Growing your audience from zero is undeniably challenging. It demands a considerable amount of hard work, strategic planning, and perseverance. However, once you identify your niche, establish your narrative, and maintain your motivation, the process will gradually become more manageable. In this collaborative article, experts have shared their insights to help you discover how to grow your audience from zero, even when operating on a limited budget.
Read below what our esteemed experts have said and start learning with Expert Circle.
Kaj Embren
Senior Advisor – Kaj Embren Ltd
My experience is based on real life – self-earned through the years.
Always have a story to tell that could be trusted by your audience. Adapt early and be brave enough to test social media tools. Build your network from social relations into digital networking. Build your network with a broad approach to social media. Don’t use only one of the platforms. Use all of them and find out where your audience is. Post at least 3 times a day and use digital platforms where you can plan for posting in different time zones.
Richard Tunnah
Business Mentor
The second tip is to comment on posts by people who have the followers you’d like!
Lastly, offer an ethical bribe if people follow, you should share your top 10 tips on the subject matter your followers are interested in. They get a free copy for following you.
Michael Cartwright
Senior Marketing Executive at Media Contacts
My top 3 tips for building an audience from nothing:
1) Research – The first step (in my opinion at least) is to figure out what your competitors are doing. They started from scratch at one point too, and trying to emulate a successful plan is a great way of building your own. Try and find out what kind of content appeals, what doesn’t, and potentially what gap there is for you to sneak into to stand out.
2) Think of your audience – Consistency is key first of all, so don’t just start posting content because you’ll quickly find that without a considered approach, nothing will resonate. What are they interested in? What tone of voice do they like? What would put them off whatever service/product you’re offering? Once you have an idea of who your audience is and what content they’d enjoy/find useful, then you should start building a plan using the findings on content from step 1. Whether that’s for a week, month or quarter, build a plan and stick to it WITHOUT thinking you’ll get immediate results (particularly if you’re starting from scratch, it will take time to see anything tangible but that doesn’t mean you should give up!).
3) Ask for help/network – Whether you work as a solo marketer like me or have a team around you, it is always useful to gather insights from others. Attend events, join WhatsApp groups or try and find a mentor to assist you, and you’ll find everyone else can think of an approach you haven’t considered. That doesn’t mean what you’re doing is wrong, it means you now have another tool in your marketing arsenal to approach the issue of building something from nothing.
Founder, TANGO – The Conversation Agency
Growing an audience is key, especially when starting from 0. When you first create a profile or page on a social network, nobody knows you exist, so it is your job, your responsibility to reach out to your audience, make yourself known and let them know why they should follow you. Here are 3 FREE ways to get started:
1. Identify the topics that match both your expertise and what your audience is interested in. Then create content that resonates with both.
2. Outreach: Commenting is content, so get out there on the feeds, listen, react and respond to posts from the people you would like to have followed you.
3. Use your network: Message them directly, tag them in your content, ask them to support you, engage on your posts and leave comments. Maybe even reshare.
These 3 steps may seem trivial or obvious, but they produce incredible results.
Jason Culleton
Social Media Marketing Executive
Organic growth is the key to saving your budget and achieving long-lasting and meaningful business growth. It relies on building genuine connections with your target audience and fostering a loyal community.
However, achieving organic growth on social media is easier said than done.
It involves building authentic relationships with your audience to expand your brand’s reach.
Organic growth allows you to build a rapport with your audience so their trust and your credibility naturally increase. While organic growth on social media is slow, it ensures that your audience engages actively with your posts. It also helps expand your reach steadily over time.
Unlike paid growth, organic growth is sustainable in the long term. By consistently providing value to your audience, you can cultivate a loyal community that stays engaged with your brand.
Organic growth enables you to attract a more targeted audience that identifies with your brand message. Creating content tailored to their interests and pain points can establish a strong connection and increase engagement.
Businesses can build a loyal following and achieve sustainable success on social media by harnessing the power of organic growth.