How to Get More Followers on Social Media

Gaining more followers is less about secret hacks and more about building a brand that people genuinely want to connect with. To see real, sustainable growth, you need a strategy rooted in understanding your audience, creating valuable content, and engaging with your community consistently. This guide provides the foundational plan and actionable steps you need to attract the right people and build an authentic following on social media.

The Foundation: Before You Can Grow, You Need a Plan

Jumping straight to creating content without a clear plan is like trying to build a house without a blueprint. You might put up a few walls, but it's not going to be stable. Before you worry about follower count, you need to lock in your foundation.

Figure Out Who You're Talking To

If you try to create content for everyone, you'll end up connecting with no one. The first step is to define your ideal follower with painful specificity. Don't just say "small business owners." Get granular.

• What industry are they in? A freelance graphic designer has very different problems than a local coffee shop owner.
• What are their biggest frustrations and pain points? What keeps them up at night?
• What are their goals and aspirations? What does success look like for them?
• What's their sense of humor? Do they appreciate witty sarcasm or straightforward, supportive advice?
• Where do they hang out online? Are they reading industry blogs, scrolling TikTok, or networking on LinkedIn?

Answering these questions helps you create a profile of a single person. Give them a name. Imagine you're creating every single piece of content specifically for them. When your content speaks directly to a real person's problems and goals, it builds a powerful connection that attracts others just like them.

Define Your Unique Value

Odds are, you're not the only person talking about your topic. Your next job is to figure out what makes you different. Your unique value isn't just what you talk about, but how you talk about it. This boils down to two things: your point of view and your content pillars.

• Your Point of View: This is your brand's personality and voice. Are you a funny, irreverent expert? A calm, methodical teacher? A motivating, high-energy coach? Your tone should be consistent across all your content and reflect who you truly are. Don't try to be Gary Vee if you're naturally a quiet, analytical thinker. Authenticity is magnetic.
• Content Pillars: These are the 3-5 core topics you will consistently create content about. For a fitness coach, the pillars might be beginner-friendly workouts, simple nutrition tips, and mindset motivation. For a marketing agency, they might be social media strategy, email marketing guides, and brand-building case studies. Content pillars keep your message focused, establish your expertise, and teach your audience what to expect from you.

Create Killer Content That Stops the Scroll

With a clear audience and defined value, you can start creating content. But not just any content. Your goal is to produce posts that are so valuable or entertaining that they stop someone from mindlessly scrolling and command their attention.

Serve, Don't Just Sell

People don't follow accounts that just shout "buy my stuff!" all day. They follow accounts that add value to their lives. Every post should fall into one of four categories, aiming to serve your audience first:

• Educate: Teach your audience something useful. This is your chance to solve their problems and build authority. Think tutorials, how-to guides, and quick tips. A financial advisor could share a Reel on "3 Common Budgeting Mistakes to Avoid."
• Entertain: Make them laugh, smile, or feel something. This is about building connection and personality. Memes, relatable experiences, behind-the-scenes content, and industry humor work well. A real estate agent could make a TikTok about the funny things they overhear at open houses.
• Inspire: Motivate your audience and share your values. This builds community and loyalty. Share success stories (your own or your clients'), motivational quotes, or your ahas from your journey.
• Convert: This is where you directly promote your product or service. You've earned the right to do this after providing so much value. But even here, frame it around the benefit to the customer, not just the features of your offer.

Master Today's Formats (Hello, Video!)

The social media landscape of today is built on short-form video. While high-quality photos and text posts still have their place, platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are heavily prioritizing Reels and Shorts. If you're not creating video, you're missing out on the single biggest opportunity for organic reach.

This doesn't mean you need a Hollywood production crew. Your smartphone is more than capable. The key is to create content that feels native to the platform. People are tired of overly polished, corporate ads. They want authentic, engaging, and personal content. And remember to tailor your content for each platform. What works on TikTok might need to be slightly adjusted for LinkedIn. The core message can be the same, but the delivery should respect the platform's culture.

Consistency Creates Community

The social media algorithms reward consistency. Posting three times in one day and then disappearing for two weeks sends a signal that your account is unreliable. You need to create a sustainable posting schedule that you can stick to over the long term. This isn't about posting 5 times a day, it's about showing up predictably with high-quality content.

