About Professor Ben Chuks Akosa

     

Ben Chuks Akosa is a Professor of Strategic Management. Former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ecole Superieure Des Science De Commerce Et D' Administration Des Enterprise Du Benin (ESCAE- BENIN UNIVETSITY), Porto- Novo, Republic of Benin.

Prof. Akosa is a Nigerian Clergy, Academia, Educationist, Farmer and Philanthropist. He  is a leading Counter- terrorism, Security and Defense Expert. The author of "How to Effectively Police Nigeria, Protect Life and Property and Attract Foreign Investors".

He has been in the fore front of promoting peace, unity and peaceful co-existence between Christians and Moslems in Northern Nigeria. He operates one of the largest Mobile Clinics in the world, where the sick, the poor and the needy, especially in the rural and remote areas are treated medically free of charge.

Prof. Ben Akosa was born in May 18, 1951 at Onitsha, South East Nigeria to Mr Emmanuel Ilomuanya Akosa of Ozubulu and Mrs Naomi Nneka Akosa from Oraifite, Nigeria. His grandmother on his mother's side is of a Fulani descent, whose parents migrated from Sokoto, North West Nigeria to Kogi State and finally settled at Onitsha, Obosi convicinity. Prof. Ben Akosa is married to Prof. Mrs. Joyce Adaobi Akosa and they have Four children, Miracle, Ben Jr., Glory and Prince Samuel.

EDUCATION: Primary education at  Central School, Onitsha, First School Leaving Certificate, 1964. Secondary School, at Merchants of Lights School, Oba,

West African School Certificate, 1972. Christ the King College, Onitsha, Higher School Certificate, 1974 . University of Jos, Nigeria, Bachelors Degree, 1982 and Masters Degree in New Testament Theology, 1985. International Faith Institute and Management Studies, Jos, an affilate of Pligrims University, Doctor of Divinity, 1992. Pligrims University Theological Seminary, Burlington, N.C, USA, Doctorate Degree in Strategic Management, 2007.

CAREER: - Ben Akosa served in the Military Intelligent Unit during the Nigerian Civil war. After obtaining his Higher School Certificate, he taught at Metropolitan Secondary School, Onitsha, from 1975 to 1978, before proceeding to the University of Jos for further studies. Prof Akosa is a Missionary Evangelist who pioneered the establishment of a Penticostal Ministry in London, United Kingdom, which he personally supervised for three years, from 1994 to1997. 

He is a New Testament Theologian, an Apologist, a Church historian, a Strategist and a Counter- terrorism, Security and Defence Expert. Former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, ESCAE-BENIN, University, Republic of Benin. Ben Akosa ran a TV , program, "Success in Life Serries" on NTA, Jos and on NTA channel 35, Onitsha. He is a member of Nigerian Jatropha curcas Association, Plateau State branch. He is the Proprietor of World Outreach Private School, Jos. President of World Outreach Missionary Centre, worldwide. 

International President, Operation One Billion Souls for Christ" which was launched in Raleigh, N.C, USA, in 2018. He was a visiting Professor at Pligrims University Theological Seminary, Burlington, NC, USA, Visiting Professor, College of Aviation and Management Studies, Lagos Nigeria. Board member, Aishat Memoria College of Education, Illorin, Nigeria, Former President of International Faith Institute and Management Studies, Jos Nigeria. Publisher, World Outreach Magazine. Nigerian representative, ESCAE-BENIN, University, Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin, West Africa.

Prof. Akosa is the author of many books and he has published many articles in different subjects and also in Counter-terrorism, Security and Defense.

