, influence, and exposure.

I struggled to grow my Facebook likes to 1000 for over 4 years. When I finally discovered and followed these secrets, my following grew exponentially.

I could get 500 new organic likes overnight. It amazed me how small tricks can have such tremendous effects.

Here are 7 easy ways of increasing your social media following:

1. Optimize your profile information for relevance

This is the most important thing when it comes to growing your social medial following.

Your profile name, picture, cover picture, category, website, and description should reflect what you stand for. They should relate to your followers and why they followed you.

First, your name should be professional. I recommend you use your original name. Abbreviating your middle name will portray even more professionalism.

Your profile picture should also be professional. If your site is meant to educate, getting a professional official picture is not an option. Do not use selfies as profile pictures.

You can use a more descriptive picture as your cover picture. You can have a banner that shows who you are, what you have done in the past, and your current standing. It can also include your email and website.

If you are growing a social media page, getting the right category is crucial. Also, let your page description be updated at all times.

In a nutshell, let your profile represent you and how you want your followers to see you.

2. Join relevant groups

This is also very important when increasing your social media following. You have to join online social groups that are relevant to your page.

Groups have like-minded people. People join them because they specifically address their needs.

Therefore, joining them can give you thousands of individuals who are ready to consume the information you are offering.

For example, if you are an entrepreneur, joining business groups and becoming active there will give you loyal followers.

You do not have to make them demand your content because the desire is already there.

Search for relevant groups, join them, and start sharing your page posts regularly. If the information is useful to the members of the group, they will follow your page.

3. Use lots of images

Pictures communicate better than words. In the social media world, pictures are darling to everyone.

If you do not know this, try posting a picture without text and text without pictures, and test them. Observe the number of likes and shares. You will find that pictures get almost 10 times the number of engagement.

Using infographics will go a long way toward pleasing potential followers. Post several relevant images to complement your text.

Caution: Always use high-quality images. Do not post screenshots. Using low-quality images is worse than using no images.

4. Increase the readability of your text

Another way of increasing social media following is to increase the online reading experience for your followers and prospects.

You can do this by writing short paragraphs and increasing the white spaces in your text. Short paragraphs will increase the reading experience of the readers.

I use one or two short sentences per paragraph. I then skip a line after every paragraph. This increases the white spaces and this is good for the readers.

5. Avoid grammatical errors

Grammatical errors can reduce your authority online. With less authority, fewer people will like or share your content. It also means that fewer people will follow your page because no one is sharing your content.

If your grammar is wanting, you can use free online editing tools like Grammarly to correct the mistakes. Double-check your content for mistakes always before you post it.

6. Focus on 2 or 3 social media sites

There are hundreds of social media sites today. If you want to grow your following, you do not need to focus on all of them. This will waste your energy and give you fewer results.

Start with 2 or 3 sites and gain loyal following and authority before you think of anything else. Personally, I use Facebook and LinkedIn. This is where my focus is.

The sites you focus on should be determined by your objective. It can also be determined by the industry you are operating on. Different social sites require different content.

·     If you are targeting professionals, LinkedIn would be your ideal site.

·     For fashion, Instagram and Pinterest can do.

·     For politics and news, Twitter will be a good platform.

·     Facebook is kind of general.

7. Post regularly

You need to post regularly to build credibility and trust with your followers. Your followers should know when to expect a post from you.

I suggest you post content daily if you are going to have faster growth. It may cost you time and focus but it usually pays off. Do not sleep without posting something because your followers are waiting.

Bonus tips

·     Give high-quality content and do not repeat yourself.

·     Use an encouraging rather than a rebuking tone.

·     Do not post long content often. Short content attracts more engagement.

·     Use a catchy title in case you use any.

·     Reply to comments and love them.

·     Keep professional relationships and avoid turning them into romantic ones.

·     Use quotes.

·     Capitalize keywords for more exposure.

·     Use a consistent hashtag.

·     Avoid changing your profile picture often.

Conclusion

You can easily grow your social media following if you follow these simple tips. As social media grows, make sure you also grow your following.

The above tips are best practices that you can employ in your social media strategy to grow. Remember, more likes and shares equal more income, influence, and exposure.

With that, increasing your social medial following is not an option but a necessity.