How to Grow Your Social Media Presence in 30 Days and Pay Zero

By: | March 29, 2016 | Tags: , , , |

Bloggers can get more blog traffic by growing their social media presenceI surveyed my MailChimp subscribers.

I asked them what they considered the most interesting topic on MostlyBlogging.

Can you guess how they responded?

They overwhelmingly responded by answering “social media”.

They are in luck. We all are.

I like to cite experts in the field of blogging. I feel citing their expertise gives my articles credibility.

I used a quote from social media expert Bob Barocas in my article Here are the 29 Great Reasons You Should Use Medium to Blog Now.

When he wrote to thank me, he offered to guest post for our blog!

Since social media is his area of expertise, we can believe his tips which explain how we can significantly grow our social media followers in only one month without spending money.

How to Grow Your Social Media Presence in 30 Days

When it comes to driving tons of traffic to your blog, if you’re not leveraging social media, you’re already behind.

At times, it might seem like blogging can be a never-ending battle: writing content, doing SEO, publishing with WordPress, promoting your content, building your email list, social media, etc. It can be overwhelming.

Thankfully, the social media piece is about to get much easier for you.

In this guest post, I’m going to share some social media secrets that I’ve never revealed before (not even to my clients) that can help you grow your social media presence in 30 days.

Let’s Get Personal

Before we get started, I have a confession to make. Two months ago, I had only 30 followers on Twitter. In fact, even though I run an online marketing company specializing in (among other things) social media, I only made my company’s account a little over four months ago.

I guess what they say is true: the shoemaker’s children go barefoot and the barber always has the worst haircut.

That said, I told myself that I was going to grow my Twitter following and build it up like I would for any of my clients.

As of now @phenomenalseo, my Twitter account, has over 950+ followers and many of them engage with me.

How’d I do it? How can you do it? Here’s my strategy!

The One-Two Punch to Growing Your Twitter Following

As Janice has explained before, the first step to Twitter success is having an incredible profile.

After you’ve taken the time to spruce it up a bit, be sure to have something to offer your following. In my case, it was online marketing expertise, but it can be an actual product, information related to your hobby, or even the content you love blogging about.

This next part is the most obvious, but it’s vital. Reach out to every contact you have and let them know you’re starting a Twitter account.

If you already have one, tell them you’re trying to grow your following. The key is to directly ask them to follow you and to have their contacts do the same.

Typically, these first several followers will be your family, friends, and some work colleagues. Depending on how connected you are, this will grow your following from 0 to 30-100. Not bad for very nominal work, but we’re striving for 750-1,000 in 30 days.

This next part is where the fun begins.

If you’re like most hobby bloggers, you probably run your blog on the side while having a job and other important responsibilities.

This strategy takes all of that into account and only requires 10-15 minutes out of your day.

The “One” of the One-Two Punch

The “one” of the one-two punch is Tweepi. It lets you: 1) view all of the followers of a particular Twitter account and 2) follow whichever ones you’d like.

There is no need to pay for the service: simply select “Login” and “Login via Twitter.”

After logging in with your Twitter credentials, select “Follow Tools” from the menu, and choose “By @user’s followers.”

Now all you have to do is type in the account you want to view. After doing so, a list containing all of that person’s followers will populate and you can click “Follow” for any you’d like to follow.

If you want to find out more information about each person (e.g. their bio, follower count, etc.), click “Columns” and check the appropriate boxes.

Remember, don’t follow just anyone. Find out who in your niche would want to follow you back and if he or she is a person who you think would be interested in visiting your blog.

Since it’s proper Twitter etiquette to follow back whoever follows you, a great deal of the people that you just followed with Tweepi will end up following you too!

A bit of a warning: do not get follow-happy.

Twitter and other social media platforms have been known to suspend accounts that constantly follow and unfollow massive amounts of people. A good rule of thumb is to only follow 100 people per day.