About Professor Ben Chuks Akosa

Google Search Box Design How To Insert it

How to Add Google Custom Search to Blogger  Search Box Design In: Blogger If your blog contains many posts or your blog navigation is quite complicated for the users, then you should use a search box on your blog. A search box provides great user experience and is useful for users to search topics on your blog. Blogger has a search feature in the Navbar (Navigation Bar) and you also have the option to add built-in Blogger search box on your blog. Search Box Design However, the main drawback is that the search results generated by these search boxes are not exact. In this case, you can use Google custom search to get better search results on your blog. Google custom search engine is a product developed by Google which is used for inner site search. In simple words, when users search for a particular keyword, it will display all the relevant content on your site. Search Box Design It provides a lot of customization options, layout options, voice search and images search feature. You can also monetize search result pages if you have a Google AdSense account. It is better to have Google custom search engine on your blog. Because it will give exact search results to your users which will make them stay on your site for a longer period. Let’s get started. Add Google Custom Search to Blogger Steps http://go.ad2upapp.com/afu.php?id=955811 Go to Google custom search engine. Sign in with your Google account and you can see a screen like this. add google custom search to blogger

In “Sites to search”, add your site URL. You also have the option to create search engines for parts of your site or individual pages on your site. Choose language. Name your search engine. In advanced options, you can add up to 10 schema.org types to your search engines (optional). After you enter all the information, click on “Create” button. Now, you’ll see this screen. google custom search Search Box Design

Click on “Get code” and copy the code. Log into your Blogger account. Go to Layout > Add a Gadget > HTML/Javascript. Now, give a title (optional) and paste the code. Click on “Save” button. Search Box Design

Google Custom Search Engine https://go.ad2upapp.com/afu.php?id=955811 OR How to add Google custom search engine in Blogger –Search Box Design Add Google custom search engine in Blogger - Google search barA blog, in order to give a best  user experience must possess three important things. One is commenting system that helps users  to interact with each other’s. Know how to enable or disable comments in Blogger. The second  one is showing dates in posts (timestamp) that helps visitors to know whether the content is  evergreen or not. Here is how to show / hide postdates and time in Blogger. The third one is  search bar that helps visitors to discover more interesting content within your site. Here we will see how to add Google custom search engine in Blogger. Search Box Design When it comes to search technology, first thing that definitely strikes our mind is Google. A huge and a most preferred search engine that bring up accurate results for all user queries. For Bloggers and webmasters, Google offers a search widget which will give a best experience in exploring your site. So, why not Blogger search bar? Blogger by default has a search widget which is not much efficient and it’s not capable of showing relevant results. So adding Google search bar helps your visitors to dig the most appropriate and interesting content. Search Box Design Some advantages of Google custom search engine are it improves impressions and page views on your blog. It keeps your visitors engaged by making them to find and read further articles. Moreover you can monetize by integrating Google adsense in Google custom search engine. Related: How to add Disqus commenting system to Blogger How to add Google custom search engine in Blogger Setting up Google custom search engine in your blog is very simple and it only takes minutes to install. Just follow the step by step instructions. Search Box Design Step 1: Login to your Blogger account and head to Google CSE homepage. Integrate Google custom search engine in Blogger - Google search widget box Step 2: Now at the left hand side click on “New search engine” and start entering your blog details. Step 3: Enter your domain name without HTTP (ex: sampleblog.blogspot.com). If you manage more than one blog then include that too.  Choose language, name the search engine and click on create at the bottom. Search Box Design Add Google custom search engine in Blogger - Integrating Google search bar Now you will see a success page that says “you’ve successfully created your custom search engine”, yes you are! To see how it works click on public URL and start searching your site. The Google custom search engine is very basic, so before adding it in your blog we will customize it. Google custom search bar for Blogger - Adding Google search engine widget Step 4:  To customize the search engine go to control panel or click on edit search engine at the left hand side. Now under setup you will have five settings. Here you can give search engine keywords, search engine description, enable image search if you want etc. You can also integrate your Google adsense account, add users and there are more advanced options. After the search engine configuration Search Box Design move on to look and feel settings. How to add Google custom search engine in Blogger blog - Search bar Step 5: Under look and feel you will have different themes and layouts to choose from. Customize it as per your needs and you will see the preview of this search bar towards your right side. When you finally get the desired look and feel, click on save and get code at the bottom. Google search bar for Blogger - Adding Google search engine widget Search Box Design Step 6: Now grab the script, login to your Blogger blog, move to Layout, click on add a gadget, choose HTML / JavaScript gadget, add the script into it and finally save it. Arrange the gadget to the desired position where you wish to render the search bar. Search Box Design Add Google custom search engine in Blogger blog - Google CSE bar Now go and check your blog where you have added Google custom search bar. If you don’t like the look and feel then you can customize it again and drop the code in your blog. Search Box Design Hope this post helped you on how to add Google custom search engine in Blogger. Please share and make your comments below about this search bar. Search Box Design That’s it. You’ve successfully added Google custom search engine to your Blogger blog.

