I recently heard Swiss economist, Marius Frey, unpack growth and multiplication at a conference in Vienna. He described it in five stages: planting, calling/response, empowering, evangelise and discipling.

As he was speaking I could imagine a viable parallel with Social Media growth. This is a loose cycle that likely repeats, with some stages taking longer than others. While you read, ask yourself these two questions:

Where am I in the cycle?
What do I need to move to the next stage?

Planting

We have to plant things properly, and in the right environment, for them to grow as we hope they will.

Likewise, setting up your accounts properly can make a real difference when starting out. It helps users to find you and get to grips with who you are.

When Ruti began her journey on The Voice 2018, we knew her profiles would begin to grow pretty quickly, so we needed to be intentional about everything: handles, bio, initial posts, profile images, cover photos... This was critical to giving her prospective fans a stroger landing page/touch point in their journey with Ruti.

Calling/response

As you put your content and messages out there - calling your audience to action and brand awareness - begin to look out for what types of content engage your audience and produce the best response.

Think about experimenting with: post length, including media, excluding media, links to articles/blogs, using video, sharing other page posts... Once you get an idea of what types of post are best for you and your following, drill deeper!

Your audience like video? Long or short? With text or without? Pictures performing best? With people or without? Plainer product images or products in use?

You might try putting the same content in more than one format and use this as a direct comparison.

This process is called "A/B Testing"

Learn more about using Facebook Page Insights

Empowering

With the right messaging, branding and content, your audience will start to grow. As that happens you will be empowered to make better decisions about how to best communicate your business to your audience. This is because Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all give basic demographics on your followers such as age and gender breakdown - this is a great starting point!

Different audiences require different targeted messages. Think about how you would communicate your brand differently to a 55 year old man and a 22 year old woman. This doesn’t mean reductionism and stereotyping. But it does mean relevance, this can - and should! - have an affect on the types of content you post and also the tone of your account.

Evangelise

So. Your Social Media accounts are growing and it’s helping you to meet your goals and objectives. What now? Evangelise.

Evangelism is not just preaching but also loving, sharing and serving. You have to continue to serve your audience needs and expectations to make sure you take them with you as you grow.

Social Media is just that, an inherently social medium. We all use these apps for an experience. Try not to treat your audience only as consumers - it’s obvious and empty, not a nice experience.

Discipling

Over this process you have been building relationships between you and your audience. With that, you start to see trust and brand loyalty. They trust you or your service or your brand.

This trusting audience is your new most valuable asset. They are now ready to hear from you and become your biggest advocates. They are willing to be educated, encouraged to share your content and messages, and generate their own content. Treasure them, praise them, reward them.

So bow we remember the two questions:

Where are you in the cycle?
What do you need to move to the next stage?

If stuck on these questions and looking to grow your business online, Lobster Digital is here to help. You can book yourself or your team for a consultation, or one of our Training Workshops.

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