12 Tools and Resources to Help You Grow Your Social Media Following
Are you new to social media and are looking for ways to grow your following? Or are you currently active on social media but want to attract more loyal and raving fans? Either way, I’ve written this blog post just for you.
Since starting this blog, social media (more specifically Twitter and Facebook) have been the primary platforms that I have used to establish relationships and connect with fellow entrepreneurs small business owners and peers from all around the world.
In terms of business…as of 2015, both social platforms combined have more than 1 BILLION active users and counting. It’s no wonder why 8 out of 10 SMB’s are using social media in their businesses to drive growth.
How I Got Started with Using Social Media
When I started Small Business Sense in 2013, I knew that I needed to:
- Drive traffic to my website – inexpensively.
- Find an alternative way of getting visitors interested in the content and information here without relying solely on search engine traffic.
I ultimately decided to use and become familiar with one social media platform first– build up a following there first, before moving on to another one.
As of this month, I have managed to grow from just under 1,300 followers to more than 6,000- Woohooo!
I wanted to share some of the resources and tools that I’ve used and recommend that you use as to grow your social media following, reach more of your peers and build your “tribe” online – as one of my favorite bloggers and entrepreneurs Michael Hyatt states.
Resources that Will Help You Grow Your Social Media Following
Social Media Marketing Tools
- Hootsuite – without a doubt my favorite online social media marketing platform that I use to automate and pre-schedule all of my social media posts.
- Floating Social Bar – a free social sharing tool that you can easily add to your website or blog to encourage your visitors to share your content via social media.
- Crowdfire – (Especially for Twitter) – is an efficient tool that I use to automatically send a direct and welcome message to my new Twitter followers, unfollow inactive followers, and more. Trust me, if you are new to twitter and want to respond in a personable way to each one of your new followers (automatically), please start using this app.
- Canva – for creating attention grabbing images and graphics to post to my social media accounts.
- DesignCap Facebook Cover Maker – an easy-to-use and online tool for making striking Facebook covers with the stunning preset templates in minutes, no professional design skills required
Social Media Marketing Guides & Resources
Here are some of the resources that I have used personally (as well as other helpful guides) on how to get started with using the most popular social platforms for business owners and how to grow your following:
- The Social Media Frequency Guide: How Often to Post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and More – Bufferapp – a great post that gives you some insights on the best strategies to use when posting to your social media accounts.
- How to Use Twitter for Business and Marketing – Social Media Examiner – It’s no wonder why this blog post received over 7K shares. Charlene Kingston did an excellent job of putting together this very detailed guide on how to get started with using Twitter for Business. Be sure to check this one out.
- Five Facebook Features that Help You Promote Your Business – Social Media Examiner– Is it me or does Facebook seem to change on a weekly basis? Anywho… Andrea Vahl gives some great deets on some of the changes and features that Facebook has to offer and how you can use them to market your business in 2015.
- 5 LinkedIn Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business – Social Media Examiner – as covered by Stephanie Sammons, here are some practical tips that you can take to get the most out of your
- The Best Times to Post to Social Media Accounts – an infographic created by Neil Patel of –Quicksprout
Growing Your Audience via Social Media
1. Adam Connells Guide – How To Get More Twitter Followers: 24 Effective Tips To Grow Your Following Fast
2. PostPlanner Guide: 7 Quick & Dirty Ways to Grow a Fan Base on Facebook
3. Social Media Examiners: 10 Ways To Improve Your LinkedIn Company Page
Cheers!