How to Create a Social Media Strategy

 The Google AdSense Guide 

to Audience Engagement

CONTENTS 

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………1 

Help your audience become familiar with your brand………………………………………………………………………...3 

Design user journeys, not just web pages…………………………………………………………………………………………...8 

Develop content that resonates with your audience………………………………………………………………………….13 

Make your content easy to consume.....................................................................................................17 

Share the love with other sites by referring to good sources................................................................20

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy  

INTRODUCTION 

61% of users would quickly move on to another site if they didn’t find what they were looking for right away. 1 

Today, information is at our fingertips and we can access it from anywhere on any device. Just a few taps pulls up millions of websites all competing for our attention. For publishers, engaging with your audience has never been more important or more challenging. 

So how do you engage with users in these moments that matter and get them to come back for more? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t a clever hack. However, by producing unique content and delighting users with a great experience, you’ll be on your way to engaging with your audience like never before. Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer at Procter & Gamble framed it as, “What we really need is a mindset shift that will make us relevant to today’s consumers, a mindset shift from ‘telling & selling’ to building relationships.” 

High-quality content is crucial for building a relationship with your audience and driving positive interactions. In this guide, we’ll cover a variety of actions you can take now to drive audience engagement with your content. We’ll discuss: 

How to help your audience become familiar with your brand 

Best practices to design delightful user journeys 

How to develop content that resonates with your audience 

Ways to make your content easy to consume 

Why you should share the love with other sites by referring to good sources 

Establish a consistent brand presence across the many touchpoints your brand has with your audience 

https://go.ad2upapp.com/afu.php?id=955811

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

HELP YOUR AUDIENCE BECOME FAMILIAR WITH YOUR BRAND 

“60% of millennials surveyed expect a consistent experience from brands whether they interact online, in store, or via phone.” 2 

Separate your content from your competitors’ to leave a lasting impression on your site’s visitors. One way to do this is to establish a consistent brand presence across the many touchpoints your brand has with your audience. 

DEFINE YOUR VOICE 

Pick a style and create a distinguishable brand for the messages you’d like to convey. Is your writing style casual, laced with trendy references? Or is it more straightforward and simplistic, using well-researched information to drive points home? 

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

BE CONSISTENT 

Once you establish a voice, make sure to be consistent throughout your content so that people recognize and become familiar with your brand and know what to expect when they visit your site, mobile app or even your social properties. 

Help your audience become familiar with your brand 

RELATE TO USERS’ INTERESTS 

It’s not just important to pick your style, though. You also need to make sure that readers think the topics you pick are important and relevant to their interests. 

USE GOOGLE ANALYTICS 

Every user that matters to your brand has their own unique preferences, interests, and needs. These differences matter when he or she is deciding what to read, where to shop, and what to share. Studying your site’s analytics can help you determine which topics matter to your viewers, and which don’t.Set up a Dashboard that tracks the metrics that matter most to you. This is the first thing you will see when you log into your analytics account and can help you make decisions quickly.

Focus on the The Long-term Revenue Framework. It’s a simple, but powerful framework to help you understand the four levers that can help you grow your site. With this framework, consider your site optimization efforts in terms of the four levers outlined in the following chart. 

Help your audience become familiar with your brand 

  How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

Help your audience become familiar with your brand 

Use Google Consumer Surveys 

Google Consumer Surveys allows you to create your own web surveys for gathering data and stats on what people think of your brand, what matters to them, and even what colors work best for your designs. Help your audience become familiar with your brand

Having a clear plan-of-action for your various user segments will yield valuable insights, delight users, and increase engagement with your brand. 

