These tips are for artists, musicians, or other small-time entrepreneurs who are just beginning to work on building a social media following in 2024. Whether it's Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, etc. for the beginner, building a quality organic following (real people that care) is far more productive than building a large quantity of social media followers that consist of fake or passive strangers that don't give a rip about what you are trying to do. When just starting out there is no better way to gain organic followers than by using your local community, friends, and family.
Where do you start? Internet searches for "how to build a social media following in 2024" yield nothing but outdated advice that does not work and countless hours wasted. They also tend to not be for beginners seeking to build an organic following and seem to be geared more towards content creators trying to go viral. I am hoping to share my ideas here in this blog and connect with other artists, musicians, and small independent business owners who would like to help and support each other in this journey.
Tip 1. Choose one social media platform and take the time to understand how it works. Follow everyone that you know and don't be shy about asking people to help you build your social media following. Start being "social" on social media by commenting, asking questions, and sharing other people's posts. This is called "interacting". This lets people know that you are not just here for shameless self-promotion (maybe you are, but the way the social media algorithms decide to show your posts to new people is by how much you are interacting as well as how much other people are interacting with your posts.
Don't just start posting stuff every day over all of the social media platforms with no intention of interacting with other people's posts. Especially if you don't have a following yet. It's a waste of time, it's annoying, and nobody sees your posts anyway.
Tip 2. It's 2024, and covid is no longer holding people back. Go to local art and craft fairs, food and wine events, or other festivals. They are great places for beginners to meet other people who are just beginning to build an organic social media following. Talk to them and meet them in person. Buy something if you can to show your support or let them know you are a starving artist and can not afford to buy anything but you are more than happy to support them by following them on social media and commenting on their posts. I have found that most vendors at these types of events are also in the same boat as I am and are more than happy to participate.
Remember to actively interact with their social media posts by commenting and sharing. Hearts are a cop-out and not a real interaction. Not only does interacting with their posts boost their ranking in the algorithms but it builds community and they will be far more likely to return the support.
I plan to share more tips in the future as I continue on this journey. I would love to hear your ideas and advice as well. Please comment!