Over the last several years I’ve seen masters of social media rack up tons of followers.
I’ve always been curious to how they’ve done it and I’ve tried to do it myself. I think I’ve done alright with it, but there is still much to learn.
In this post I’d like to share some of the ways I think the biggest social media success stories out there get followers, keep followers and use that community to make money.
There is one thing to mention ahead of time… Some people with large social media followers are well known outside of social media. When you already have an audience it’s easier to get followers. If you have another channel for promoting yourself it’s easier. I don’t mean to take away anything from these people, but we can’t all be sports stars or TV stars.
So these are tips for some of the rest of us.
1. Update Often (More Than You Think)
It’s incredible how often the most popular people on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks update. It seems like they update their feeds all the time. It’s amazing how they can do it, but it certainly seems to be a reason why people follow them.
The more important thing may be to remember that you have to be interesting to your audience. If you can figure that part out then people are going to want content from you all the time. You could update ever second and people will want more.
I see this when I follow a few football fans during football season. They watch their favorite teams and comment throughout the game. I watch the feed nonstop and want more and more. Some of these people have gone from fans to writers and people inside the NFL industry. They have grown their followers an incredible amount and part of it seems to be how often they update.
2. Add Your Personality And Emotion
It’s hard to get people to understand you if you’re not adding some of your own personality and emotion. It’s scary to put yourself out there, but if you do it you’ll be more endearing to people. Some won’t like it, but many others will like it and it’s those people that really matter.
Do it not only in your social media, but also in your content marketing including your blog, guides and videos. People love to know that there are real people behind the logos and not just drones in cubicles.
3. Don’t Give It All Away
This one is a bit of an art, but if you can pull it off you’ll do really well.
I like to think of The Snippet Strategy with this one. The people I like to follow on social media are great at giving great snippets of information that have value alone, but those snippets make you want more. And the way to get more is to check out the person’s website where the really good information is.
You have to give your social media followers something. Give them some good things and then give them the really good things on your blog or website.
This is like the NFL insider that gives really good, breaking news (see below) on Twitter, but has more details on SportsCenter later on in the day.
4. Join Discussions And Community Topics
The biggest stars are always up on the latest “in” things in social media. This includes TV shows, world events and all kinds of things.
I follow some golfers on social media and it can be weird when they start talking about the Olympics or the latest TV surprise, but it’s also endearing. It gives a little insight into their personality and who they are outside of what they’re most known for. It’s a way to connect with people on a deeper level.
But beyond that is the fact that when you talk about other things you’re tapping into different communities. And those communities could become fans of yours when they discover who you are.
5. Break News
This one is difficult, but if you’re able to get scoops, even if they’re about yourself, you can get followers. When you’re the source of information you can get a lot of followers on social media.
Even small companies can do this. It could be the launch of a new product or service. It could be the announcement of an award you’ve won. There are all kinds of things you could announce – large and small. It all works to make people want to follow you so they can get more news in the future. They won’t ant to miss out.
6. Tell People To Unfollow You
Finally, tell people to unfollow you.
As you get more followers you’re going to get some detractors. There are a lot of trolls out there. Ignore them for the most part, but when a few take things too far go ahead and show them where the unfollow button is.
I never understood why someone would follow a person only to insult them. It makes no sense.
The interesting thing with telling people to unfollow you is that you’ll endear yourself to those that feel the same way that you do. You’ll make those bonds even stronger and your community will grow.
Conclusion
You don’t have to try all of these things or do them all at once to get followers. They all can work, but that doesn’t mean they can all work for you.
Try them out one at a time and see what works best for you. When you find a way to get followers that works for you then build on that strategy and keep going until your community is large and sending you tons of traffic and new business.