Getting followers on social media is not as easy as big brands and bloggers make it seem.You wonder how they do it while you try so hard for some form of engagement. Allow us to unveil to you the science that will lead to more loyalty, actual conversions, and better customer experiences.

Take notes ladies and gentlemen..

Inform and attract

In the world of social media, you’re unknowingly categorized into two separate camps:

1. Meformers: People who talk ,mostly about themselves. Like posting incessant lunch updates, wedding pictures etc.
2. Informers: People who bring value to the table.

However, if you do want to get more followers, research says that informers have 2x more followers because their updates and content are of value to the reader. It would be ideal to create valuable, outward-facing social messages with a personal touch.

Positivity is Key

A positive tone  has been backed by research, the more negative remarks you make, the fewer followers you’ll get:

Not only does positivity help you get more followers, analyzed data suggests people are much more likely to share positive content, especially when it connects to these emotions:

1. Curiosity
2. Amazement
3. Interest
4. Astonishment
5. Uncertainty
6. Don’t underestimate anybody

Don’t underestimate anybody

Although you’d like to have influential people to engage with, 91% of the people who talk about your brand will have less than 500 followers:

Responding to people who mention you speaks volumes about your credibility and can influence your business and conversion rate as well. Acknowledge those who reach out to you regardless of relevance.

Avoid posting too much too soon

The best way to get more followers is keeping the ones you already have. People unfollow those who left many tweets within a short time, created tweets about uninteresting topics, or tweeted about the mundane details of their lives.

So, take advantage of social scheduling tools like CoSchedule to space out your (exciting) posts across days, weeks, or even months instead of posting multiples at once.

Giveaways spread like wildfire

• 52% of people who follow brands do it to learn about offers
• 38% follow to take part in competitions
• 33% do so to get access to freebies

…which is a lot of your follower base. In fact, more than half of them are primed and ready to buy from or engage with you. So take advantage and let them spread the word for you at the same time. Create a competition or offer that involves retweets and shares, and you’ve got a campaign that will draw attention.

Five Essential Emotions triggered by any Social Campaign

It’s all about engagement. The more shares, mentions, likes, and retweets your social campaign gets, the more followers you’re going to pick up along the way.

But, what most social campaigns miss out on is emotion. And by doing that, you miss out on a huge opportunity to get more followers.

Research at Harvard studied marketing campaigns and the emotions that make them go viral. The results? Each campaign evoked at least one of these five:

• Admiration
• Interest
• Serenity
• Amazement
• Astonishment

You’ll normally find you can combine two or three of these into any social media message. At the least, your headlines or content should create interest.

Watch out for Competitors digitally as well

A sure shot, although sneaky way to draw attention to your brand is approaching your competitors’ neglected fans.

By running a competitor’s Facebook page through FanPage Karma, you can see an analysis of Facebook trends, habits, and posting schedules. But, more importantly, you can see how that competitor interacts with their audience. And, you’ll see that a lot of pages neglect their fans. Here’s what you can do:

• Interacting with these people

• Providing insights or answers the company isn’t giving them on your brand’s page
• Building a community presence and a sense of belonging

Give out an air of confidence and power

Most people like authority, because an authoritative tone of voice appears more credible. People who identify themselves as an authority have many more followers than people who don’t. So, don’t be too modest in your social media presence. One of the best ways to show authority is by knowing your audience well and sharing knowledge.

Take advantage of #Hashtags

There’s no denying the fact that hashtags are an incredible marketing tool, they can help you get more followers much more easily. Hashtags are not only a big part of how we use social media; they’ve even started to become part of how you speak. Avoid cluttering your posts with hashtags. If you really want to use the maximum number of hashtags, post them on the comments and not in your caption.

Post on Milestones/Special events To Boost Your Organic Reach

Congratulatory posts and festive greetings bring more people on your post. But this also appears to have carried on over to other milestones, too, such as:

• Weddings
• Graduations
• Landmark trips
• Babies or birthdays
• Awards

Now You Know How To Get More Followers To Grow Your Traffic

Although we just provided you with some valuable insight, ensure that you align each of the tips with your brand relevance and then act upon it. Followers are important but maintaining brand image is equally crucial.

It doesn’t matter if you’re starting from scratch, or trying to increase your six-figure audience base, all of this data when applied will help you:

1. Reach more people.
2. Convert more people to your website.
3. Expand your social web presence and authority.