Let’s talk about numbers. You’re probably sitting at a certain number of followers, blog subscribers, and email list subscribers, thinking… how on earth am I going to grow? What should be my growth strategy?
Maybe you’re feeling… helpless? That your product isn’t any good? That you’re not good enough? Worth enough of even a click?
Gosh, it’s an awful feeling to feel that way, right? Like your little world of creation central is taking a nosedive?
Don’t feel that way. It’s not about you, my friend. It’s about your audience. Let’s shift the tables a bit from the “Please follow me! Here’s my book for free! Like me, like me, please!” to the “Hey, audience, thanks for checking out… ____” and “Nice picture – I love Cabo, Mexico, too! Hope you had a great vacation!”
It’s called engagement. And it requires you to interact with people in SOME sort of fashion. Whether you choose to do it manually or automatically through an automation system – it doesn’t matter. Growth comes from being present and engaging with people.
The Strategy
How do you convince people to follow you and like your stuff (and maybe even buy your stuff) and get X amount of people to do that per day?
Personally, I use a 20% rule. I know that if I give out 100 interactions, I will receive about 20% of interaction back (given history of interacting with people online). So basically if I go out and comment on 100 Instagram photos, about 20% will come back and follow and comment on mine.
Remember that numbers to attain – growth by 100 followers – is merely a GOAL associated with a strategy. Your strategy is the how. How will you get people to follow you?
- First start with a design strategy. Is your account worthy of following just by the look and feel? Review your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest platforms. Are they consistently themed and are they active?
- Second, take a look at your content strategy. Is your account worth following and engaging with just by the sheer quality of your content? YOU may think it’s good and you may have spent a lot of time on it… but what do other people think?
- Third, work with the numbers. Start following and engaging people. Talk to them. Message them and thank them for following or liking your post. Don’t spam.
Work towards increasing each account by 100 followers. That usually means 500 interactions with a 20% return. Find a way, as a strategy, to increase subscribers off of your website by offering something other than a free book (that’s getting overused and a bit tired). Get people to pay for your products by first getting their trust and offering other things you’ve worked on or created. For an author, it might be something as simple as a romantic bingo printable download with your book as the theme. For a children’s author it might be a downloadable game or activity for the kids. Think of something OTHER THAN YOUR PRODUCT to give away for free.
Don’t Have Time?
If you don’t have time to do all of this and need a consistent look or help getting started, then maybe it’s time to work with an online strategist – someone who can get you organized, get a system and design in place, and then you can take it from there. Maybe you’d rather be creating and would like someone else to run and manage your online campaigns without having to worry about ad costs. Just a flat fee.
I’m going to tell you something – it doesn’t happen overnight. But, what I have found that if you do the work, in about 3 months, you’re going to see a dramatic difference in the amount of traffic you receive as well as the amount of sales you generate. All from being present, being engaged in your accounts and interacting with others.