By Nwachukwu Precious
Just as brands are striving to increase their presence on social networks, so should influencers. This is because the current trend in online marketing now has influencers scrabbling for limited slots. Mainly the opportunities to clinch paid advertisement and deals that will yield higher returns for them. In other words, just like brands, influencers need people- audience and fans to make purchases of products and services. That way they too make profits and are encouraged to stay in business. In this article, we at Hobo Video will offer the best ways to grow your reach on social media.
Remember, if you have chosen to be an influencer marketer, you might know by now, the huge impact a good influencer may have on the success of a company or brand. However, on the flip side, a bad influencer can do quite some damage to the image of a brand.
One may ask who is an influencer? Or what is an influencer?
This name is quite apt. In the contemporary sense of the word, an influencer is primarily a social media personality who wields huge influence within a sphere of influence on social media platforms. A good influencer can help work wonders for a brand, as it can open up a whole world of new business possibilities, for a brand new to garner purchases for its products or services.
While many brands are increasingly becoming aware of the need to increase their presence on social media platforms, the majority are still struggling with ways of leveraging the opportunities that social platforms offer for brand awareness and product promotion.
The reason for the confusion is not far-fetched. There are certain variations to the traditional marketing strategies that social media marketing brings. Years ago, all a brand needed was to advertise their business by organizing offers and placing advert promotions on print and electronic media, that is, newspaper, magazine, television, radio, flyers, etc.
But social media has changed that narrative. The working word here is ‘social’, that is, becoming part of a much wider audience, other than crude marketing campaigns and quick-hit promotions.
So as an Influencer, how do you grow your social media reach?
This article from Hobo Video provides some insight into how you can grow your social media reach, as an influencer to leverage your social media presence and large audience.
It comes naturally, that, nowadays, brands are striving to maintain the same level of reach and online presence as they did years back. The reason for this paradigm shift is really not farfetched. The world is increasingly going digital and global, thus for a brand to remain in business, it has to evolve its marketing strategy. Thus with the advancement in technology, came social media and the need for brands to increase their customers’ engagement on social media platforms and brand loyalty through paid adverts and product promotion. Thus, as an influencer, there is a need to work hard, to grow your social media presence on platforms that can provide you the opportunity to leverage your huge followership and fanbase to make the most of the numerous likes on your page on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Here are ways on how to grow your reach on social media as an influencer. This guide can also double as a marketing strategy for newbie influencers who would wish to venture into the marketplace- influencer marketing.
Understand How Social Media Algorithm Works
There is no one-size-fits-it-all approach to growing your reach on social media as an influencer. A rather careful study of each social platform you wish to use is key to achieving success in that regard. Careful planning is required to achieve tangible results as each social platform has its peculiarities and parameters which define outcomes for its use. So, before plunging right deep into that social media marketing campaign plan it’s important that you ensure a clear understanding of the platform(s) you are planning to use works. This will help you produce relevant and high-quality online content that will elicit customer’s engagement and lure them to make purchases.
Here’s a brief description of how algorithms work for most of the major social media platforms and how you can use this knowledge to grow reach:
Facebook Algorithm
The Facebook algorithm places more emphasis on shared content between family and friends, thus making it somewhat difficult for content from brands to even get noticed by users. However, there were changes in that regard, that enabled brands to promote their content to promote meaningful engagements between their brand and Facebook users. And by meaningful engagements, we mean comments and shares. They are considered more engaging and interactive than likes as they elicit more action from the users. Comments have been ranked highest in Facebook’s new algorithm, hence as an influencer, it is instructive to prioritize contents that will naturally kickstart conversations amongst your followers.
Twitter Algorithm
While Twitter’s newsfeed is a little different from that of Facebook since it does not promote content in real-time. However, it still displays ‘top’ tweets and ‘retweets’ on a user’s timeline. Alongside the ‘in case, you missed it’ section of the timeline. In a way, this constitutes engagements for posts, and this is the reason it is put on display here. Thus the higher the engagements a post garners the higher its chances of appearing on the most ranked tweets. Thus the wider the reach of the tweet on users’ timeline.
Instagram Algorithm
Just like Facebook, Instagram has evolved its algorithmic reading with a greater focus on engagement. Thus posts that receive the highest engagements are considered of higher quality and thus are rewarded by Instagram. Like all other social media platforms, engagement is paramount here too. The higher the engagement a post receives, the greater its chances of appearing on the user’s newsfeed. To learn more about the Instagram algorithm, read Hobo Video’s ‘An Insight into Instagram’s Algorithm for 2021’.
