Audience is everything for digital marketers – after all, if you are going to invest so much time and resources into creating perfect content, what’s the point if there is no one there to read it?
Back in the early days of the Internet – even the early aughties – building an audience for your blog was painstaking, time consuming, and thoroughly earned, involving leaving thousands of relevant comments on other sites, publishing links and excerpts to others’ work, email and newslettering, and even trading links in the now extinct “blogrolls.”
These days, people seem to think you just need a digital ad budget to acquire your audience, but that overlooks the power and influence of organic engagement. Sometimes the best users, the most targeted, the most relevant, and the most engaged, do not come to you via a Facebook ad, but rather through an organic excahnge.
Using an organic approach to grow your social media audience results in authentic engagement and true consumer-loyalty. Sure you can buy fake engagement and attempt to buy consumer-loyalty, we’re not opposed to it. However when starting fresh or re-branding, an organic approach lays the groundwork for vast social media engagement and allows you to build your base of loyal online followers who we’re organically attracted to your brand.
We’ve spent many years working among leading Washington DC social media experts and Washington DC public relations firms; one of the main differentiators that sets Media Theory apart is our emphasis on organic strategies to helping clients authentically grow their social media audience. Our Media Theory PR team has compiled ten of our top organic strategies to help you grow your social media audience.
- KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
– first things first, you must know your audience and not just characterize your audience based on a hunch or presumption, but rather analytical data and digital reports that identify key demographic data on your audience. Knowing your audience helps you target and court other like-minded social media followers. - CREATE RELEVANT & RELATABLE CONTENT
–once you’ve identified and accurately profiled your audience, you can begin to create tailored content to speak directly to your audience. Producing relevant and relatable content not only increases your chances of engagement but also increases the chances of your content being shared. Having your followers share your content with their followers is the most effective way of growing your social media audience. Viral content is often content that is hyper relevant and relatable to the masses. - ASK
–asking is an organic tactic that is often overlooked. When organically growing your social media audience simply asking your Twitter followers to like your Facebook page and your Facebook fans to follow you on Twitter is an organic and easy way to grow your social media audience. - THE LAW OF RECIPROCITY
– when used effectively can result in returned engagement and increased visibility. Platforms such as Instagram is notorious for its high ROI as it relates to reciprocity. The chances of someone following you or liking your posts after you follow or like their post is extremely high. - CONSISTENCY
–successful social media marketing is built on consistency; consistency in your brand’s editorial design, web design, messaging, tone, and most importantly consistency in posting on social media. Social media campaigns that don’t post consistently run the risk of losing followers at a rapid rate. - TWO-WAY CONVERSATION
–conversation marketing is becoming an increasingly popular way to increase social media engagement and social media share-ability, which results in attracting new followers. Sparking an online conversation is a great way to organically grow your social media following. - NEWSJACKING
–is all about inserting your voice into trending social media topics. There are brands that have amassed a huge social media following, simply by newsjacking trending topics. - CROSS PROMOTE & CROSS SHARE
–all social media outlets come with a bio section, here’s your opportunity to list your other social media handles, allowing your social media followers to find and follow you on other social media platforms. Screenshotting and sharing content from your other social media platforms is a great organic way of multiplying your social media followers. - USE A MULTIMEDIA APPROACH
– using a variety of videos, infographics, pictures, text, audio, gifs, music and other forms of media increases your share-ability and chances of tapping into your followers’ followers. - BE AUTHENTIC
–we saved the best for last. Authenticity wins every time. Online consumers are great at recognizing brands that come across like an automated robot versus brands that have an authentic brand personality. Remember that your social media followers are more than a number to add on to your social media audience; they are everyday people that resonate with authenticity rather than commercialized messaging.