It’s true — entrepreneurs love growing their social media accounts. But those numbers mean nothing if they’re not filled with your ideal customers. Keep reading to find out how fill up your business’s social media platforms with quality ideal custom…

Common questions I hear: Should I buy followers? Should I participate in follow for a follow or like for a like? Should I follow then unfollow to gain more followers? Short answer - no.

Long answer - I work by the philosophy that it doesn’t matter how many followers you have, it matters what kind of followers you have - the kind that engage, respond to your questions and ask questions of their own. The kind where learning is almost a two way street - you’re learning as the business owner and they’re learning as the consumer.

As I continue to grow my business, I prefer quality followers over having a large number of followers on social media.

What's the difference?

Quality followers are your true fans. They may not always buy your product or services, but they support you either by showing up to your webinars, referring your name or sharing your content.

Quantity followers are just a number. No engagement. No interaction. You may not even know their name and maybe they don't even know your name or that they're even following you.

Guess what guys. I am going to give you the harsh honest truth. Numbers don't matter. You can have one million followers on all your social media platforms, but it doesn't mean a thing unless they are truly quality followers.

Why follow for a follow doesn’t work

All about the growing numbers on your social media account and while that may look nice, it’s not going to get you sales or signups to your e-mail list., not about getting sales or sign ups to your email list. You don’t need millions of irrelevant followers - that won’t grow your brand or your business. Plus they most likely have an additional app to track who follows them and who unfollows soon after. It’s a dog eat dog world out there. And you thought high school was bad.

How do you get quality followers?

Identify your target market. Raise your hand if you heard that you should have a clear target market or ideal customer in mind when it comes to your brand. It's important to know who you want to work with, the type of people who will want your products so you know how to base your marketing, whether that be through social media, print ads, etc. (Side note: Day one in my free e-mail course is all about how to identify your target market. Sign up below!).

Identify your competition. Someone reached out to me the other day because she wanted to start offering social media services. Did I turn my nose to her? Absolutely not. I answered her questions, (hopefully) helped calm her fears and cheered her on. Why? Because even though she may be called my competition, I don’t consider her my competition. Looking at others in your field can help you realize if your pricing is around where it should be and if you’re providing your customers everything you got.

Your competition is not always your competition.

Identify your business besties. That phrase has been tossed around lately and I love it! Your biz bestie may be someone is your field or someone who compliments your brand. For example, a brand expert can work with a social media expert or a handbag company can collaborate with a jewelry company. These are people who understand your business, so you can bounce ideas off of each other or have joint webinars.

How to find quality followers.

Social media is an excellent search tool. I personally focus on the main social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram and yes, you can search them all either by using short phrases or keywords. I don’t really use hashtags in Facebook or Pinterest, but it’s a great search method for Instagram and Twitter since that is where they are used a lot. Be sure to look up phrases and hashtags for your ideal customer, your competition and your business besties.

So, if you’re like me and want to gain quality followers, move away from the like for a like and follow for a follow. Find people in your niche that you can connect with on social media and grow your platforms that way.

If your social media overwhelms you, sign up below for my FREE four-day e-mail course, The Key to Successful Social Media Management.

About Melissa Hebbe

Melissa dominates social media for small business, specifically in the fashion and beauty industry as that is where she spent most of her time before opening up her own business. While finishing her degree in graphic design, she discovered her true passion was applying design techniques to social media. She loves coming up with the perfect Instagram caption and creating graphics for Pinterest. As Melissa continued working with small businesses, she discovered that many found social media overwhelming when it didn’t have to be. Too many platforms, so little time! This prompted her to share her secrets on how she plans out and schedules her social media content calendar in her free e-mail course, The Key to Social Media Management.

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