Without a doubt, the most effective way to increase your following on social is to find and follow people in your niche. This has a two-fold goal: It helps you keep a pulse on what other people in your niche are sharing, and it invites them to follow back. Commenting, engagement, and sharing relevant content are other ways to grow your platform as well, but today we’re simply going to focus on how to find people to follow (on Twitter, Pinterest, and Google +). I haven’t included Facebook since it is more personal in nature (unless you have a business page, and then that’s a separate process for getting new likes).
The Hashtag Follow: Bread & Butter for Growing on Social
I find that many people have an aversion to following others unless they are SURE that this person is going to be a good match for them. Let me tell you a secret — you aren’t marrying this person by hitting follow. In fact, you aren’t even forced to be in the same room with them! Here are two reasons why people are hesitant to follow generously:
- They don’t organize their social streams well and so following everyone means a lot of clutter. This is an easily remedied problem if you use tools like Hootsuite, Twitter lists, Feedly, etc. Then you aren’t forced to use your general feeds as a way to sort through new info (it’s a waste of time for a lot of people).
- You are afraid to follow your competition for fear of giving them an edge.
Here is the philosophy I’ve adopted for social media. When I have to open my mouth, I take care and pride in what I say. I make sure I am authentic. If I don’t have to open my mouth, I can afford to use tools of efficiency to get the job done. Following someone doesn’t require me to say a word, so I do it quickly. Commenting or saying hello takes time and care.
Hashtags are your friend. Learn to use them because this is how you will find people already discussing the things you’re interested in. These people are your future audience!
Finding people to follow on Google +
We’re going to start with Google +. This platform still eludes many bloggers and businesspeople, but don’t be intimidated. You can read my intro post on Google + if you need more assistance.
Before we begin, make sure you have an ACQUAINTANCE circle on Google plus. This is where you’re going to put all the people we’ll be finding and following today. Not sure? Go to http://plus.google.com and sign in. Then on the left hand side where it says HOME, hover and then click on PEOPLE. A new screen will open up. At the top of the screen, click on the option that says YOUR CIRCLES. You should have one at the bottom called ACQUAINTANCES. If you click on it, you can rename it if you’d like.
Find and follow between 10 and 20 people on Google plus every time you do this exercise. Here are two different ways to try:
METHOD #1
At the top of the homescreen on Google plus, click on the EXPLORE tab. Then you can type in any hashtag you’d like, and it will pull up any post or person talking about that subject.
When you find a post that looks interesting to you, check and see how many +1’s and comments it has. If it has a lot, then great! If not, keep moving along (for this exercise anyway).
When you find a post you like (and that is popular), I want you to click on the timestamp on the post. This will open it up into it’s own tab.
- First, add the person who wrote the post to your ACQUAINTANCE circle.
- Then hover over the right hand side of the post until a little arrow comes up.
- Choose the option that says “View Post Activity.”
- The post will flip over and there, you’ll see a list of people who’ve either +1ed, commented, and/or shared.
- I want you to add all the people that commented and shared. These are people who are active on Google plus, and are engaged in the topic that interests you.
- Once you’re done, turn the post back over and add your own comment to the pile. Tag one other person who’s commented and respond to them. You do this by typing the plus sign and then their name.
METHOD #2
Find a blogger in your niche that is popular. Go to his/her Google plus profile (it’s possible that a lot of your favorites may not be active on Google plus yet). If you need some ideas of popular profiles, here are a few names to type into Google’s search bar.
- Peg Fitzpatrick
- Mia Voss
- Christine DeGraff
- Marc Ensign
- Mike Alton
- Dustin Stout
Go to their profile and go through their latest posts. +1 the ones that look interesting to you. Repeat the activity I explained above and turn the post over and follow those who’ve commented AND shared. Add them to your circles.
When you’re finished, pick on the posts that you really enjoyed and share it to your stream. You do this by clicking on the ARROW and write your own little introduction and opinion about it. When you do, tag the original poster and thank them. Finally, and most importantly, in the TO field on the post, make sure it says PUBLIC. Then hit share!
Finding people to follow on Twitter
Find and follow 25-50 people on Twitter every time you do this exercise. Twitter can handle more following and sharing because it is the fastest of all the platforms.
There are two methods that you can use for finding and following new people on Twitter as well. The first is with the hashtag.
METHOD #1
In the search bar, type in a hashtag that’s relevant to your niche. When the results come up, click on PEOPLE on the left hand side menu option. Run down the list and find anyone who looks interesting to you.
If this doesn’t turn up anything you like, I want you to click on the ADVANCED search option. Remember that uber popular blogger I was talking about on Google? Put their Twitter handle in the field that says MENTIONING THIS ACCOUNT. Make sure you pick a blogger that is in your niche, and one that has thousands of followers.
Run through the results and find people who are talking and tweeting about this person. Chances are, they might like you too! If in your search, you find any really good tweets, retweet them and favorite them along the way. Replying is also a great idea!
METHOD #2
Follow lists. Lists are organized groups of people that other bloggers have already curated. A perfect example would be the BlogHer Attendees list. If you go to the BlogHer twitter profile, click on LISTS. Then click on the list of the attendees. What do we know about this list?
- They are going to BlogHer so they are probably active on their blog
- They are willing to invest monetarily in their blog
- They are bloggers
When you pull up the list, it’ll show you all the tweets. I want you to go on the left hand side and click on the number of subscribers. All the people will pull up in a list. FOLLOW!
You can do this exercise with any popular blogger in your niche (that also uses lists).
Finding people to follow on Pinterest
Find and follow 10-15 people on Pinterest every time you do this exercise..
I’m going to tell you something right now. You are going to have to stop browsing your Pinterest newsfeed. I know, I know. But really? Browsing the Pinterest general newsfeed is a huge waste of time. Why am I telling you this? Because I’m going to request that you follow people (even if you don’t like all of their boards) and that might mess up your newsfeed from here on in. I get that that isn’t fun, but using Pinterest strategically is more efficient anyhow. Please read my Feedly and Pinterest hack so you can keep tabs on your most FAVORITE boards via RSS.
- In the search bar, type in your keyword hashtag.
- When the results come up, choose the option that says PINNERS. First we’re going to find those who have that keyword in their actual title. Follow a few.
- Then redo the search, but instead of choosing PINNERS, choose BOARDS. Find some boards that look interesting to you. When you find one, click on the profile avatar of the person. Follow all their boards. Why? Because if you only follow a board, it won’t count in their following. You know how much more endearing it is to give them a new follower, rather than just picking a board?
- If you absolutely can’t stand some of their boards, go through and unfollow a few. This way, you still are counting as a follower to them (and it’s likely they’ll follow back).
If you don’t have any luck finding people to follow, go to that popular blogger we’ve been using. Pick on of their boards that is in your niche. Click on the number of followers. AND…follow!!
Other ways to find new followers on social media
- You can use Alltop to find relevant blogs in your niche. Then click on their website and find their social media buttons. Go to their profiles and follow the people that are following them.
- Join groups and communities online (Facebook, Google +). Follow the people in the group, but also follow people who are following them.
- Look for lists of blog rolls in your niche (from your favorite bloggers or a Google search). Find their site, click on their social buttons, and follow the rabbit trail of followers and follow those people.
Do you see a theme? You want to find popular people in your niche, and follow their fans – with the hope that your content (similar in topic and style) will entice their followers to follow you too!
Make sure to write down how many followers you started with, and how many you have after doing this challenge a couple days in a row.