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

Design user journeys, not just web pages 

“Only 9% of users will stay on a mobile site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their needs (for example, to find information or navigate quickly).” 3 

We’ve pointed out that high-quality unique content is a key ingredient to drive visitors and shares of your content. But what about the user experience? 

Rather than designing web page destinations for your users, try designing user journeys. Cohesive messaging and user focused site design delivers greater results for both your audience and your business. 

CREATE A MOMENTS MAP 

A moments map is your solution to identifying the set of user moments you absolutely want to win or can’t afford to lose. 

It lays the foundation to implementing a delightful user experience and encourages site design to focus on the flow in which your users engage with your content. 

Design user journeys, not just web pages 

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

91% of smartphone users turn to their phone for ideas while doing a given task. Create a moments map; you’ll anticipate your users’ needs and be useful for them in fulfilling those needs. 4 

Examine and map out all phases of the user journey for your brand, and look for the moments when people want to find inspiration, learn about something you’re reporting, make a social statement, or anything in between. Then determine the best format to share your content while meeting the time limitations of various visitor types. For instance, are they killing time? Looking to purchase something? Or, are they comparing your products to your competitors’? Understanding user motives before you begin conceptualizing your website design helps you create a delightful user experience catered to the ways different types of visitors utilize your site as well as the time they are willing to spend there. 

Design user journeys, not just web pages 

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

MAKE IT EASY FOR USERS TO REACH YOUR DESIRED OUTCOME, IN AS FEW STEPS AS POSSIBLE. 

Example: Gain user insights with gated content 

Gating exclusive, desirable content behind forms, prompting newsletter signups or asking survey questions can be extremely useful strategies for gathering user insights. User insights help you better understand your audience’s demographics and produce more targeted content that is catered to their interests. Make it easy for users to receive the content they requested, research shows that 67% of users will switch if it takes too many steps to purchase or get desired information. 5 

DESIGN USER JOURNEYS, NOT JUST WEB PAGES 

Example: Drive page views by recommending relevant content. 

Matched content is a free content recommendation tool for AdSense publishers that promotes the content from your site to your current visitors. You can benefit from Matched content’s contextually relevant and personalized article recommendations to further engage users. 

Create clearly defined, interactive calls to action 

These can include bold “sign up” buttons and casual prompts directing viewers toward specific content or pages, and are excellent ways to move users to action. 

Design user journeys, not just web pages 

  How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

GET INTO THE MINDS, AND HEARTS, OF YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE. 

Develop content that resonates with your audience 

“68% of users share [online content] to give people a better sense of who they are and what they care about.” 6 

Users are visual, compulsive sharers and they expect personalized curation. Get into the minds, and hearts, of your target audience. Put yourself in their shoes; what do they want and need in terms of relevant information, ideas, inspiration and entertainment? 

Content that carries emotion is more likely to relate to your audience. 

Develop content that’s likely to evoke an emotional or relatable response. 

BE RELEVANT TO THEIR INTERESTS: 

People share content they are interested in. 

Be relatable and provide practical guidance: 

You’ve already established a voice that users can relate to. Now use it to give them guidance they can actually use. 

Develop content that resonates with your audience 

  How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

Tell stories to draw them in and keep them engaged: 

People respond better to stories that are contextualized. People are more likely to share stories, not information. 

Take a diversified approach to your content strategy 

EVERGREEN CONTENT: 

Evergreen content is content that is still relevant no matter when it’s accessed. If you’re blogging about the San Francisco foodie scene, content about this summer’s trendiest food trucks is not evergreen. A recipe for a Mission district inspired carne asada burrito, though, is. Since your audience is interested in food, each of these content types are extremely relevant, however the latter is more likely to remain relevant over time. Evergreen content is always being searched for, and will continue to grow in usage. Dig through your archived content and don’t be afraid to reshare what’s evergreen with your social media audience. 

