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Accomplish October 10, 2019
Tips to follow to get more follows.
Social media is the defining point of this century. While other generations had the industrial or Internet revolution, we have Facebook and Instagram. So it makes sense why millions of people are turning to social media to grow their influence. But with so many accounts and platforms, how do you stand out as a social media influencer?
While we can’t guarantee social media success, we can get you on the right track. Here’s ENTITY’s guide to the basics of becoming a social media influencer.
Every social media account needs a niche— especially when it comes to Instagram or YouTube. Other users want to know what to expect when they see your account. If a political news account suddenly starting posting photos of animals and office supplies, their base probably wouldn’t be too happy.
Furthermore, users are attracted to specificity. Someone who likes vacations and hates makeup might follow a travel account, but they’ll probably avoid a makeup-and-travel account. The more you focus on a single interest, the more people you can reach.
Analytics is also a serious essential of social media. According to Crimson Hexagon, Gohfar F. Khan described social media analytics as “the art and science of extracting valuable hidden insights from vast amounts of semistructured and unstructured social media data to enable informed and insightful decision making” in his book Seven Layers of Social Media.
I like to describe analytics as understanding social media data and the tools to measure it. Without analytics, you wouldn’t know the amount of accounts a post reaches, when your base is online, which posts had the best engagement rate, where your engagements came from and more.
And without this knowledge, you can’t know if your content appeals to followers or not.
Luckily, most platforms have in-app analytics programs. Instagram and Facebook have Insights, Twitter has Twitter Analytics, LinkedIn Page administrators can easily see built-in page insights and YouTube has their own version of analytics as well.
The next step is knowing how to use them. Generally, the main two metrics to check are engagement and reach.
Check reach if you’re testing hashtags, social media schedule or anything else that involves trying to get more followers. If you used two different sets of hashtags on two similar posts, and one post had a higher reach, you know that set of hashtags reached more accounts than the other.
If you’re testing what type of content your followers like best, check both engagement and reach. The number of engagements divided by the reach is the amount of interactions you had per post. For example, if a post reached 1000 accounts, and 200 of them liked my post, the engagement rate of that post is .20, or 20%.
Once you adjust your content, you should see a higher amount of reach and engagements, as well as a higher follower count. As your account continues to grow, keep analyzing these measurements and adjusting as necessary.
Continue to post consistently throughout all your social media accounts. The more active you are, the more followers you’ll reach. While you should avoid overwhelming your followers’ or subscribers’ feeds, know that users want consistent content. Posting only once a week will not gather the natural growth you need.
Also know that the more platforms you utilize, the bigger your influence will become. Instagram and YouTube is a particularly popular combination of platforms that continue to feed off each other’s influence. After all, take a look at popular influencer Lele Pons. She started on Vine, but her YouTube skits and 13 million subscribers gained her 31.9 million followers on Instagram.
But it’s not enough to post consistently. A social media influencer also has to know when their followers are online. According to Coschedule data released by Hubspot.com, the best time to post on Instagram is 9 AM, Facebook is 1 or 3 PM, LinkedIn is 5-6 PM and Twitter is 12 and 5-6 PM.
However, these times can vary depending on your demographic. Usually, analytics can help in determining when your followers are online. The “Audience” tab in Instagram Insights is particularly good at analyzing your follower activity.
Lastly, collaborations are a great way to get more influence. This is especially true for YouTube and Instagram. By using Instagram takeovers or making videos with other famous influencers, you can extend your reach to another influencer’s audience, and they can do the same. It’s a win-win situation on all sides.
Those are ENTITY’s basic tips on becoming a social media influencer. While there are many other techniques you can utilize to increase your chances at social media growth, if you follow these steps, you’re on your way.
And stay persistent! It takes time to grow. If you keep at it, learn from your mistakes and adjust your content, you’ll get there eventually.