The “Two” of the One-Two Punch

Here’s the “two” of the one-two punch: Crowdfire. Aside from being known for its direct messaging, Crowdfire will tell you who you are following but is not following you back. Most importantly, it lets you unfollow them.

After waiting for a little over one day, unfollow all of the people who never followed you back. This ensures that your ratio of followers to people you’re following is kept in check.

Again, do not unfollow more than 100 people in any given day and be a bit patient.

Finally, repeat the process all over again.

While this might seem a bit tedious, if you do this for just 10-15 minutes every day, you’ll begin to see phenomenal results.

With a serious following and targeted Tweets touting your content, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll see an increase in your blog traffic.

Automating the Strategy

If you find yourself too busy to take 10-15 minutes out of your day to do this, you might want to look into SocialQuant.

SocialQuant is a Twitter tool that automatically follows and unfollows Twitter accounts in your niche based on the keywords you tell them.

The tool does cost money, but they offer a 14-day free trial and give you a discount coupon that cuts their fee in half. This makes the tool $25 a month.

Be careful, though. There really is no substitute for doing this manually, which ensures that you’re completely familiar with the following you’re growing.

This Strategy Also Works for Other Social Media Channels

This strategy applies to all Twitter accounts whether you have 5 or 5,000 followers.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s transferable across every major social media platform that allows you to follow and unfollow people.

Can you say Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn? Now you’re getting it.

LinkedIn is the easiest to build up since they stop showing how many connections you have once you reach 500+ and all you need to do is request to connect with 1,000 or so people in your niche who you know or are related to.

While every social media platform will be a bit different, much of the one-two punch will be applicable across the board. You might have to do it manually or find other tools to help, but it works wonders.

Here’s to growing your social media presence and driving more traffic to your blog!

Author Bio

This guest post was written by online marketing expert Bob Barocas. Bob is the Owner of More Clicks More Clients, an online marketing and SEO company dedicated to helping bloggers and small businesses drive more traffic to their websites. If you want to blog smarter and not harder, sign up for his free insider tips on generating more traffic to your blog.

Admin Blogger’s Commentary:

Bob generously gave us his expertise by writing for our readers. Many sites explain how you can grow your social media presence by buying followers. There is no need to spend money this way. Follow Bob’s tips and your followers across all your social media will grow. Your blog traffic will grow as well since your new social media connections will see your posts.

Readers, please share this post. People don’t have to buy followers to grow their social media presence, and they shouldn’t. You want people genuinely interested in your topic so they are engaged on your blog.

Have you tried any of Bob’s methods? Can you attest to how well they work? Can you think of any other ways to grow your social media following? I look forward to your views.

Related Posts:

How to Get People to Subscribe to Your Blog by Networking

How to Quickly Tweet Your Way to Blog Traffic

20 Experts Reveal Their Secrets to Blog Promotion

The Ultimate Guide to Blog Promotion

Promoting Your Blog Posts

  1. Peter English

    Hello Janice

    Your post is absolutely spot on..I did not have even accounts except on FB.

    From the day I have started tweeting/ pinning regularly my follower count has shot up and people are actually communicating with me and sharing my posts.

    This is incredible.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Peter,
      I am so happy for you. I just posted a comment from someone who wrote me on Twitter that Bob’s methods are working. The methods DO increase blog traffic. Once more people know about you, there are more people to click your link and come to your site. As you indicated, visitors can lead to subscribers.
      Thanks for sharing the important news that Twitter is worth our time to use.
      Janice

      • Julie Syl - Pit stop Crew

        Funny thing is I have been using Bob’s Strategy for our 3 Twitter accounts and growing an organic following of average 20% the people I Follow. I dont use Tweepi I use a Free resource offering what Tweepi does at no cost to me. Its called “Twellow”

        I automate things a wee bit coz Time Zones can mess up your metabolism if you stay up tweeting at awkward hours lol. I use TweetJukebox to automate my twitter efforts and a couple other buts n bobs. You can get 300 free tweets via The Jukebox above.

