The first step toward acquiring a loyal follower on social media is to reach them. Basically, you want to get new people to see your content.
There are two main ways to reach people who don’t already follow you…
- Go viral: Post content that has a good chance of going viral. This involves creating a strong emotional response among viewers.
- Leverage other brands: Expand your network by collaborating with other people, brands, and accounts.
Track your reach by looking at your post analytics. On Instagram, pay specific attention to the reach from “non-followers.” On TikTok, look at how many people see your content from the “For You Page.” You may be surprised by the number of people who see your content and don’t already follow you!
Going Viral
Virality can seem like luck, but you can skyrocket your views by understanding the two elements that work together to increase your reach: algorithms and people.
What makes content go viral?
- The algorithm: a motor that delivers your content to potential viewers
- People: people who interact with your content feed the algorithm more information (or “fuel”) to push your content to more destinations. When people stop interacting with your content, the algorithm will slow down delivering your content to new people.
The Algorithm
Each social media platform has a different algorithm, but there are many similarities. Generally speaking, the more likes, comments, shares, and other responses you receive, the better. When people interact with your posts, it tells the algorithm that people are interested.
Sharing is particularly important, because sharing creates word of mouth buzz, and compounding shares creates virality. Hypothetically, if every person that sees a post shares it with an average of two more people via messages or re-shares, your reach would grow exponentially (and extremely fast)!
When you post, give the algorithm as much information about your content as possible, so it can reach the right audience and be discovered via search. Tactics differ across platforms, but here are a few things you can do…
- Use hashtags and keywords relevant to your content. Be sure they are specific to your post, and mix smaller niche hashtags with more popular ones that have lots of views.
- Add your location for geographical targeting and search purposes (safety tip: don’t share your specific address while you are there)
- For photos: add alt text. Alternate text is a written description that describes your photos to people who can’t see it. Succinctly describe the most important elements of the photo, and don’t be afraid to throw in a keyword or two. It also helps the algorithm comprehend the image and this will only boost your reach.
Algorithms are always changing, so algorithm “hacks” are not your best friend. There is no “perfect” number of hashtags to use, no perfect time to post, and no perfect video length. Of course, these details can help a little, and you should experiment to see what works for your page. However, sharing things that stimulate meaningful reactions among your audience is more important. Good content will prevail!
People
Content that creates a strong emotional response is more likely to go viral. How can you light a “spark” inside your audience? Can you get them to be so taken aback that they share your post with others?
Awe and amazement are great emotions to evoke, because they are strong and positive. Think of ridiculously cute animals, hilarious skits, breathtaking stunts, and awe-inspiring stories.
When creating a piece of content, ask yourself if you can spark one of these responses…
- Laughter: LOL. Hahahaha.
- Surprise: NO WAYYYYY. WTF? Howwwww?
- Inspiration: Wow. This is incredible.
- Awe: Awwww! I love this. Adorable.
- Satisfaction: FINALLY someone said it! Woah, I’m not the only one!!!!
Negative emotions, like anger and fear, also create strong psychological reactions, and they may catalyze shares. However, focusing on these emotions is a poor long term strategy because people generally want to feel good when they are on social media.
Leveraging Other Brands
You can easily increase your reach on social media by collaborating with others.
Leveraging other brands can manifest in a variety of different ways, and here are a couple basic tactics you can apply to your goals.
#1: Utilize Collaboration Features
Be sure to utilize collaboration features available on social media platforms. On Twitter, use retweets and quote tweets on Twitter. On Instagram, use tagging features, Reel Remixes, and the “invite collaborator” feature. On TikTok, use duets, stitches, and comment replies. Always keep an eye out for new collaboration features!
#2: Tag Accounts
When you post something, tag other people and accounts that are involved. You will kindly boost their page, and they will be more likely to reshare, subsequently increasing your reach.
- This may happen organically, but you can also set it up through planned collaborations and cross promotions.
- Work together with other creators and brands to create amazing things that will provide value to viewers! Think collaboration videos, live broadcasts with each other, or cross-promotion giveaways.
- As an athlete, this is super easy because it just requires you to live your life. Leverage other brands like your team, university, conference, league, your sport, and your teammates by tagging them in social media posts and interacting with their pages.
#3: Post Meaningful Comments
You can post meaningful comments on other pages that have a similar audience to yours. Commenting a bunch of emojis won’t do the trick – say something interesting and people might navigate to your page!
Overall, you can direct more traffic to your page by leveraging other brands. As always, be mindful of the people, brands, and organizations you associate yourself with, and be selective to protect your personal brand equity.
Remember, the goal is to create mutually beneficial online relationships and synergies across audiences. This will boost your reach and your online social media presence overall!
Mindset Moment:
Reach isn’t all about the numbers. It’s about reaching out and delivering value to people.
Would you rather get a million views from random accounts, or would you rather make a real impact for a few people? You might inspire them, share a valuable lesson, entertain them, or introduce them to something new. Focus on those few people. Maybe, you’ll even impact a million people because your content is so profound.
Personally, I’d prefer to obsess over my message than my metrics. I encourage you to focus on your intentions and allow a meaningful mission to guide you.
Having genuine intentions will make you feel much better about how you show up on social media, and your audience will see it too. Everyone values authenticity, and this can coincidentally help you get ahead in the numbers game while creating meaningful connections with people!
Summary
Higher reach ultimately leads to more loyal fans, greater monetization opportunities, and lots of other sweet things. Hopefully, the tactics outlined in here will help you increase your reach!
The next step to growing your social media community is turning viewers into followers. Check out this article for tips on gaining followers!