Whether you commit to posting three times a week or five times a week, consistency trains your audience to look for your content and signals to the platforms that your account is active and valuable. This is where planning your content pillars and batch-creating content in advance can save you from the daily "what should I post?" scramble.

Active Growth Strategies: Get in Front of New People

Creating great content is half the battle. The other half is actively getting that content in front of new eyeballs.

Engage with Purpose

Social media is a two-way conversation. Don't just post and ghost. Active engagement is one of the most powerful - and most overlooked - growth strategies.

• Reply to every single comment: When someone takes the time to comment on your post, acknowledge them. This simple act builds community and encourages more people to engage in the future.
• Spend 15-20 minutes a day engaging with other accounts: Find 5-10 larger accounts, peers, or even ideal customers in your niche. Leave thoughtful, genuine comments on their posts. Don't just say "Great post!" Add to the conversation. This puts your name and profile in front of a relevant audience who is likely to click over and see what you're all about.

This strategy of genuine connection positions you as a helpful member of the community, not just another creator yelling for attention.

Use Hashtags Like a Pro

Hashtags aren't dead, they're just used more strategically now. The goal isn't to get seen by millions by using #marketing but to get seen by the right few hundred people using a niche, relevant hashtag. A good strategy involves a mix of different hashtag sizes:

• Broad Tags (1M+ posts): Use 1-2 of these. They describe your general industry (e.g., #socialmediamarketing). Reach is high, but so is competition.
• Niche Tags (50k - 500k posts): Use 3-5 of these. They get more specific about the topic of your post (e.g., #contentstrategytips). This is often the sweet spot for visibility.
• Community Tags (Under 50k posts): Use another 3-5 of these. These are specific to your location or ideal customer's identity (e.g., #austinlocalbusiness). These help you connect with a highly targeted and engaged audience.

Collaborate and Cross-Promote

Leveraging someone else's audience is the fastest way to grow your own. Find other creators or brands who serve a similar audience but aren't direct competitors. You can collaborate in several ways:

• Instagram Collab Posts: Create a Reel or Carousel post together, where the post appears on both of your profiles.
• Go Live Together: Host a joint Instagram Live or LinkedIn Live to discuss a topic relevant to both your audiences.
• Shoutout Swaps: A simple and effective way to introduce your audience to another creator you admire, and vice-versa.

Don't forget to cross-promote yourself. Make sure your social media handles are in your email signature, on your website, and mentioned in your newsletter. Make it easy for people who already know you elsewhere to find and follow you.

Analyze, Adapt, and Win the Long Game

You can't improve what you don't measure. Guessing what content works is a recipe for burnout. Using data to inform your strategy is the key to sustainable growth.

Check Your Analytics (The Right Way)

Forget vanity metrics like likes. The metrics that truly indicate if your content is resonating are shares and saves. Shares mean your content was so valuable someone wanted to send it to a friend. Saves mean it was so useful someone wanted to come back to it later. For video, pay close attention to audience retention - are people watching past the first three seconds?

Regularly check your insights to see which posts are getting the most shares, saves, and comments. This is your audience telling you exactly what they want more of.

Find Your Winners and Make More of Them

Once you identify a "winner" - a post that significantly outperformed your others - don't just move on. Analyze it. Why did it work? Was it the topic? The format? The hook? The delivery? Once you understand the formula, re-create it. You can approach the same topic from a different angle, turn a successful listicle into a multi-part video series, or use the same visual style on a new subject. Let your data guide your content calendar.

Final Thoughts

Gaining more followers organically is a marathon, not a sprint. It's built on a foundation of understanding your audience, creating consistent value, building community through genuine engagement, and refining your approach based on data. Ditch the search for shortcuts and focus on serving your ideal follower - that's how you build a loyal audience that grows with you.

We built Postbase because we know firsthand how chaotic managing all of this can be. Juggling multiple platforms, keeping track of every comment and DM, and trying to plan content - especially video - can feel overwhelming. Our goal is to give you a simple, modern platform to organize it all: a visual calendar to plan your strategy, rock-solid scheduling for Reels and Shorts, a unified inbox to manage your community, and clear analytics to see what's actually working. It's the tool we wished we had when we were in the trenches, designed to help you focus on creating, not just managing.