Whether you act on behalf of your company or your personal brand, social media marketing is about spreading your message to the people who are likely to be interested. As soon as we open a social account we wonder how to get more followers, and regularly check to see how much that number has grown.

This post will guide you through a variety of techniques to help you get more followers, including tips from influencers that have thousands or hundreds of thousands of social media followers themselves

Whether you are an individual or a brand, the techniques that will get you more followers are largely the same.

One last thing before we start. Don’t forget that growing your social media following means keeping your current followers as well as gaining new ones.

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Write a professional bio

Don’t be obtuse, don’t be wacky. Make it clear what you do, and include a link to your website.

In addition, a well-written bio can encourage Twitter to verify your account. To help with this, include your birthday, your location and a link to content written by you.

Follow relevant people

Some ‘gurus’ advise following loads of people because they might follow back. Don’t do this. People will unfollow you after a while if you are not relevant to them. Plus, Twitter can suspend your account for consistent bulk following. Instead, follow pertinent people. If they follow you back they are likely to hang around. It also helps you stay on top of the latest conversations from the brightest minds.

Be yourself

Build a personal brand that is authentic and transparent…and above all else, be true to yourself, passion is a key.

@TedRubin

Use relevant hashtags

Relevant hashtags spread your reach. You join the conversation already happening on that hashtag and make it easier for people to find you. This does not mean you should add 27 hashtags to the end of every post.

hashtags can help you get more followers

Use promoted Tweets or posts

Paying to promote Tweets or posts will boost your reach, putting your content in front of more people. You can also target specific groups, helping you reach the right followers.

Publish on multiple formats

Get your body of work out there in as many formats as possible: written (blog posts, email newsletter, social media posts), spoken (public speaking), audio (podcast, radio show), video (live and recorded), etc. Find the platforms that most resonate with you and where you can reach most of your audience and be consistent!

@MariSmith

Link to your social media accounts

Build a strong online presence by linking to all your social media accounts. Blogs, contact pages or about us pages should all provide this. Make it easy for people to find you on social.

Engage with others and help them

From Twitter chats to Google Plus hangouts, Periscope broadcasts to in-person social media conferences, there is no better way… than interacting with others, learning their needs, and helping them.

@NealSchaffer

Cross promote your social accounts…

Equally, you can mention on Twitter that you are also Instagram, and so on. Don’t do it too often, but some of your followers might not know you have accounts on other platforms.

…but don’t spread yourself too thin

Prioritize the social networks your fans use. If you are trying to have a presence on every social network going, you probably won’t be able to dedicate enough time to each one.

multiple social media icons

Share a mixture of content

On social networks be helpful 85 percent of the time by sharing and engaging, 10 percent publish original content and less than 5 percent talk about what your organization does.

@dmscott

Guest blog on other sites

Blogging on a different site will expose you to a new audience. If your content is interesting enough people will want to know what else you have to say and you will naturally get more followers.

Host or join a twitter chat

Getting involved in a Twitter chat can introduce you to new people, increasing your exposure. It’s also a chance to demonstrate your knowledge and interest in a subject.

Lead the conversation

Make sure you are part of the conversation, or even better, leading the conversation on social when something is going viral. If you’re not part of the moment, you cannot influence it.

@MattNavarra

Listen first, and be coherent

Publishing a stream of fragmented, unrelated posts on your social media channels is an easy way to lose followers – and credibility. This is a tactic that is easily said, and harder executed. Pay attention to industry news, read other people’s posts, and think before replying. Careful attention to detail and the simple act of listening first, rather than just publishing a barrage of content is a great way to escalate your social media presence

@willmcinnes

Understand the different networks

This might be obvious, but different things are appropriate on different networks. Don’t post your holiday snaps on LinkedIn.

Put social share buttons on each blog post

The more people share your content, the more other people will discover you. Putting social share buttons on your blog just makes that process incredibly easy for people.

Stand for something specific

The number of people publishing content on social networks is growing at a staggering rate. Standing out means not trying to be all things to all people. Stand for something specific and focus on going deep on that topic with your messaging, engagement, connections and content. Become the best answer for what you want to be influential about, and stand out by being unique.

@leeodden
instagram on phone

Solve problems

Create great content that solves pain points and work on building as much earned attention on social media that is global and engaged.

@jeffbullas

Be human and relatable

This holds true whether you are promoting an organization or your personal brand. Include some behind the scenes, non-work-related content.

Post compelling visual content

Sometimes you see tips on increasing engagement on social media which include ‘post more pictures’. Videos and photos do tend to get more engagement than pure text, but you do still have to post considered and relevant visual content.

Decide what you want to talk about

Be relevant, impactful and thoughtful with your contributions, mixing original material with curation, and avoid joining follow back circles.

@azeem

Have a conversation

Conversations are generally public on social media. Discussions can be interesting to others, and often people will join in. You may get more followers following a lively debate as people agree with your opinions. Do not start random arguments with strangers.

Get networking

Consistently grow your networks to build bigger scope and reach. One of the simplest and easiest ways to build audiences of engaged users is to constantly talk to your contacts and provide value to them. A good piece of advice, a useful recommendation or just a pleasant conversation, can go a long way.

@RealSocialShark

Reach out to influencers

If you engage with an influencer your reach will increase. It is also an acknowledgment of your authority.

Be patient

Be patient! You could buy followers and try to artificially boost your Klout score using black-hat methods, but you will be destined to fall flat on your face. The best way is to slowly grow your social media community over time and build your content hub (whether that is a YouTube channel or a blog).

@iagdotme
Have patience on social media, it can take time to get more followers

Work hard

I don’t think there are many rules on the web at all. As soon as you think there is a rule, you find an exception. However, I do think there are some common characteristics among the people I most admire in the field, such as working hard and consistently creating interesting and useful content, as well as building an active audience.

@markwschaefer

Use analytics to understand the best time of day to post

Social media analytics can help you understand when your audience are online, and when they are most responsive to your posts.

Analytics can also help you understand the optimum number of posts per day

Don’t assume more is always better. Try experimenting with more or fewer posts for a set amount of time, and then analyze the difference in engagement and follower growth.

Use analytics to understand the content that works best

Finally, social media analytics can be used to discover which of your posts are the most successful. Identify a few and try to understand what they have in common.