        Crowdfire I dont know what I would do without it, I use it for Instagram as well. Keeps my account clean as there are people who simply follow you for your follow back…real pieces of work!

        I love doing this for Pinterest My area of expertise…which I have decided I am building up manually following the Algorithm change that demands we have an interested following and active n Pinterest!

        As Bob says do this with all your socials and you are growing and singing like a Humming bird lol!

        Thanks Janice for sharing this guest post!

        • Bob Barocas

          Julie,

          Twellow is also another great tool – you can even use it to get a high-quality do-follow backlink to boost your SEO a bit. Just paste your URL into your Twellow Bio.

          Glad you enjoyed the post and thank you for attesting to how well my strategy works! 🙂

  2. Bob Barocas

    Peter,

    Glad you liked the post! Tweeting regularly will definitely lead to more engagement on Twitter – especially if the following you built up finds what you share exciting and educational. Keep on growing that following!

    • Bob Barocas

      John,

      You’re welcome! Crowdfire is crucial to the “two” of the one-two punch approach! 🙂

    • Janice Wald

      Hi John,
      Although I’ve heard of it, I was not familiar with it until I’ve read Bob’s post.
      Thanks for writing.
      Janice

  3. Soumya Roy

    These tools are really helpful to grow the followers, even there are other tools for follower exchange or like that. But having lots of followers who do not have any interests on your product or service may not help you in conversion. So it’s always good and recommended to grow your traffic organically and with paid ads which you can target to your audience. But again, these tools can grow followers very fast, that’s true.

    • Bob Barocas

      Soumya,

      Thanks for your input. Please note that this is organic growth. When you use Tweepi, you are able to follow the people that are most uniquely suited to like your content, interact with you on your social media accounts, and buy your products or services. You’re 100% right that having a lot of followers that do nothing on your social media accounts is essentially useless – that’s why buying followers is a waste of money and actually bad for SEO as well. However, this strategy works to get you targeted followers who engage with your content, and it has worked for many social media professionals and even my own company’s twitter account (as noted in the post). Lastly, paid ads might be a descent route for Facebook, but in my years of experience as the owner of an online marketing company, it is a very undesirable route for Twitter. Thanks again for your comment! 🙂

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Soumya,
      Thanks for writing. When you recommend paid, targetted ads, do you recommend Facebook? If not, what is your recommendation?
      Janice

  4. Mona AlvaradoFrazier

    Bob, it’s so true, the more you interact and post the more people follow and chat with you. Twitter is one of my favorite sites because of this interaction and I’ve come across more helpful information than FB. Plus I don’t have to see a feed of what someone had for dinner or photos of kids (not that I don’t like kids). Joining a couple of twitter chats a month (in subjects you’re interested in) really boosted my numbers.

    I used to use Tweepi and liked the ability to unfollow, and did this on a weekly basis, until January when I received this: “As of 3 December 2015, Tweepi’s ‘Not following you back (formally Flush)’ has been removed at Twitter’s request.” I began using Commun.it (certain levels free) to do some unfollows. However, I don’t unfollow everyone who doesn’t follow me, this is especially true if their feed is interesting and helpful.
    Thanks for some useful tips and promoting organic growth versus buying followers.

    • Bob Barocas

      Mona,

      Thanks so much for your kind words. Completely agree! Twitter is one of the best platforms to boost your traffic without seeing all the “bonus features” on the proverbial DVD you don’t want to look at (the feeds you mentioned). 🙂

      I also saw that message with Tweepi! That’s why I changed over to Crowdfire for the unfollowing piece. Good point about not unfollowing every account that doesn’t follow you back. That is super crucial. It’s always a good idea to have a nice ratio of people that you don’t unfollow (even if they don’t follow you back). I usually reserve those spots for influencers, industry leaders, and those who post high-quality niche specific content I find helpful.