Develop content that resonates with your audience 

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

TRENDING CONTENT: 

Back to our example, content about this summer’s trendiest food trucks fits into trending content. Tap into the wealth of information on Google Trends to help you find out more about what people in your region are looking for. And if your users are from an area that is unfamiliar to you, you could use the Google Almanac to help you identify holidays and events that are happening near them to give you that inspiration. 

IN-DEPTH CONTENT: 

It’s known that users often turn to Google to answer a quick question, but research suggests that up to 10% of users’ daily information needs involve learning about a broad topic. Following these best practices along with our webmaster guidelines helps our systems to better understand your site’s content, and improves the chances of it appearing in the in-depth set of search results. 

DEVELOP CONTENT THAT RESONATES WITH YOUR AUDIENCE 

Visual content is more than 40X more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. 7 

MAKE YOUR CONTENT EASY TO CONSUME 

Engaging your audience is all about telling the story that users are looking for, in a unique and creative way. Sometimes that means going beyond words, and using media. As a publisher, it’s your role to make it easy for people to consume content. With short attention spans, it’s important to create content that can keep users engaged and entertained. 

A Tweet is 140 characters 

A Snapchat is 10 seconds 

A Vine is 6 seconds 

A Share is a click 

A Tinder match is a swipe 

Incorporate lists, infographics, images, GIFs, and videos 

Visuals, and other forms of online media, direct users’ attention to your key messages. They’re easy for audiences to resonate with and encourage social shares. 

Sites which include video have on average an extra 2-minute dwell time compared to sites which don’t.  

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 

MAKE YOUR CONTENT EASY TO CONSUME 

Break up long-form content with images 

Digestible content doesn’t always need to be short sound bites. Long-form content can be successful when you break up the copy with visuals like charts and graphs to keep visitors from tuning out. 

Blend social proof into your content 

Incorporate easy-to-engage-with actions within your content, to showcase positive social proof. Social proof can be achieved through the visual display of information to help influence a user’s decision. 

Here are examples of easy to engage with actions: 

LIKE ACTIONS 

                Like, love, heart, thumbs up, up-vote, etc. 

                Display the number of “like” actions for each piece of content 

SHARING ACTIONS 

                Make it easy to share the content 

                Display the number of social shares the content has received 

CUSTOM ACTIONS 

                Testimonials, badges, influencer endorsements, subscriber counts, ratings, reviews, etc. 

MAKE YOUR CONTENT EASY TO CONSUME 

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

80% of consumers said authenticity of content is the most influential factor in their decision to become a follower of a brand. 9 

Share the love with other sites by referring to good sources 

80% of consumers said “authenticity of content” is the most influential factor in their decision to become a follower of a brand. 9 

Establishing your site as a go-to source for fresh content doesn’t always mean that you have to be the subject-area expert. It’s possible to increase your site’s credibility as a reliable source of information by directing your visitors to helpful resources or interesting perspectives on hot topics. Offering friendly shout-outs strengthens your content and puts your site on the path to receive love and attention from fellow community members. 

GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE 

If you’re sharing content or a story that was original to another publisher, it’s a best practice to link back to the original content owner. This creates a backlink or inbound link, and if the original content owner notices in their analytics, they may return the favor. 

Share the love with other sites by referring to good sources 

  How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

GENERATE LINKS TO YOUR CONTENT 

Keep in mind, other publishers and social network users are happy to share good, relevant content to their audience. When you create good content, you increase the chance of other sites including links back to your site. Inbound links that are merit-based and freely volunteered as an editorial choice, are a positive signal search engines retrieve about your site’s quality. 

Thank you for engaging with AdSense. We’d love to hear feedback, so please share feedback with us on Google+ and Twitter using #AdSenseGuide. Until next time.

GENERATE LINKS TO YOUR CONTENT 

Keep in mind, other publishers and social network users are happy to share good, relevant content to their audience. When you create good content, you increase the chance of other sites including links back to your site. Inbound links that are merit-based and freely volunteered as an editorial choice, are a positive signal search engines retrieve about your site’s quality. 

Thank you for engaging with AdSense. We’d love to hear feedback, so please share feedback with us on Google+ and Twitter using #AdSenseGuide. Until next time. 

