How to Attract Genuine Followers
People drive profits. That’s how it’s always going to be. If you don’t have eyes on your products then you probably won’t sell much. The more eyes you have on your content, the more likely you are to have more readers. The more people who land on your website, the more sales you will have. It’s just how it works.
When it comes to running an online business, you don’t have physical traffic. Thank God, though! I would NOT want thousands of people stopping my my house every morning to see what mug I am using to drink my coffee, that’s for Instagram stories! Back to my point: since we don’t have brick and mortar shops, we must build a presence online and create our own platform. This can be a challenge in a world with bots and fake followers and follow-for-follow tactics.
How do I attract genuine followers?
I hear this question all the time in my mentoring sessions and my Facebook group. It’s something we are all trying to do. While we write blog posts and fulfill orders and work with clients and balance the accounts. Good grief, owning a business is hard.
In the midst of the hustle and bustle of running a business, I think people often forget to just be themselves.
Think about the accounts you love to follow and the Instagram stories you like to watch every day. They are the people who are unashamedly sharing their life with you. They show you their face without makeup and the piles of laundry in their living room. They confess their shortcomings and talk about how they put their coffee in the freezer.
The reason you are attracted to these people is because they are REAL.
They share their life and they don’t try to write a different story than their own.
I know this seems easy written down, but let’s also think about this strategically. If you’re reading this, I am guessing that you actually want to take action. And the phrase “be yourself” isn’t super helpful, right? Well, let’s talk about HOW to do this.
How to Attract Genuine Followers
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Use Instagram stories to share tid bits of your life: home decor, behind the scenes of business, struggles. I find a lot of recent communication with my audience comes from sharing on Instagram stories and engaging through Direct Messages. People love to feel like they aren’t alone. My feed can look curated, but on my stories, people will see I am just like them. I have messy hair, I am trying to find healthy, easy meal options, and I don’t have the perfect house. This makes people feel welcome. Which makes them want to stay engaged with me.
Start highlighting other accounts on your stories: Share about accounts you love following. Hopefully people return the favor and you can continue to engage new followers. Another option, is to get a group together and commit to sharing about each other!
Write honest blog posts about something you struggle with or something you know a lot of people will resonate with (example one, example two). I find that when I can connect with people through my writing, people are way more likely to stay as an engaged follower. Whenever I post about something honest or deeper, people LOVE it. They feel more connected to me. And then they share about the post and get more eyes on your content!
Every 5 or so posts, write encouragement to your audience: on your Instagram feed, make sure you are taking time to give back to your audience. Share encouragement and give them something. We often are always asking for something from our audience: “Like this! Comment below! Buy this! Sign up for this! Download this!” Our audience is inundated with content. A way to stand out is to give them something, without asking for something in return (no FREE downloads here). Encouragement is a great way to do this. See an example here.
Share about your day to day life and what it’s like to be you: people love to know what other people do with their time. (example one, example two).
Ask for comments and ask for advice: People also love to share wisdom or their own experiences. When you ask for advice, your comments will increase, which also increases your engagement (which boosts your post). But it also makes people feel important; that’s key in building a tribe of authentic followers!
Be willing to be brave: be willing to be a leader and share things that not everyone talks about. This makes you different and stand out. THIS IS A GOOD THING!
Don’t feel like you need to share everything in your life: privacy is a good thing. We often feel pressured to share everything in our life. That doesn’t need to happen. Share what you’re comfortable sharing!