When it comes to social media everyone wants to have the biggest fan page or the account with the most followers. People and businesses everywhere know that social media is one of the quickest ways to get brand recognition and drive traffic. 

However, it can become frustrating when you work so hard to gain followers on a daily basis to only find you're losing just as many followers as you're gaining. It's hard work to continuously gain followers and keep them for long periods of time.

We have found that the best way to gain followers and increase engagement is to post great content consistently and come up with a smart Instagram marketing strategy and engage with your audience multiple times a day.

First, let's go over why businesses and brands lose followers on social media. 

There are obviously so many reasons why a person may unfollow a brand on social media.  Research has shown that the number one reason brands lose followers on social media is because they experience poor customer service. 

If a person voices a concern with your business, it is important for you to respond to them and try to make it right.  Every business is going to experience someone who can never be satisfied, but that doesn't mean you should just ignore them and hope it goes away.

Now, let's go over the 5 tips that will help increase your following on social media.

1. Create Valuable & Shareable Content

When creating content for your brand and social media, it is important to remember to provide value to anyone who views your Facebook Page or Instagram profile.  You want to draw them into your business by giving them useful information that can help them solve a problem or simply give them something they want or need.

Here's another thing to remember.  People absorb content in various ways -- some people understand content better when they see visual images.  The more ways you can show your content, the more likely your readers will understand and absorb the content or post. 

2. Be Consistent

The key here is to be consistent, not overbearing.  On every social media platform, research has found that the more you post to social media, the more likes and followers you will get.  

Consistently putting out great content helps people build trust and a relationship with your business or brand.  This is where you could plan a social media strategy to help you post consistently and engage with your people.

Try posting some type of content on social media 1-3 times per day to increase engagement and gain followers.

We understand that it can be difficult to stay on top of social media, so we created a social media checklist to help you stay productive and consistent.  

3. Be Relevant

When you are creating content for your audience make sure you post content that is relevant to your brand and your people.  That is one of the quickest ways for people to lose interest in your brand. 

The more relevant your content is to your audience, the more people will engage with your brand.  

Here is an easy example.  If your business sells shoes and you start sharing and posting content that only talks about jewelry, most of your people aren't going to be interested in that content and will unfollow you.

4. Use Hashtags

Using a hashtag gives brands the ability to communicate with others, drive engagement and attract new people to your brand.  But incorrectly using hashtags can have a negative impact on your hashtag marketing strategy.

It is important to research and find which hashtags resonate with your audience and followers the best and what generates the most interaction and engagement.  Brands can also look though daily hashtag trends and find conversations to jump in.  When users do this it helps create more engagement and visibility.

A creative way to gain followers is to create fun contests to help generate a buzz about your brand or products. Most social media followers are more likely to interact with your content if they have a chance to win a prize or recognized.

We hope this blog was helpful and if you need any more help then join our DM Impact community.   You can learn the tactics and also have a mentor right beside you to keep you up to date on all of the new changes and help you get the results you need!