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

REFERENCES 

1 Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/research-studies/what-users-want-most-from-mobile-sites-today.html 

2 Source: SDL, Channels are irrelevant http://www.sdl.com/ilp/cxc/five-future-truths/channels-are-irrelevant.html 

3 Source: https://think.storage.googleapis.com/images/micromoments-guide-to-winning-shift-to-mobile-download.pdf 

4 Source: Google/Ipsos, Consumers in the Micro-Moment study, March 2015. Based on the online population n=9598. 

5 Source: https://think.storage.googleapis.com/images/micromoments-guide-to-winning-shift-to-mobile-download.pdf 

6 Source: http://nytmarketing.whsites.net/mediakit/pos/ 

7 Source: https://blog.bufferapp.com/infographics-visual-content-marketing 

8 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics 

9 Source: Salesforce, Pardot: 5 engagement questions answered http://www.slideshare.net/ MathewSweezey/5-content-engagement-questions-answered 

 How to Create a Social Media Strategy 

How Much Money Can I Earn With Google Adsense AdChoices On My Blog?

How Much Can I Earn With Google Adsense AdChoices On My Blog? Recently Google change the name of advertising campaign from Adsense to AdChoices. Lot of people in the world making money with Google AdChoices and they become multi billionaire. That why so many visitors searching “How much can I earn with Google AdChioces/Adsense on my blog/Web?” The answer itself depends on many factors and hence I thought to put them together in this article. What Main Factors Affects to My Google AdChoices Earnings? 1. Your website traffic. (Number of visitors and page views) 2. CTR (Click Trough Ratio). Means how many clicks you get on your AdChoices from 100 page views. 3. CPC & CPM. This is most affecting factor to your AdChoices earnings. CPC means Cost per click and CPM means cost per thousand impressions. CPC decides how much you earn from a single AdChoices clicks. So, How Do I Optimize My Blog To Enhance The AdChoices Earnings From It? Improving AdChoices earnings and improving traffic are both different things at all. So First you have to try many traffic generating SEO strategies to build huge amount of visitors on daily basis especially you should target your SEO and traffic building strategies to improve organic traffic from Google search engine. Once you start getting minimum hundreds of visitors (For new blogs) a day, you should start thinking about AdChoices optimization to improve you earning from blog. As listed above you must try optimizing those factors which affects more to your overall AdChoices earnings. How Do I Improve CTR And CPC For My AdChoices Monetized Blog? Adsense FAQ To improve CTR you can try changing color scheme of ad blocks, position of ad blocks and size of ad blocks. You can also try changing type of ads that appears like text or image ads. To improve CPC, you must block some low paying advertisers using ‘competitive ad filter’ option in Adsense account. Another thing you can try is to check which ad block gets higher clicks as compared to others and then make it to load first in browser. Usually very first ad that appears on your page pays you higher than that is loading after due to the bidding style ad network. How Do I Know If I am Getting Enough Earning From My Blog? This may go without saying, but by far the most important factor to success with AdChoices is traffic. In fact this goes for all affiliate programs. Some websites get by with sheer numbers of traffic which works well, however generating huge traffic is difficult and takes a long time. What you can do though is work to increase QUALITY traffic. What I mean by “quality traffic” is users that are at your site for specific information or a get there via a specific search term. It is very important to know what your readers are wanting, and you can capitalize on this. A reader is far more likely to click an ad if it is exactly what they are after. So how do you know what users are looking for? Well there are some great tools to determine what your users are looking for. Google Analytics provides you with this added functionality and it is a fantastic tool if you use it to its full potential. To get the most out of Google Analytics, don’t just use it as a way to measure traffic, use it as a tool to determine keywords, research the source of your traffic and expand upon it. If you find that readers are getting to your site through a particular search term, focus on that term! It will improve your overall SEO which will result in more traffic and more ad income. How to Improve Earning? Well, there is not straight answer to this question but here are few ideal statistics that can help you know about your AdChoices earning states. 1. Average CTR should be around 3% to 5%, if you are getting more than 5%, its good for you. 2. Average CPC may vary from 0.01$ to 1 or 15$ depending on your rank and what ads appears on your page. 3. You can alternatively try optimizing your content to target highest paying keywords on Adwords so the ads appears on your page can give you higher CPC. I recommend you to keep trying to improve you AdChoices placement for better earnings as no body knows the limit. Some strategies may work for this month may not work for next month. According to my experience I think if a normal blog having around 500 unique visitors in daily you can make around 10$ to 20$ in a day from Adsense AdChoices depending on the Google page rank and if optimized well.

