How To Easily Build Your Online Tribe.
- The CK Solution
- Dec 27, 2017
- 3 min read
Three organic tactics that are tried and true
Despite the obvious drawbacks, some brands continue to drink from the well of fake engagement and continue to suffer blows for that decision. Only real followers help brands build long-lasting engagement -- not to mention the fact that only real people will spend real money with your company.
So, if you want to avoid this quagmire, there's hope; You don't have to buy followers from Russian vending machines. Thankfully, you can employ the following strategies to inspire organic engagement.
1. Send influential followers free products.
Daniel Wellington, a watch-making brand, relies exclusively on influencer marketing. It began by sending watches -- no strings attached -- to select influencers with smaller, qualified followings. The watchmaker netted a profit of more than $220 million by sticking to its influencer strategy, even when new paid options were made available by Instagram.
Nothing gets people excited like free swag. You can promote your product, grow your social accounts and inspire followers to talk about your company all at once, just by sending free products to influencers and other people with relevant (real) followings.
2. Promote seeded hashtags.
Herschel Supply Co. created the #WellTraveled hashtag to inspire users around the world to share photos of cool places. Although the company doesn't provide any consumer travel services, people love the opportunity to share their experiences with others, naturally growing a hashtag that traces back to the brand's backpacks and luggage.
So, develop a hashtag, associate it with the brand and get people talking -- even if the hashtag doesn't strictly refer to your product. Keep branded hashtags simple and catchy -- short, creative and easy-to-spell phrases work best. Once you've landed on a hashtag, apply it to a careful curation of posts so that as new followers discover it, they are exposed to a consistent style or aesthetic and start to get a sense of your brand identity.
If you already have a branded hashtag established when you send swag to influential followers, you can encourage them to use it when they post about your product. This will help your branded hashtag spread among the right circles.
3. Create Instagram stories.
Chipotle recently achieved an astonishing 70 to 75 percent completion rate on a 100-post Instagram Story, according to AdWeek. With the promise of free queso for a year for five lucky viewers, the burrito restaurant chain incentivized viewers to work through all 100 posts, combining reach and engagement to form a highly successful campaign.
Like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories streamline content delivery to users, making it easy to put relevant content in front of people who are actually eager to consume it. And now that it's possible to link back to your website within Stories, they're a great tool to drive people directly to your ecommerce store. By optimizing Stories to get featured on Instagram's Explore page, you can gain even more exposure and more followers.
Growing a social media following through authentic engagement is harder than buying fake followers, but the rewards are well worth the effort. Don't take the easy way out. Not only could you get burned by platform policies, but you might also end up torching all of your past marketing efforts into dust. Use these strategies to build a sustainable following that will drive your brand's social reach to new heights.
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