How to Engage with Your Competition to Build Your Following on Social Media
Social media marketing is crucial for your business or brand. A key goal of having an online presence is keeping up with new marketing trends. Every small, mid-sized, or large business benefits from an effective social media marketing strategy.
If you have an account on any social network, your primary goal is generally to get more followers, right? That can be tough, considering there is a lot of competition out there.
Fortunately, we have some tips that can help you with brand awareness to start to see your follower numbers go up. In this post, we’ll focus on how you can leverage your competition to grow your audience.
Here are three strategies to help you engage positively with your competition and increase your follower count.
Research Your Competition
The best way to engage with your competition is by following their progress. This will help you see the content they are posting and how they are engaging with their followers. You can also gauge how people interact and what content they respond to best.
It won't be easy to gain any real engagement insights (unless you want to do a bit of math) as you won’t have access to your competitor's data. However, many online tools can help you give an estimate.
You can note how frequently your competitor posts & what kind of content they’re posting. You can also track things like the date and time they engage with their followers. Lastly, be sure to check the keywords and hashtags they are using. Tracking hashtags is a great way to expand and grow into spaces that align with your brand.
Once you know your competition and a bit about their strategy, you can engage with them and their followers. Not only that, but you can use their ideas (not copy but use as a strategy tool) to produce more engaging & unique content.
Engage in the Comments Section
One of the best ways to help you get more followers is by engaging with people in the comments section. You should do this on your posts and other profiles’ posts. And yes, even with your competition's followers on their posts. The key to building a successful online presence is connecting with your followers and potential followers. The goal here is relationship building. You don’t want to be spammy — your goal should be to relate and offer value. Allow people to get to know your brand and what it stands for. As people get to know you, they’ll be more likely to follow you over on your account.
And it’s no secret that many followers prefer to scroll through the comments instead of the posts (guilty!), and that’s why an engaging discussion can go a long way to increasing your follower count.
Collaborate and Go LIVE
Lastly, another useful relationship-building tool is live video. If you’re on Facebook and Instagram, you can utilize this tool to connect with your audience. You can also collaborate with other leaders in your community or partner with a brand or business in a live video session. Partnering allows you to reach new people and expand your audience.
Engaging live sessions help build a successful online presence. You can use this experience to answer questions, provide valuable insights, and even educate your followers or potential followers about your product or service.
These are just a few ways to adopt an effective social media strategy for positively engaging with your competition. Remember to be sincere and authentic, offer value, and not be spammy or sell in the comments. Your goal is to build relationships.
Comment below and let us know how you leverage your competition to grow your account.👇🏼