Optimize Your Social Media Handles
One important skill in developing content that has search engine optimization is to include various SEO tactics. It ensures the article or Blogspot gets visibility on search engines like Google. Now that same analogy applies to influencer marketing as far as launching product promotion campaigns is a concern. As an influencer, bear in mind that your social media handles can be optimized. There some many ways to optimize your social media handles as an influencer, they include:
1. Use catchy usernames: Ensure you use a profile name. It has to be easily remembered. Most importantly, include some or most phrases from your brand name.
2. Go for easily identifiable images: Endeavour to use keywords that can be recognized alongside a rich bio/description.
3. Incorporate trackable links of your website to your bio. Ensure you integrate links of your website to your bio- this will increase quick access to your backlinks.
Lastly, while optimizing your social media handles for increased access and visibility, it’s essential to ensure consistency. Mainly across all the networks for easy recognisability. This may be accomplished using the same photo and maintaining the same username across all social media platforms. So you need to optimize your social media handles to grow your reach.
Work Smarter Not Harder
Nowadays, with the use of algorithms for social media marketing, influencer marketing has become more of working smart, than hard. According to Facebook, the average user reads approximately 1,500 contents each day. But, to increase post engagements the user’s newsfeed will display just 300 of the most relevant posts. What this implies is that constant posting does not guarantee a wider reach and post engagements. Rather, the focus ought to be more on producing quality content. Content that can catch the attention of your followers and fans on social media platforms.
Fewer, but high-quality posts are more beneficial for an influencer who’s looking to increase their reach than just low-quality posts. The right frequency of your social media posts can be hard to decide. But buffers suggest posting twice a day is ideal. So work smart and grow reach on social media.
Post at the Right Time
So we’ve established the need to continuously share high-quality content. The next important thing is to make sure you post at the right time each day. Understanding the right time to share content on social media can be a little hard. It will require some trial and error to arrive at the perfect time. Thus the right time to post may depend on a number of factors- the audience and the platform in use. However, we have compiled some tips to help you:
The Perfect Time to Post on Facebook
Studies reveal just after lunchtime, that is, the hours between 12 pm to 3 pm is ideal. Since posts published at this time of the day usually receive high engagement. Nevertheless, as an influencer, it’s crucial to note that there is no perfect time to post. Especially when considering audience and platform peculiarities. Further, for a better understanding of the ideal time to post on social platforms like Facebook, study your Facebook Insights. There, you will see when most of your followers are usually online.
The Best Time to Post on Twitter
Just like Facebook, posting on Twitter during the mid-day has proven to be the ideal time. It helps reach more audience and followers, as tweets posted during this period receive the most engagement. Studies have shown also that it’s ideal to post somewhat early on Twitter, around 10 am and 12 pm. However, as a general rule, it’s important to study your followers to know when they are usually online. This cannot be achieved through current Twitter’s in-built analytic tools. However, you can find quite a number of free analytic tools on Hobo Video. They will help provide you information as well as a detailed breakdown of the activities of your followers’ on such platforms.
The Right Time to Post on Instagram
Coming to terms with how the ever-changing Instagram algorithm works can be somewhat difficult. Hence, finding the right time to post content on Instagram can be hard. However, it appears that lunchtime and evening time is the ideal time. Most users are using the Instagram platform, in other words, this is the ideal time to post content. However, there is a widespread belief that posting content when the timeline is less saturated is the key. It helps reach more audiences and getting the most engagement. Like we have advised during the course of this article, try to study your audience. Focus on the hours of the day when they’re most active on Instagram. Further, tailor your activities to that time, as that’s the only way to achieve good results.
To find out more on the best time to post on social media see our full guide on Hobo Video.
Engage and Interact With your Audience
In trying to understand how social media algorithm works across all platforms, one key factor stands out – engagement. Generally, the more engagements a post gets the wider its reach. Further, the greater the visibility of the influencer on the platform. One major way of encouraging audience engagement with your posts is by interacting with them. By integrating questions in your posts you are indirectly eliciting audience engagement and this will prompt them to respond to your question, thereby getting engagement for your content and further discussion. Also, another proven way of increasing interactions on your posts are to respond to a follower’s comment on your post. This has ripple effects as it will not only encourage other followers to get involved in the conversation but will equally build a rapport between your brand and your audience.
Nowadays, it is almost impossible to use social media platforms without running on an advertising budget. Social media platforms continuously update their algorithms to offer their users the best experience, but this is also making it hard for both influencers and brands who utilize these social media platforms in developing their marketing strategy. Social media influencer marketing is an evolving field, with no one-size-fits-it-all approach to grow the reach of your brand on social media. However, implementing the tips above will give you a good start.
