followers

Size Doesn’t Matter – It’s What You Do With It That Counts!

Cupped hand holding out a transparent sphere with social platform logos on a blue background

That’s right, you guessed it! We’re talking about a Social Media account …

When it comes to social media we are often asked ‘Why don’t I have more followers/ likes?’. 

There are plenty of things to consider (check out our Digital Marketing blogs for lots of organic strategies on how to grow your social media presence: https://momentumbusinesssupport.com/category/digital-marketing/).  

But for now, I want to focus on WHY you want ‘more’ followers. Why do you want your account to appear bigger than it is?

True, the more people that follow your accounts the better it could appear, the higher your reach per post might be and it will probably make you feel better about the time and effort you’re putting in. Realistically though, why is your business even on social media?

If it’s just about having as many people or companies as possible following you, I’m going to be blunt and suggest in that case you’re wasting good time that should be spent elsewhere on your business.

If however, you’re utilising these valuable marketing tools to increase your exposure, uplift your SEO, provide a portal for prospects and customers to interact with you and ultimately generate new business, then the question I pose back is ‘Does size really matter?’.

Conducting a social media account in a way that positively represents your brand, your values and your products or services is much more important than sharing funny cat videos (unless of course you’re in the business of funny cats!). The cute animal pictures or the on-trend humour memes or the afore-mentioned ‘funny cat videos’ may all gain a certain level of reach or interaction and will endear a certain audience to your content, but what is it all achieving? Unless those posts are part of an overall marketing strategy culminating in reaching your ideal target audience, your time and effort is wasted.

I know it feels good to have a large number of followers, but the aim of the game when it comes to using these free marketing tools, is to win more business. Isn’t that why you do all your other marketing? So why treat social media any different?

If you made 100 prospecting calls and gained 10 leads, you’d be thrilled! But if you had 10 followers and not 100, you’d be disappointed. What I’m trying to say is, if you focus more on quality and not quantity, you will find that even if you only have a perceived ‘small’ number of followers, they will become advocates, influencers and even customers. So size really doesn’t matter – it’s all about how you’re using your social media marketing that counts!

If you’d like to chat through your next social media marketing strategy, please get in touch, we’re always happy to provide free advice: makeithappen.. E: makeithappen@mbsmih.com T: 01903 688789

Following & Followers – Twitter for Beginners Part 2

A mobile phone displaying Twitter sign in page next to a cup of coffee

CHECK OUT PART 1 HERE:  https://momentumbusinesssupport.com/2016/03/choosing-your-name-and-setting-up-your-profile-twitter-for-beginners-part-1/

So, your Twitter account is officially up and running. Now, you need to start following some accounts and gaining some followers of your own.

First of all, let’s take an overview of the difference between “Following” and “Followers” on Twitter.

Following: This connects you to other users on Twitter, but it doesn’t necessarily connect them back to you, (unless they follow back). When you follow someone, their account appears in your following list. You’ll be able to see their Tweets, Retweets, Likes and updates on your feed, and they can send you direct messages.

You can learn a lot from following other accounts that are similar to yours. This will help you gain inspiration, ideas and advice. It’s also good to look at your competitors to see what they’re up to when you feel like you’re lacking inspiration.

Followers: When a user follows you, their username appears in your list of followers, adding to your overall number of followers. They will see your Tweets, Retweets, Likes and updates, and you can send direct messages to them.

Reach out and welcome your new followers by sending them a direct message or tweet, introduce what you do, don’t be shy! Who knows… they could be your next big client.

In order to get followed, you have to follow. Following other users is a great way to get noticed and you will likely get followed back by some of the accounts you have hit follow on.

But remember – just because someone follows you, doesn’t mean you have to follow them back. Some people follow back everyone who follows them; others are more selective and careful about who they follow. It’s down to your personal preference and what type of content you want to be seeing when you look at your Twitter timeline.

But bear in mind, following a lot of accounts without having many of your own followers doesn’t look great. For example… Following: 4,529 Followers: 60.

To avoid this, keep an eye on your Following numbers. Regularly go through your ‘Following’ list and keep it fresh and up to date. Unfollow any that you’re not getting any value from and any accounts that aren’t following / interacting back with you.

If you’d like any help, support or advice with getting started on Twitter, we’d be happy to chat through this with you. Email makeithappen@mbsmih.com or call us 01903 688789.