Inside 5 Horizons: It’s Organic! Growing Your Social Media Audience
Hear from our Lead Copywriter, Abigail Egan, as she discusses her favorite tips for growing social media audiences organically.
There is a lot of conflicting advice on the internet about how to grow social media–follow the trends, but be completely unique; stay true to your brand, but don’t overuse your logo or brand colors; create widely shareable content, but narrow your content for a specific audience.
Social media strategies should be unique to individual companies and organizations, but there are a few general tips all campaigns, of any size or focus, can utilize to increase success.
Grow your social media audience organically with these three guiding principles:
1. Set Goals for Your Growth
Growing your accounts organically can be a slow process, but setting goals will keep you on track for steady, high-quality growth. Maybe your goals are to utilize a new hashtag, find other companies in your industry to network with, or solidify your brand style more publicly. Expand your goals beyond just numbers and think about the broader impact and message your social content is making online.
2. Tailor Content for Different Platforms
Your audience across platforms is going to vary, so it’s safe to say your content should too. Do some research on your audiences and learn what type of content resonates the most on each platform. Different audiences, on different platforms, will react uniquely to different content.
Try to avoid pigeonholing your audiences. Give them a variety of content to interact with in new ways, emphasizing the areas where you see the most engagement. Do articles resonate on LinkedIn, but not on Instagram? Do video interviews have more reach on Facebook, rather than Twitter? Test your theories, collect your data, and adjust your platform-specific strategies to match the results.
3. Be Consistent & Have Some Fun
Prioritize consistency over perfection when you’re planning your content schedule. Consistent posts will get your account on users’ feeds more often, creating a feeling of familiarity with your brand.
The Marketing Rule of Seven states that a consumer is most likely to buy or interact with a product or company after seven separate, unique touchpoints. With social media being as saturated as it is, with advertisements, sponsorships, and brand deals, that number is likely higher than seven in 2023.
At 5 Horizons, we aim for three categories across our social content: Professional, Community, and Human. We know that a mixture of industry insights, current events, and fun content is a good balance of branded and approachable content. Creating a variety of content also allows us to produce more social assets on a consistent schedule.
Not every post should be branded or pushing for viewers to take an action—sometimes sales have to take a back seat. You want your audience to be authentic users, not just faceless followers, so consider having a little fun with your content. Maybe your brand allows for a little more personalization, or perhaps humor aligns with your company culture. Not sure what direction you should take? Create a few test posts and watch closely to see how your audience engages with the content, or give organic A/B testing a shot.
Grow your social media audience organically with these three guiding principles, or reach out to our team for assistance!
The Inside 5 Horizons series includes stories and perspectives from our amazing team. Get a glimpse into our company culture each month by hearing from the unique voices of our copywriters, strategists, project managers, and more.