Whether you’ve just launched your startup or been running a successful business for years, a plateau in new social media followers is bound to happen. Growing your social media platforms is crucial to your business since followers can be converted into customers (and repeat customers) down the line. While gaining more meaningful followers isn’t going to happen overnight, here are a few things that might be holding you back:
Your customers don’t know you’re online
If you recently launched your social media accounts, chances are your customers simply don’t know to follow you. Be sure to link your social media accounts to your website and email with a call to action for your customers to follow your social media accounts.
You’re playing the salesman card
While the goal of any business is to sell a product or a service, posts that continually telling your followers to purchase an item are draining. No one likes to be sold to daily. Your social media accounts are your opportunity to share your brand’s personality. What makes you unique? How do you fix your target audience’s problem? What inspired you to create your business? Vary your posts to include a variety of educational and product posts throughout the week.
You’re not engaging with others
Aside from trying to work the Instagram algorithm, no one wants to engage with someone if they’re not going to respond back. When people interact with your posts, like their comments, answer their questions. show interest and engage with your audience.
You don’t have good visual content
Relevant, high-quality pictures and videos are critical to your social media success (especially on platforms such as Instagram); if you don’t have good visuals for your posts, chances are they’re going to get looked right over. Posts with images are ten times more likely to get engagement. Photography isn’t your strong suit? Hire out a professional photographer to give you an inventory of top-notch branded images. If custom pictures aren’t necessary to build your brand image, you can stick to a more budget-friendly option by using free stock images for post-worthy visuals.
You’re not (correctly) using hashtags
The right combination of hashtags allows you to organically reach new people who are interested in your content. Use community and industry-specific hashtags to ensure you are reaching your target audience (but not getting lost in the crowd). There are a ton of food-related hashtags such as #HealthyFoodForLife and #VeganDishes that speak to a more specific audience than #food. Popular hashtags are often overcrowded but may increase your chances of reaching a broader audience. Our advice? Use a variety of specific and broad hashtags to keep your posts from getting lost in the crowd.
Your post timing is off
On social media, timing is everything. The right post time can make the difference between a few impressions or thousands of conversions. Every audience is different, so gather your own data using your social media account’s built-in analytics to determine what post time is getting you the most interactions. Work to tweak your timing and regularly check back to make improvements and adjustments.
With a few steps and adjustments to your social media plan, you can begin to get your business out of its social media plateau.