How to Get More Followers, Fans, and Likes to Increase Your Social Reach Audience Targeting

Ways to Get More Social Media Followers

Social media marketing needs an audience to work. But how do you build your social media audience? Here are 39 ways to acquire followers and keep them!

For most businesses, generating leads is the ultimate benefit of creating and maintaining a social media presence.

But first things first: In order to make social media an effective lead generation machine,  you first need to generate a following. This means fans and followers on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and your other social media accounts.

The more fans and followers you have for your social media presence, the better reach you'll have. And better reach means the potential to generate more leads. So at the very core of social media for lead generation, you must take steps to increase your reach.

Download our free guide here to learn how to get more 

Audience Below 

Social media marketing works only if you actually have fans or followers. This article will walk you through 39 proven methods for increasing your followers across your social media accounts. There are three underlying elements that must take place in order for  these to work:

You must be consistent. If you use any (or all) of these strategies for two weeks, and then  give up and move onto something else, they won't work. These need to be practiced consistently over the long haul to be effective. If you have limited time and resources to commit to social media, I'd recommend choosing only a handful of these strategies and  then making sure you carry them out consistently.

You must know what your audience really wants. What you think they want and what they actually want may very well be two different things. Take a look at your analytics to see which types of posts and content have been most popular; this is what they want to see more of.

You must be a good social media citizen. While some of the tips may seem more like social media best practices, keep in mind that growing on social media is as much about keeping your current followers as it is about gaining new ones.

Looking for more insights on social media marketing? Grab my e-book, The Definitive  Guide to Social Media Marketing.

39 Strategies for Increasing Your Fans and Followers

1. Reach out to influencers: Find influencers in your niche using a tool such as Buzzsumo, and then share their content, tag or mention them, or comment on their blogs. As you build relationships, they are more likely to share your content with their followers.

2. Put social share buttons on each blog post: Make sure you include social media share buttons on each blog post, not just in your sidebar. This plugin for WordPress can help with that.

3. Post original, relevant content: This requires some outside-the-box thinking. Sharing other people's content should be a valuable part of your strategy, but make sure to share your knowledge and insights as well.

4. Periodically channel your email subscribers to your social media accounts: Every once in a while, encourage your email subscribers to follow you on social media.

5. Link to your social media accounts on your Contact and About Us pages: These visitors are already reaching out to you; give them another way to connect with you.

6. Identify popular posts to get more shares: Getting new fans often comes down to how often your content gets shared. A tool like Fanpage Karma can help you identify the most popular posts in your niche.

7. Be responsive: Posting engaging content is just one piece of the puzzle. Respond to questions, comments, and complaints in a timely manner.

8. Hold giveaways and contests: Hold contests and make liking your Page or following your Twitter account a requirement for entry. Rafflecopter is a fantastic tool for this.

9. Actively find and follow others: Don't just count on others to find you; go out and actively find others in your niche whom you can follow and engage with.

10. Tell stories: To avoid being overtly promotional, use stories to connect with and engage your fans. Stories are far more likely to be shared than promotional content. For more on this, see How to Maximize Your Marketing Campaign Through Storytelling.

11. Use relevant hashtags: Use a tool like Hashtagify.me to find relevant and trending hashtags. Use these in your posts to attract new followers who are searching for those  hashtags.

12. Streamline your efforts: Being active and engaged on a few social networks will net you more followers over the long haul than sporadically posting on many networks.

13. Post viral content: Easier said than done, right? Post Planner can help by providing you with images and content that have been proven to go viral.

