Looking for tips to increase your Instagram followers? Wondering how to become an influencer? For most people, social media success doesn’t come overnight whether it is Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok. It is a result of consistent efforts that go into building an engaged audience.
Voompla’s rise from 0 to 10 million plus followers across social media has made it one of the top entertainment new brands in India. Team Voompla outlines some of the most critical tips that helped them reach millions and more.
Never buy followers, likes or any other form of engagement
The number 1 tip. It might seem tempting to buy fake followers for vanity’s sake but it ends up doing the exact opposite. The fake followers are not going to like or engage with your content. How embarrassing will it seem if you have 10000 followers and only 50 likes on a post? It’s ok to have smaller numbers when you start out. Organic growth will trump fake followers in the long run.
This applies even more so for publishers and brands. It is not uncommon to see pages with millions of followers with extremely poor engagement rates. It is a dead giveaway of fake followers. It reflects badly on the brand. No one wants to follow a liar.
Be ruthlessly YOU
This is not a creator-specific tip. Audiences relate to personalities and it makes absolutely no sense to blend in. For creators – be you and flaunt your personality. For brands – let your social media be a reflection of what the brand stands for.
“The phrase ‘stand out from the crowd’ may have been coined in the previous century but the meaning and its essence resonates even more so today. Let your personality shine” says co-founder Kaushambi Bakshi.
Partner and Collaborate with other creators and brands
Reposts, remix reels, shoutouts in stories – there are many ways in which creators and brands can bounce off each other to get more eyeballs. Pro tip: Never box yourself when you’re planning collaborations. For example, it is not necessary that a fitness influencer’s audience will not be interested in a fashion blogger’s content. Eyeballs can convert into followers from the most random corners – be open to collaborations and don’t limit your exposure to a certain type of audience.
Track growth through analytics, make weekly comparisons
Analytics are the single most important data sets that will give you a precise idea of ‘return’ on your content strategy. They will tell you exactly what worked, and what didn’t. Numbers take the guesswork out of the equation.
Pencil out a day in the week when you can study your numbers – insights, engagement, follows, comments, likes, demographics and so on. See which posts are doing well and try to figure out the ‘why’ behind the ones that did big numbers. “This is critical for businesses and brands – the importance of going back to the analytics dashboard is so underestimated” says co-founder Palash Bakshi.
Cross promote your content across platforms
It is nearly impossible for creators to have a multi-platform presence of equal size. Cross promoting content across various platforms is the key to juicing the strength areas and boosting the weaker ones.
For example, someone with 100k plus followers on Instagram can use stories to convert audiences to YouTube. Someone popular on Twitter could ask their audiences to follow them on Instagram with a plug in the bio or in viral tweets.
Don’t copy what others are doing
This is possibly the biggest trap that most creators and brands fall into. It might seem easier to rehash content ideas from others but that is a trap. Like many other domains, social media is a constantly changing environment. Trends change by the hour. It is easy to get stuck in the rut of copying what others are doing. In the long run it destroys your ability to innovate when it comes to content.
This applies more so to publishers and brands. Fresh content strategies will be non-existent if teams get used to imitating what other successful brands are doing. Complacency kills the spark of creativity and the output in terms of content will keep getting worse by the day. Team leads should be ruthlessly open to hearing new ideas and implementing them.
Use hashtags, but don’t spam
A lot of people will tell you that hashtags are an important piece in the content discovery puzzle on social media, although there are differing views on how important they actually are. From a creator’s perspective, take a balanced approached to hashtags. Don’t make big spammy looking hashtag clouds. Keep them aligned to the content.
Be consistent – have a publishing schedule
Want to be an influencer? Treat it like a job and be consistent. Chart out a publishing schedule and stick to it. Heard of the saying ‘Out of sight, out of mind’? It applies more so in social media!
Publishers and businesses should chart out a precise content strategy which involves a consistent publishing schedule. For creators, it is all about being consistent day in and day out. Create a content bank and keep publishing. Never miss a day.
Focus on your niche
It is very tempting for creators and publishers to do a little bit of everything to please everyone. But this approach is generic and dilutes the strength and messaging of a brand – whether a business or a lone warrior influencer. Make your audience want to hit the follow button on your page because you add value in whatever niche you’re focusing on.
(The above story first appeared on Today News 24 on May 03, 2021 09:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website todaynews24.top).