7 Ways to Grow Your Social Media Audience

You're tagging social media posts and receiving steady followers, but you don't have a decade to wait for your business to become profitable. You need to grow your social media audience now to generate leads, fulfill more orders, and funnel cash into marketing. Nothing beats the methods people have used since the dawn of the Internet, but you can try a few experimental techniques along the way.

1. Include Visuals

Have you ever scrolled through a long article or a Twitter feed with no pictures? Eventually, the text starts blurring together. Text-only posts are easy to miss when you're wading through social media. However, images grab your attention- you might like or share them if they're appealing enough.

You don't need detailed illustrations for each post. Sometimes, all you need is text over a background. Your blog post's title, positioned over a picture of clouds, drives more engagement than a raw link, and images provide insight into the post's topic.

Visuals are also easier to share. Would you prefer copying and pasting text into your group chat or saving a picture and uploading it in seconds? You'll also see the image in your camera roll later, reminding you about the company that uploaded it.

For consistent branding, create an image library. This may include:

1. Logos
2. Templates
3. Fonts
4. Custom graphics
5. Photoshoots
6. Color schemes

These assets build a story so your profiles don't look like miscellaneous scrapbooks. You can start with free stock photos, but consider investing in professional artists and photographers. They'll create distinct graphics that visitors don't see anywhere, strengthening your brand.

2. Share Popular Content

Watch your engagement numbers to see what your audience enjoys. If discussion posts rack up hundreds of likes and comments, maybe you need more discussions. Entertained people engage more and recommend your profile to their friends.

You can even release a survey that asks visitors what they want to see. Boost your responses by adding a reward at the end, such as a 10% off coupon. Commenting on social media can be intimidating, but anonymous surveys help customers express their true thoughts.

Of course, you don't have to cater to their every whim. Followers enjoy memes, but if your page is an endless joke feed, you'll become a meme repository instead of a business profile. Remember that most followers aren't trained marketers.

However, you can discuss their thoughts with your marketing team. If infographics perform well, you could add more infographics to your calendar or incorporate them into existing posts. Consider eliminating content that receives the least engagement. This frees up time and effort for posts that visitors enjoy.

Advertisements usually don't blow up unless they go viral but don't think you have to remove them--after all, you're still promoting your company. Instead, alternate promotions with popular pieces.

3. Build Your Audience Organically

Websites that sell followers claim they have a quick way to grow your social media audience. Some bots look like real people, and adding ten thousand followers makes your brand look famous. More credibility means more followers, so why not? Your audience still includes some real people.

While your follower count looks impressive at first glance, anyone who checks your followers will find thousands of bots, tanking your credibility. Additionally, some platforms periodically sweep for bots. When you lose 200,000 followers overnight, everyone knows that something's up.

Likewise, bots don't translate to engagement. You could pay for likes, comments, and shares, but at that point, you could hire a marketing agency to earn a genuine audience. Both options cost money, but only one generates real human interaction.

Fortunately, social media platforms have pools of millions of followers--and you only need a fraction of those to succeed. Simple ways to find an audience include:

1. Posting consistently
2. Using relevant hashtags
3. Asking questions in your captions
4. Buying social media ads
5. Including SEO keywords in your blogs
6. Responding to comments
7. Browsing your competitors' profiles for ideas

For more in-depth advice, learn social media marketing tips for hotels.

4. Initiate Conversations

Replies and comments sections offer another avenue for free promo. LinkedIn users employ this technique for networking, but you could also use it to snag customers. One post could earn hundreds of thousands of views--and when people see your thoughtful response, they might browse your profile.

If you've ever seen brands talking to each other on Twitter/X, they follow the same process. Someone visits Wendy's profile because their tweet was funny, then sees McDonald's and Starbucks joking in the replies and decides to check them out, too. A single reply chain promotes a dozen corporations.

However, don't post "Check out my business!" everywhere. The platform might mark your response as spam, and that doesn't stimulate discussion anyway. Instead, respond like an ordinary person with a layer of professionalism.

Follow companies and influencers in your industry, then engage in their discussions. You could congratulate leaders, answer questions, share business updates, offer advice, crack jokes and leave supportive messages. They might even follow you back and reciprocate.

You can also approach potential customers but don't jump on strangers with three followers. They'll assume that you're a spam bot. Find creators with large followings who already contribute to the conversation.

5. Collaborate with Micro-influencers

Micro-influencers are niche creators with fifty thousand followers or fewer. Once, businesses favored online celebrities, but trends are shifting toward smaller audiences.

At first, hiring microinfluencers sounds counterintuitive. Why advertise to ten thousand followers when you could reach a million? But microinfluencers have more intimate relationships with their audience. Their comment sections have real discussions, not a spew of trolls and spam bots. As a result, fans trust their recommendations.

Additionally, macroinfluencers usually appeal to general audiences. Their follower account doesn't mean much when most of those people are outside your demographic. Which would you prefer to reach: 1% of 100,000 or 70% of 20,000?

Plus, massive profiles tend to attract bots and sometimes buy fake followers--which we already know is a shady practice. Smaller influencers have a wider community of genuine people. They're also more likely to read your direct message (DM) and thoughtfully reply. Try getting a response from Kim Kardashian!

Influencers advertise your business in exchange for money or free products. They can directly promote your company or frame it as an honest review or collaboration. Most platforms require creators to tag sponsored content, but if you sell a great product or service, your collaborator's glowing reviews are sincere.

6. Promote Your Own Content

Your social media profiles can advertise each other, not just with a handful of links in your bio. One common method is screenshotting a strong tweet and sharing it on your Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn profiles. People see your professional tweets and follow you for more.

Likewise, you can share TikTok videos with your handle attached on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Viewers learn you're active on TikTok while enjoying a funny or informative clip.

Repurposing the same content across multiple platforms also saves time and money. Remember that not everything is interchangeable--long-form blog posts don't translate well to Instagram, and TikTok isn't great for still photos.

7. Educate, Entertain and Inform

Tips and tricks help you grow your social media audience, but ultimately, nothing replaces polished, high-level content. Your audience needs a reason to keep following when your viral video gets old or your giveaway ends.

Try adding these techniques to your strategy:

1. Plan your content calendar at least a month ahead so your creators have plenty of time to work, edit, and review.
2. Find ways to educate your clients, such as recipe ideas and how-to videos.
3. Research your blog posts, and add sources that back up your claims.
4. Hire human artists whenever possible. AI image generators look tempting, but the results often have strange artifacts and misshapen elements that make your campaign look lazy.
5. Always follow through with contests and giveaways.
6. Proofread everything, including captions, to ensure perfect spelling and grammar.

Similarly, provide a clean, accessible website that makes your content easy to view. Web designers can even build social media widgets right into your site.

Invest in Web Design

Your website markets itself. An appealing site generates sales without expensive tricks--just intuitive web design. Contact E-Marketing Associates to discuss web design for small businesses.