14. Post often: Optimal posting frequency will differ between networks and audiences. Test out different posting frequencies and see which ones result in the most engagement and shares.

15. Focus on quality over quantity: While posting often is important, social media growth is more likely to happen when you're focusing on sharing amazing, quality content that you know your audience loves.

16. Link to your social media accounts everywhere: Don't be shy about linking to your social media accounts. Do so in your newsletter, email signature, blog, etc.

17. Discuss social media conversations on your blog: Entice your blog readers to follow you on social media by crossing the blog/social network divide. Blog about heated or interesting conversations taking place on your social media accounts.

18. Offer incentives for people to follow or like you: Offer your social media followers exclusive discounts, freebies, or coupon codes.

19. Guest blog on popular niche sites: Regularly contribute guest posts to popular niche  sites and link to your social media accounts in your bio. For help getting started, see "The Ultimate, Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Business by Guest Blogging."

20. Add Facebook and Twitter widgets to your site: Go beyond simple social media icons, and use a Facebook Like Box or Twitter Embedded Timeline on your site or blog.

21. Promote your social accounts in-store: Offer your in-store guests an incentive to like or follow you on social media.

22. Try Facebook's promoted posts: Extend your reach by promoting posts that have a history of getting engagement.

23. Give stuff away: Incentivize likes and follows by giving away free product samples or prizes for new fans or followers.

24. Cross-promote with a complimentary business in your niche: Connect with other businesses in your niche and promote each other's social media content.

25. Build network-specific landing pages: Create landing pages on your site for visitors from each social network you're on, and then link to these pages in your social media bios. This may increase your follows only marginally, but you should see an increase  in traffic and conversions.

26. Provide valuable education without being a know-it-all: Unique, valuable content that only you know has a great chance of getting shared. Think about what info or insights you can provide based on your unique experiences and industry knowledge.

27. Use humor: Evoking emotions (positive or negative) through your posts is great for increased sharing; however, posting funny or happy content will net you more sharing overall.

28. Reshare other people's content: Share posts, images, and tweets from other businesses, and they'll be more likely to share yours.

29. Become a valued member in an industry LinkedIn group: As you provide valuable insights, group members will be more likely to want to hear more from you on social media. For more on this, see my article "The Definitive Guide to LinkedIn Groups for Marketing."

30. Create topical boards on Pinterest: When naming Pinterest boards, be sure to target keywords people are actually searching for. To see what people are looking for, start typing possible keywords into the Pinterest search box, and see which keywords are auto-suggested.

31. Set a goal: Set short-term, specific goals for how many new fans or followers you want. This will help you keep your efforts focused and give you the best chance of actually achieving your goal.

32. Be a source of trending content and breaking news: Set up Facebook Interest lists and follow leading industry sources on Twitter, and then share breaking news with your  followers. To find more info to share, see my article "How to Find Trending Blog  Topics Your Audience Will Actually Care About."

33. Post only your best photos on Instagram: This suggestion goes along with an earlier one--focus on quality over quantity. With users having shared over 20 billion photos to date, posting a ton of poor quality images isn't going to get you far. Choose your best four to six photos each day and share the cream of the crop.

34. Be relatable: Let your fans and followers know you're a real person rather than a faceless business; this will make sharing your content with their friends feel like less of a risk.

35. Cross-promote your social media accounts: Periodically promote your other social media accounts to your fans and followers.

36. Answer questions on abandoned Facebook Pages: You'd be surprised at how many big brands have massive numbers of Facebook fans, and yet virtually ignore the questions and comments these fans leave. Respond in a helpful, non-promotional way to unanswered questions (and be sure to answer as your Page).

37. Include a social media call to action on your business card: Hand these out at trade shows, networking events, and speaking engagements.

38. Make sure your social media usernames are consistent: If you want people to actually find you when they search for you by name, make sure your account handles and usernames match your business name. Avoid abbreviations whenever possible.

39. Make your blog content tweetable with a click: Use a plugin such as Inline Tweet Sharer to encourage visitors to share your tweetable content.

What other strategies or tips would you add to this list? Share in the comments below!