Getting Your Fans From One Social Network to Follow You On Another

Whether you’re finally launching a company Instagram account or resurrecting your neglected Facebook page, one thing always rings true:You need followers.Fortunately, this probably isn't your first rodeo - and odds are, you have at least one social platform with legit followers.

(Way to go, you!)So how do you get your most loyal and engaged followers on one social network to follow you on another?There's more than one way to do it!

Perfect your presence on a single social network

Trying to start out everywhere all at once is an easy way to spread yourself too thin - and when you do that, your work everywhere suffers.

So start small, and perfect one social channel at a time! Give your existing fans and followers what they need, and they’ll be much more inclined to follow you on another channel when the time comes.Focus first on creating killer content for one social network, and your audience will know that you're able to dish up the same dazzling stuff on other networks.Here are five things you can focus on to help make that happen:

• Be selfless: While occasional self-promotion has a place, your content strategy must be reader-centric. What are their wants, needs, problems, and pain points? How do your blog posts, videos, infographics, and commentary address these demands?
• Be original: Rehashing the same tips and tricks as everyone else on the web is the fastest way to mediocrity. That doesn't mean you can't write about the same subjects as someone else - you just have to put your own unique spin on them!
• Be actionable: Give your audience info that has a real-life application, is targeted, addresses their needs, and is communicated clearly.
• Be informed: Research your audience and their needs, understand your competitors, create audience personas, and continually learn and adjust your strategy.
• Be experimental: Test messaging, content formats, visuals, and editorial focus to understand what resonates best with your audience. Give yourself permission to fail sometimes!

Moving followers from one social network to another isn't just a matter of creating strong content, though - and focusing on that alone will only get you so far!

Establish a regular routine

If you write one amazing blog post every nine months, your audience might appreciate it, and other sites might even link to it - but you’re not exactly setting yourself up as a go-to, mastermind resource.Writing and sharing new stuff on a regular basis, on the other hand? That'll score you some cred not only with your audience, but with search engines, too.Blogging on a regular basis is just part of the equation - and fortunately, no matter what you're comfortable writing, there's a blogging style perfect for you.The other part is using the social network(s) where you're building a reputation to actually share that stuff, so followers see your work on a regular basis.

Share your stuff again and again (here's how big brands do it), interact with people (Twitter chats are a great place to start), and build your rep with a routine that prioritizes high visibility in one specific place.

Maintain brand consistency

Now, say you've got all that figured out.You're writing blog posts and creating content.You've built a respectable following in one place, and you want to funnel some of those people to another network where you're less established.Ask yourself this: what are they going to find when they get there?When someone DOES end up on that profile, is your brand identity going to be instantly recognizable?Does the voice you use match your voice elsewhere?Are your values and style still intact?If you want to share different types of content, that's one thing - on Instagram, for example, you might find certain things are easier to share than they would be on a different network.The things that really define your brand, however, should stay consistent from place to place. Check your tone, language, brand values, and voice - not to mention your brand's aesthetics, like its nomenclature, logo, and color palette.

Promote that handle

Don’t assume your followers magically know about your presence on every platform.(If they did, we probably could have skipped writing this whole thing.)Instead, make sure you promote your other handles on networks where you're already established.It might feel a little weird and self-promote-y, but if someone follows you already, they've proven that they're interested in what you have to say - so there's a pretty decent chance they'd like to see what else you're cooking up.When you're ready to cross-promote, try things like:

• Using visuals: Incorporate call-to-action messaging and your social handle in prominent and interesting images, like your Facebook cover photo.
• Linking to it: Cross-promote your social accounts by hyperlinking to them in about sections, descriptions, and individual updates.
• Explaining the why: Educate your audience on the stuff you’ll cover on your other platform and why they should care. Provide examples of your excellence, like a link to an amazing convo that’s going down in your LinkedIn Group.

Incentivize follows

Let’s say you have a super engaged and active Facebook community. You just launched your Instagram channel, and you’re ready to convert your most loyal fans over.Launch an Instagram contest, and promote it to the Facebook gang. Make following you on Instagram a requirement for contest entry - you can even ask them to tag a few friends, as well!https://www.instagram.com/p/BXOHQPZBclE/?hl=en&taken-by=strandbookstoreJust remember that any incentives you offer - in the form of a contest or not - should be highly relevant to your intended audience.Yes, you can gain a nice little handful of new followers by giving away an iPad or an elephant, but things like those aren't very specific to the people you want in your audience. You can easily end up growing your follower count, but having nothing to show for it!(In fact, that can do a lot of damage in the long run - disinterested, irrelevant followers are likely to hurt your engagement rates, which can lower your reach on a platform like Facebook.)What makes your specific audience tick? What motivates them? What do they respond to?Whether you give away exclusive discounts to the first 1,000 followers, free trials, coupon codes, or premium content like an e-book, keep your audience’s wants and needs in mind.

Think like a PR pro

What can you offer to your fans that they can’t get anywhere else?You already know how to turn social media into your own personal PR machine - and you can put that into practice when you're promoting new social profiles, too.

If you’re hitting up a much-desired industry event, for example, let your followers know you're covering it exclusively on the social channel you’re pushing. (A live broadcast is one way to do it!)Whatever it is, get the word out where you already have a presence. Announce interviews, outtakes, behind-the-scenes coverage, real-time updates, and anything else that will send your audience's FOMO-sensors into overdrive.

Make the destination worth the trip

Although it might feel like you’re spinning your wheels at first, you need to fill your social channel with quality content even before you have a lot of followers.When peeps check you out, they need to see that you’ve got your stuff together, you're active, and you're interesting. Otherwise, they might not be inclined to stick around.(This goes back to what we said before about brand consistency. Demonstrate that your new profile is just as worth following as your already-popular one!)Pretend you have millions of followers. Dedicate yourself to what you're doing, so you're prepared when people do start showing up!How do YOU convert old followers into new followers? What content keeps them coming back for more?How do you creatively cross-promote your social channels?Any clever ways you incentivize follows?Share your own experiences in the comments below!