For any brand page, the question of getting more fans or followers will come up sooner or later. While there are underhanded ways of obtaining followers (paying for fake followers is the main method
although we strongly advise against it for obvious reasons), the best way is to make your page more engaging for your fans. While this is a long-term strategy, the results are well worth it so here are five quick tips (and some guides below) to help you out.
Content, Content, Content
The golden rule of social media. If you don't have the basics in place, then it doesn't matter what you post, if it doesn't make people want to interact or share, your efforts aren't going to go far.
Posting links is all well and good, but make sure you mix it up a little. Post photos, videos, ask questions, make statements, crack a joke, respond to users. Just make sure you're giving people a reason to follow you in the first place, and adding value and variety to their news feeds is the way to go.
Know Your Audience
A lot of sites have either first or third-party analytics that will provide you with much information about your followers and fans. Knowing factors like age, location, profession and gender can help you determine the best type of updates to post and who will be most likely to read them. This way, you can adjust your content to be more appealing towards your biggest demographic.
Timing Is Everything
Tying into the last point, there's no point posting something if most people aren't going to see it. The majority of research out there suggests that early afternoon is generally the best time to post. However, you'll need to do your own research first to find out the best times for posting before you can do anything. This will involve trial and error for the most part, but
Another thing to take into consideration is timezones. More often than not, the majority of your followers will be located in the same, or close to the same timezone as you so you won't have to make major changes. However, if your fan base is more international, then you will need to experiment by posting at different times to measure engagement.
Be Consistent & Don't Spam
If you want people to pay attention to you, then you need to make sure they're expecting you to update. Nobody wants to follow an inactive or inconsistent account, so make sure you're posting regularly. On top of that, avoid tweeting in quick succession as it will mean that followers will get annoyed that their feed has been taken over with your updates. Also, it's more valuable to space out your tweets.
Hashtags
Really this is a Twitter and Instagram specific tip, but don't underestimate how valuable hashtags can be. Not only do hashtags provide context, but also gives non-followers the opportunity to discover your content. One hashtag is more than enough so don't spam users by throwing every hashtag you can think of.
Guides & Opinion
Since there are so many similar guide like this, here are some more tips and guides to sink your teeth into.
ReadWriteWeb has a quick guide about what and when to post on Instagram.
Jeff Bullas highlights ten ways you can increase fan engagement on Facebook.
OpenForum gives similar advice, but for Twitter this time.
Raka Interactive took the data from bit.ly's research and created a handy infographic based on its findings.
Marketing Pilgrim post explains the caveats behinds broad studies relating to post and the importance of doing your own research to find the best times.
Focusing on the best times to post, Jon Loomer explains on his blog why you shouldn't take such research literally.
ReadWriteWeb features again, this time it explains the purpose of hashtags.
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