Whether you’re a Facebooker, Instagrammer, or Tweeter, there’s no denying the importance of social media to modern business. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as throwing a profile onto each of the platforms and hoping for the best – there’s a bit more to it than that. So, if you’re a little behind when it comes to social media for business, here’s how to start building a following.

Step 1: Begin with who you know (and who they know)

If you’ve ever tried to build up a social media following from scratch, you’ll already know it’s an uphill battle. But, if you already have a group of friends or followers on social media for your personal accounts, you can use this as a springboard. No matter how small your circle may be, it’s a great idea to ask them to like/subscribe/follow your new profiles to serve as a base for more organic growth.

Step 2: Incentivise liking and sharing your content

One of the most common tactics you’ll see on platforms like Facebook and Twitter is competitions. Like many other tactics, this is simply a way to bring in even more followers. Consider this: if offering a prize worth £100 results in an additional 5000 users following you for a chance to win, that’s a great return on investment. If you incentivise sharing this way, you’re even more likely to see exponential growth.

Step 3: Post regular content which really engages your audience

One of the things some businesses get wrong when building a following is posting any old thing and then wondering why no growth follows. The reality is that – just like the rest of us – your following want to see something which really engages them. If you’re just posting what equates to adverts, followers are likely to unfollow pretty quickly. Instead, try to produce content which offers real value. This can come in the form of insightful industry articles or even one-off discount codes.

Step 4: Constantly monitor what works (and what doesn’t)

The final piece to this puzzle is perhaps the hardest part: ongoing monitoring and consistency. It’s all well and good to produce some social posts which gain real traction, but there’s no guarantee this will provide long-term growth. Keep an eye on the insights tools provided by the social platforms and try to understand exactly why certain posts succeed while others don’t. This will help you produce more posts which encourage more followers to join you on your journey.

Now that you know how to start building a social media following, you’ll need the perfect website to go along with it. If you’re wondering if you really need a website as well as social media; head over to our blog to decide for yourself. Try out Go Sitebuilder today for free and see what you could create.