🏔challenge: “Okay so I just started my social channels for my brand and essentially starting from zero. How can I grow my following without paid advertising?”— mission minded solo-prenuer

✨opportunity: Here’s the truth, you do NOT need to pay for advertising in order to grow your brand, but it does take rolling up your sleeves and getting to work! Here are my tips to seeing your engagement/following grow with social >>

• Consistency, consistency, consistency. Ok I know that was a little redundant but sometimes we have to be in order to get our message across. whether its once a week or everyday, stay consistent and present.
• Quality > quantity. When you look back in a year you want to see a great portfolio of your work/brand not a cluttered unfocused stream of content. (hint hint this is where strategy and planning come in.)
• Use tools to spread your net wide. Tools like hashtags, sliding into dms and reels are seemingly unimportant but can really be leveraged in order to grow your audience. Here’s a quick breakdown,
  • ​​​​​​​Hashtags allow people to find similar content and you can even search/follow hashtags for similar content. not to mention the algorithms feed off of them.
  • Go after the people you believe would connect with your brand. Go follow them, engage with their content and eventually you’ll find an opportunity to dm. This goes both ways, respond to those that slide into yours too. Engagement is key!
  • Reels and other short videos reach far beyond your followers. Places like IG and FB have all found that video content keeps people on the platform and they reward it. You don’t have to only create reels but keeping it in the rhythm of your social calendar could be key to gaining traction online.

When you are starting with a small audience take that as an opportunity to make real connections with them. Often times when you grow your reach organically you find the right people for you and your brand. And remember there is a time and place for targeted ads, do some research and understand the best practices before taking the financial risk.

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