      Thanks again for your thoughtful comment!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Mona,
      I just made a Tweepi account on Bob’s recommendation. If it doesn’t work out, I can try Commun.It. I know nothing about it. If you would like to guest post about it for our readers, you’d be welcome. Thanks for visiting and writing.
      Janice

  5. Melinda Mitchell

    Oh my BBFFJ, you’ve hit another one outta the park!
    Bob is a wonderful guest author, who has it going on!! Tweepi?? Crowdfire??
    I haven’t even got on Instagram or Twitter yet! WAaaaahhh!!
    Thanks for hosting him.
    And you KNOW I love today’s graphic!!!!

    • Bob Barocas

      Melinda,

      Thank you for your extremely kind words, you made my day! Glad you loved the post.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi BBFFM,
      Great to hear from you. You must be rubbing off on me. Your influence that I used purple, of course. =)
      I did not find Instagram worth my time although I know other have success with it. I have had a great return on my time invested recently using Twitter. I’d be happy to help if you need. Thanks for writing!
      BBFFJ

      • Janice Wald

        By the way, thank you so much for the compliments! They did not go unnoticed! You have such a flair for words. Much appreciated!
        BBFFJ

  6. Sandy Segur

    Awesome, I am looking for ways to increase my social media following. I am working on Instagram at the moment.

    • Bob Barocas

      Sandy,

      These techniques work just as well for Instagram too! Tweepi and Crowdfire are unique to Twitter, but the strategy is the same. If you have any other questions on how to grow your following organically on any social media platform, don’t hesitate to email me at moreclicksmoreclients@gmail.com. Glad you liked the post!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Sandy,
      Great to see you! Thanks for writing. I did not have much success with Instagram. I know others do, and it is SO successful, I would think there would be great potential for traffic from there. I had two others guest post about how to get traffic from Instagram since my knowledge is limited.
      Janice

  7. Carolann

    I love Crowdfire and am trying Tweepi right now. Thanks so much for the awesome tips once again. Social Media is one of the most challenging areas to deal with as a blogger. They certainly don’t make it easy for us so any tips and advice is always appreciated!

    • Bob Barocas

      Carolann,

      You’re welcome! I agree – social media is one of the hardest pieces of growing your blog and brand, but with patience and diligence I know you will be able to master it. If you have any questions at all, feel free to drop me a line at moreclicksmoreclients@gmail.com. Here’s to your success!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Carolann,
      It takes time and patience to learn new things, at least for me. I get comfortable and follow the motto, “If it’s not broke, it doesn’t need fixing.” So, I continue on as I’ve done. However, after reading Bob’s article, I made a Tweepi account. We will see. Thanks for writing.
      Janice

  8. Debbie Rodrigues

    I neglected my Twitter account for a very long time. Only recently, I started to get more active on it and I see the results already.
    I love automation for a lot things, but I still prefer to do the following myself. Maybe, I’ll need to change my mind later.
    Thanks a lot for the insights, Janice!

    • Bob Barocas

      Debbie,

      I’m glad you liked the post. Twitter is by far one the best social media channels for bloggers to leverage – glad you’re seeing results already! Automation can be powerful and is usually best for those who do not have the time to dedicate to doing it on their own. However, I agree with you completely – doing it yourself is ideal. Thanks for commenting!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Debbie,
      Great to see you here. Thank you for the visit and for writing. Since I work outside the home, I try to automate as much as possible, if the tools are free. If you have time to do things manually and want to, of course, that’s preferable. Thanks for the nice words about the article.
      Janice

  9. Leanne

    This is really interesting (I’m pinning it) because I’ve been avoiding Twitter even though I know it would increase my views. I just can’t commit to another social media platform and keep my head straight at the time being – but this will be handy for when I finally jump in! Thanks

