This post was originally published in 2016 and has been updated with the latest tips and tricks to grow your following on every social media network. It also includes the latest podcast episode from The Science of Social Media!
You’re taking the dive into a new social network, or you’re itching to grow your existing profile. You’ve got a social media strategy in place and a plan in mind. You’re raring to go.
What would be one of the most encouraging signs when you’re first starting off? We’d imagine it’d be gaining followers!
So how do new social media accounts do it? How do you gain your first 1,000 followers on social media?
Follower count is one of those metrics that has tons of meaning – both for the confidence of the social media manager and for the distribution of the content you share. If you want to grow your followers, there are tons of useful tips to try. Here are some key learnings we’ve drummed up about how to get that first initial batch of followers on some of the major social media networks (specifically Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn)
[Interested in listening to this post in podcast format? We invite you to check out Buffer’s very own podcast – The Science of Social Media!]
Quick tips: The best general strategies for growing your audience
Regardless of the social network you choose, there seem to be some similar, high-level strategies that apply to getting new followers on every network—Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
If you’re looking to build your profile and add new followers, here are some of the standard best practices. Lots more detail on each of these below.
- Fill out your profile completely
- Share a link to your profile via your other networks and via email
- Place follow links and widgets on your blog or website
- Add your new social profile to your email signature
How to get your first 1,000 followers on Twitter
Step one: Fill out your profile completely
This includes:
Writing an awesome bio with one or two select keywords or hashtags
Adding your URL and location – URL is great for adding context, location is great for getting found via search and geographic tools
Uploading a profile picture and cover photo. Check out the image below for what it looks like when someone clicks your username from Twitter’s desktop site.
Seeding your Twitter account with 5 to 10 original Tweets
Experimenting with adding emoji to your name
If you want to get your profile even more optimized, you can use the Pinned Tweet feature to pin a tweet to the top of your profile page. Choose a tweet that embodies what your Twitter profile is all about or shows a lot of social proof, i.e. one with a lot of favorites and retweets.
Step two: Share a link to your profile via other networks and via email
Share with your Facebook friends that you’ve started a Twitter account. Add an announcement to your next company newsletter or in an email to friends.
Step three: Include a Follow button on your website or blog
Twitter offers four types of buttons that you can use to help visitors connect with you on Twitter.
- Share a link
- Follow
- Hashtag
- Mention
The Follow button is the most direct means of gaining more followers. You can place it in a popular place on your website or blog. For instance, we’ve added the follow button to the author profiles on the Buffer blog.
Step four: Find relevant accounts to follow
Many users on Twitter will follow back those who follow them. This is a popular strategy for those just starting out on Twitter to help connect with others, and thanks to Twitter lists, users can customize the information they see on Twitter, which makes following tons of people all the easier to manage.
- Sign up for a free tool like Tweepi or Followerwonk so you can see a list of followers for other users in your niche.
- Optimize this list of followers by sorting it by recent activity.
- Follow up to 100 of these new folks per, whoever seems relevant and interesting to you (any more than 100 per day and you risk a Twitter ban).
- Every so often, to balance out your follower/following ratio, you can check into a tool like JustUnfollow to unfollow any accounts that haven’t followed you back. JustUnfollow has a whitelist option, too, so you can skip over the accounts you wish to keep following no matter what.
Step five: Use relevant hashtags
When you use a hashtag, people outside of those you follow will be exposed to your tweet. To find the best hashtags to use, there’s a great app called Focalmark that allows you to generate relevant hashtags based on the topic or theme you’re looking for.
Step six: Join a Twitter chat and contribute value
If you’re in the digital marketing space, we’d love to have you join a #BufferChat, which takes place every Wednesday at noon ET/9:00 a.m. PT and 4:00pm AEST/8:00am CEST. Other great resources for finding a relevant Twitter chat include:
- Chat Salad is a great place to find chats that are currently happening or taking place in the near future.
- Twubs, a website where you can register a hashtag, has an easy-to-read and thorough listing of chats.
Summary
- Fill out your profile completely
- Share a link to your profile
- Place Twitter follow buttons on your site
- Find relevant accounts to follow
- Use relevant hashtags
- Join a Twitter chat
How to get your first 1,000 fans on Facebook
Step one: Fill out your page completely
Facebook pages offer an incredible level of detail and information. Many businesses even use them as their main website. To maximize your chances of gaining as many fans as possible, you’ll want to fill out your profile as thoroughly as possible.
- About section
- URL
- Profile picture & cover photo/video
- Call-to-action button
- Address (for brick-and-mortar businesses)
- Long description and mission
- Phone number and/or email address
- Create several updates so there is content on the page
One helpful tip for getting Facebook fans that we shared in our Facebook Page starter guide is to make a great first impression by maximizing the eye-catching ability of your Facebook Cover Photo. We’ve included a video on the Buffer Page which now has more than 2,700 views!
Step two: Invite your friends to the page
From your Facebook page, you can select the option to Invite Your Friends and then browse through your friend list to send an invite. It might be best to select a handful of friends you think would be most interested rather than blasting the invitation to all.
If possible, it’d be great to get to 25 fans via this method. Once you hit the 25-fan threshold, you can then claim a vanity URL for your page (e.g., facebook.com/yourbrandname), which will look more appealing when you share the URL in later steps.
Step three: Share a link to your profile via other networks and via email
Tweet your Facebook page URL to your followers, or share your Facebook page
Step four: Add Facebook buttons to your website
Facebook offers a huge helping of buttons and widgets that you can add to your site. Here’s the complete list of their social plugins:
- Save Button
- Like, Share, Send, & Quote
- Embedded Posts & Video Player
- Page Plugin
- Comments
- Follow Button
If you’re looking to get more fans on your Facebook page, the Like button and Share button are two of your best bets. (The “Follow” button, while it sounds enticing, is more for individuals with profiles who want to offer people the chance to follow rather than friend.)
If you’d prefer the Like or Like Box button, you can set your Facebook page URL and edit options for showing a feed of your posts, the height and width of the box, and a handful of other options. The box will…
