Social media has become one of the emerging platforms to influence people all over the world. What started as a means to connect people with the help of the internet, has evolved into a means to market yourself or your brand. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are openly used for marketing products and companies. A company that has a wide social media following is often successful in providing its products to a large number of people. Not only businesses but individuals also tend to gain from social media accounts if they use it wisely. For example, you can make money on Pinterest.

Not only you can market your product in a better manner, but you can also improve your products by inviting feedback from about your products and services from your social media followers. However, growing social media following is not an easy task as it involves putting in efforts as well as time.

Here, we have listed out 7 steps to grow your social media following as a brand or as an individual:

1. Choose the social media platform wisely

The very first step towards growing social media presence is identifying the most suitable platform. There are several social media platforms out there like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. You need to identify the platform preferred by the followers you want. There is no point in growing a social media following on a platform where your preferred audience is not present.

2. Create a content marketing strategy

Having an account on different social platforms and posting regularly won’t help you in growing an audience that would be helpful for your organization. You need to chart out a content marketing strategy for different social media platforms your brand is present on. It is extremely important to serve the content your audience wants in order to grow your social media following. Your content marketing strategy must list out the type of content you will put across your social media channels.

3. Create interesting profiles

One of the major focus areas while trying to grow a social media following is creating interesting and complete profiles across different social media platforms. A complete profile is important for growing your social media presence. Introduce your brand or your organization in a crisp and short paragraph. Also, make sure that you include a few relevant keywords to drive the audience to your profile. Another aspect of creating interesting profiles on social media is personal branding. Make sure that you have your profile’s cover picture and display picture showcase your brand.

4. Communicate with your audience

It is essential to connect with your audience and the most effective means to do it is to interact with them. Ensure that you reply to the comments of your followers on your posts and also interact with them on their posts. The entire idea behind interacting with your audience is to make them feel that you care about their opinion. Once your followers know that you care about their opinion, they will start taking interest in your brand.

5. Link your social media accounts to your website

The entire point of growing an audience on social media platforms is driving more potential customers to your business. An important part of growing your social media following is adding the links to your website/business on your social media accounts. These buttons can contribute to your increasing number of followers on different social media platforms. Make sure that you place such buttons that lead your audience to your website in places where they are easily visible to them.

6. Use hashtags

Using hashtags for attracting people towards your social media accounts has proved to be an extremely beneficial strategy. In order to grow your social media following, make sure that you are using hashtags on Facebook, Instagram and Google Plus to attract more people to your accounts. However, do not overuse hashtags as it can be annoying for some people. Striking a balance is important for growing a social media following.

7. Optimize the content you are posting

One of the important parts of growing a social media presence is optimizing the content you are putting it. Try including relevant keywords in your account to drive more audience to your social media account. This can prove beneficial for your business as you get a chance to feature your social media profile on search engine result pages if you are using correct keywords.