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Leanne,
      Thanks to prescheduling tweets with Buffer and a great plugin I have called “Revive Old Posts” that puts old posts for me on Twitter. my Twitter traffic is on the rise, I am happy to say, between the two.
      I also just posted a comment a reader wrote on Twitter. She followed the tips in this post that Bob gave and is seeing a significant increase. We walk a fine line between wanting to see our numbers rise and needing sleep, LOL.
      Thanks for the nice comments and visiting this week. Thank you also for pinning the article.
      Janice

    • Bob Barocas

      Leanne,

      No worries! Go slow for now – don’t get overwhelmed. Social media can be a wild ride sometimes! Keep this post in your favorites for when the time is right to jump aboard the Twitter train. If you ever have any questions, feel free to email me at moreclicksmoreclients@gmail.com. 🙂

  10. Janice Wald

    A reader followed Bob’s method for increasing social followers on Twitter. She wrote on Twitter to tell me she is experiencing success. This is what she wrote:
    …so I did the Twitter thing. And in one day got 20 more followers. I want to hit 100 in a few days and I think I will. Thanks.

    A testimonial that Bob’s methods work!
    Janice

    • Bob Barocas

      Janice,

      This is great to hear! Very happy to have already helped your readers. Looking forward to everyone’s continued success. 🙂

      Please let me know if I can help your blog audience in the future!

      • Janice Wald

        Bob,
        Your article and the tools you taught us were valuable. We have new ammunition in our arsenal! Thank you for empowering us!
        Janice

  11. Kathleen

    Thanks Bob and Janice, a very informative post. I have never heard of Tweepi I will give it a try, thanks for the link.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Kathleen,
      Thanks for writing. I am trying it for the first time too. I just made an account this evening.
      Janice

    • Bob Barocas

      Kathleen,

      You’re welcome! Here’s to growing your following! 🙂

  12. Donna

    Hi Janice. I’ve been on Twitter for several years, but relatively inactive until January. I decided then to up my game. I deployed this approach then and have seen my followers grow, impressions skyrocket, and blog traffic respond accordingly. I’m getting better at using Twitter lists to help me manage my Twitter feed. TweetDeck and CrowdFire help me as well. I enjoyed this post. Found you through SitsGirls link-up, but plan to follow you on Twitter. Donna (@JustOneDonna)

    • Bob Barocas

      Donna,

      Very happy this strategy has helped you! Keep it up and I’m sure you’ll continue to see incredible results!

  13. Amanda Nel

    Wow, I am also on a Twitter quest to increase my following! Your input has been very timeously, I must admit. I am aiming to reach 2000 by the end of the month.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Amanda,
      Good luck reaching your goal. People seem to be getting new followers at rapid rates thanks to Twitter tools such as the ones Bob suggested.
      Thanks for writing. Nice to see you.
      Janice

    • Bob Barocas

      Amanda,

      Go for it! I know you can do it! Glad you liked the post. 🙂

  14. Toni

    Amazing information, I can’t wait to start implementing it all!

    Stopping by from the SITS linkup!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Toni,
      I tried to return the “blog love” and visit you. I wanted to comment on your hypothyroidism article, since I have that as well. However, the “read more” link didn’t open. When I clicked on the headline, it didn’t open either.
      I am glad you liked my guest author’s Twitter tool ideas. Thank you for clicking my link over at SITS. There seems to be great interest among the readers.
      Janice

    • Bob Barocas

      Toni,

      Thank you so much! Very happy you enjoyed the post. Much success in implementing this strategy.

  15. Mark

    Thanks for providing such a straight forward blueprint Bob!

    I always learn how to be more social media marketing savvy,
    whenever I study Janice or then this particular case, her expert guest bloggers
    proven advice!

    Thanks to you both! You just my eyes, to even further social media
    marketing possibilities!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Mark,
      So glad you enjoyed Bob’s article and found his suggestions valuable. Thank you for writing!
      Janice

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