Social media is not simply a trend in communication and networking. With over 3.2 billion users across the world, social networks are the perfect place to place your business for visibility, engagement, brand growth, and sales. In this post, you will learn how to make use of social media to boost your brand recognition and create authority.

It is true that advertisements can help you make some sales or get following on various social media networks. But it is inevitable to use the organic following as the fundamental way to create brand authority. Organic followers are more interested in your business and would bring in more conversions compared to advertising.

Gaining brand following on social media requires that you invest your time in making sure that you get the attention of users across the various platforms. Here are some of the things you can do to grow your social media following for brand growth.

1. Make the right choice of social networks to use

Each social media network works differently. For instance, LinkedIn is common among college graduates and firms looking to recruit new talent into their businesses. It is, therefore, ideal for B2B and B2C marketing where a focus on helping people grow their businesses is inevitable.

You will also note that Instagram is common among people who consume more of graphical and video content. Since over 77% of Instagram users are youths, you would want to make sure that your business targets people under 35 for maximal profitability. 88% of the users are outside the US. You can gain much if you target the global market for your business.

Understanding how various networks work will help you invest in the right platforms for you to make the best out of your business investment. I am not ruling out that you should avoid some sites, but you can prioritize your input and understand the best way to present your content to your audience.

2. Stay focused on your niche

Knowing your audience is the first step to making your business grow on social media. In any business, I know it is easy for one to want to serve everybody (I call that Mr. Jack of All Trades). You would think that by reaching people of all categories, ages, and businesses, you can make more profits from social media. But that is entirely wrong.

Choosing a single niche and staying focused on it will help you identify your prospects and your followers will understand your industry and business model well for better engagement. If you are making an online course, you can use lesson maker but be sure that it addresses a specific need for your target audience.

For example, instead of talking on “becoming your own boss” as a general topic, you would rather talk about “starting a reseller eCommerce store” to help people who are looking for specific information.

After you have identified the niche that is most profitable for you (as per your skills or current business), create social media pages and channels in the right categories. Also, provide content specifically intended for your audience.

3.  Let your audience know you

People who are interested in your business know that they are buying from people, not bots. Your prospects want to be sure that they can rely on you for anything. How can they interact with you? Can they expect good or poor customer service after buying your product? It all lies in the way you present yourself.

Instead of spending all your time to create the best ads to push your best selling products on your social media pages, think of making people recognize who is behind your brand. One way you can achieve this is by creating videos and uploading on your channels. You can also do live videos on Instagram and Facebook.

Another way to get your brand recognized is through public relations (share your content outside social media) like guest posts and podcasts. Let people get to know you and your business and give them links to your social media pages. They will be willing to follow you for more information, and you will gain authority for your brand.

4. Engage your followers

Posting once in a while is not acceptable at all if your goal is to create brand authority on social media. Your followers and prospects need more than that. One mistake many businesses do is to use schedule posts on their social media channels using their calendars and sleep knowing that every day or on specific days their pages will have new posts.

Scheduling posts can save you time once in a while, but your followers want real presence. You need to go an extra mile to leverage on the user engagements. If prospects ask a question, be prompt to respond. Also, reply to ALL (I did not say most) comments on your posts and reviews from the customers you have served.

If people share your content to their groups, pages, or timelines, ensure you respond so they know you are keen on what is happening with your content. People will be glad to follow you if they see how serious you are taking your business.

5. Handle negative feedback professionally

It is easy to get irritated when you see someone post a negative comment or try to call you a scam. The worst of it is to get a negative review on your business page. I know you will be tempted to delete the negative comments from your business page. But wait! You should be glad that somebody made you aware of your weakness instead of marking your posts as spam.

It is better to message the person and ask what issue they encountered and work on a way to solve the issue. Then ask them to edit their review. In their edits, they can mention why they have changed their minds so that prospects can learn that they can trust you.

6. Tagging people and other businesses in your posts

You already know that your prospects expect outstanding services, and that can only come out with the type of content you share with them on your pages. I know you already focus on sharing quality content with your followers. But have you mentioned any business or influencer in your posts? Make sure you tag them.

By tagging other businesses and people, you make sure that your content reaches to their followers as well. This also alerts the people you tag so that they can share their idea by commenting on your posts.

7. Leverage the use of hashtags

Hashtags are the most powerful tool that comes with social media to help you reach more prospects and gain more engagements. The hashtags will get your content across to many social media users as per their interests. Make sure you use the hashtags accurately as per your business industry and following your current post.

Summary

Organically growing your social media following will help your brand grow, but you will need to work on it. Avoid irrelevance, stay focused, be active, and post mouth-watering content for your followers. Above all, ensure you solve your prospect’s problem with your business design to gain credibility and authority.