A Practical Five-Step Strategy to Get More Social Media Followers as a Writer

A Practical Five-Step Strategy to Get More Social Media Followers as a Writer Right at this moment, there are millions of pseudo-influencers online trying to hot-take their way to fame. If youre one of them, you can move on to the next article. This one isnt for you. This is for the people with a genuine message burning inside. The people who have something important to say but cant seem to get any traction. The people who, no matter how hard they try, arent getting new followers. The people who are starting to get discouraged. Do This For A Month And See What Happens. Focus on one social media channel for one full month. The most important fact to understand about social media is that it is one (and only one) aspect of your strategy to gain readers. In general, you want people there for as short a time as possible. Your ultimate goal is to move people from social media (a channel you cant control) to an email list (a channel you can control). When you have peoples email addresses (as in an email list), you have an almost-guaranteed way to get a hold of them. When you send an email to your email list, theres no complex algorithm to understand. Just write a good email, send it to people, and, if it interests them, theyll pay attention. Your social media channel, on the other hand, is not something you can control. Since you only have peoples social media handles, your ability to contact them is tenuous. Its based on a platform and an algorithm you have no control over. But most of all social media eats up a significant amount of the most valuable resource you have as an entrepreneur: Your time. The Practical 5-Step Strategy Make a list of all the social media channels youre on and the number of followers. Browse through each social media channel to determine where you have the most activity, but most of all, the most engagement. Choose a channel to focus on for the month. Research (and use!) the best practices for your chosen channel. Were all so busy we throw the same graphic on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, whatever, and call it a day. Not cool and not productive. No more! Find out the ideal image dimension sizes for your chosen channel. Make your graphics for that channel. Figure out the content people respond to most. Emulate its style and use it for your own content. Consider video. Your goal is to become an expert on the best practices of your chosen channel. Use your extra time to dig into another lead generation method. Here are a few to consider. SEO (Excellent post from our expert) Guest Blogging YouTube Paid Media Quora Podcasting There are dozens more of these Pick a strategy outside of social media. Test it. See what results you get, then try another if its not working. Youll be shocked how you can change your results when you focus on being an expert on one channel instead of seven. If youre not sure which to pick, we can vouch for the fact that theres huge potential in organic SEO if youre patient. (We grew a New York Times bestselling authors monthly blog traffic If It Doesnt Work After a Month, Do This Try another one. Keep testing until you find a channel that works. Keep trying to crack the code for the channel youre focusing on for that month. And, as you dive in, remember: Everyone started at 0 followers. What If Nothing Works If you cant get traction after trying every single social media channel out there, people arent resonating with what you have to say. Its time to re-evaluate your message. Survey your people. Ask what they want to hear from you, then provide it. Youre not the first person to run into this issue. In fact, youre not the first person to run into this issue today. Dont be discouraged. Dont give up. Instead, focus on systematically testing the different platforms to see what performs best for you. Theres no silver bullet here. It will take a lot of effort and elbow grease, but the end result will be worth it. And remember, youre not alone. Invest in your personal growth, and if you ever need someone to talk to about your next steps, consider dropping us a line.