Tips for Gaining a Following on Both Social Media and Your Blog

Today, I'm so excited to be sharing with y'all a post that was a reader request: Tips for Gaining a Following on Both Social Media and Your Blog. As always, if there's anything YOU would love to see here on Chic in Carolina, feel free to reach out to me either in the comments below, on my social media pages, or by email where you reach me at chicincarolina@gmail.com.

While I certainly have to room to grow as well in my follower count, I have seen an incredible amount of growth in both my blog and my social media since I started blogging in March of 2015. Growth does take plenty of time, so be patient! It will come eventually if you work hard and keep on going (this definitely applies to more than just blogging!).

Keep a general theme

For social media, this doesn't mean that you can only post posts that have blue in them or that are black and white. If you look at my Instagram, you can see that I like to keep everything bright and colorful and full of prints. For your blog, this means finding an area that you blog about whether it be fashion or food or whatever. I classify Chic in Carolina as a fashion and lifestyle with a focus in preppy fashion. This means that I post anything from preppy outfits to style advice to organization tips to the occasional workout and recipe post. This allows your audience to know what to expect from you and will keep them coming back to your blog. For instance, if I posted an outfit featuring a Lilly Pulitzer shift one day and then posted about a grunge music festival the next, I may attract a larger audience but they would be less likely to continue to read as the Lilly Pulitzer audience doesn't usually go with grunge music and vice versa.

Post frequently

One of my 101 in 1001 goals that I completed earlier this year was to post on Instagram everyday for a month. And y'all, I cannot tell you how much improvement my Instagram saw in followers from doing this. Followers don't want to follow someone who only posts 2 times a month so being active on social media is vital to growing your stats. And this goes for your blog as well. Pick the number of days a week that you will post and stick to it!

Be unique

No one wants to follow someone that is a carbon copy of a bigger blogger. Of course, your style may be similar but be sure to try to come up with your own poses/future ideas! It will pay off in the long run!

Connect with Others

A big part of social media is in the name: social. Be sure to like and comment on other's photos, tweets, pinterest, blogs, etc. as frequently as possible. On bigger blogs, it may cause that blogger to follow you back. But be sure to do it on "smaller" blogs as well because that is what builds your relationship with other bloggers. Plus, if you leave a comment on a blog post with a link to your own blog, it gives the readers of that blog exposure to yours.

Use Social Media to Boost Your Blog (and vice versa)

Pin the images in your blog posts on Pinterest. Tweet and post on Facebook the links to your latest posts. Talk about your latest post on Instagram and be sure that the link to your blog is in your bio (and tell your followers that it is there!). Link your social media into your blog posts. Your social media and blog should work together to makeup your "brand" so make sure they help each other as much as possible!

Be the Blog that You Would Want to Read (or follow on social media)

When choosing what to write posts on or what to post on social media, think about what you would want to see if you were in your audience's shoes! Trust me this is so helpful!

Reply to your comments

Do this on both social media and your blog. I like to be approachable to my readers and not be some "holier than thou" blogger. Doing this makes you seem more "real" and someone that your readers could be friends with in real life, which is always a good thing!

Keep your "voice"

Don't be someone you're not. If your style is more classic, don't feel the need to buy into trends that you hate for the sake of the blog. The truer you are to yourself and what you like, the more others with similar interests will flock to you and boost your following.

Don't worry about the numbers

This may sound like a bit of a contradiction due to the title of this post but don't worry to much about your numbers and definitely do not compare your numbers to any other blogger. Good things don't happen overnight and if you're only focused on the numbers and not your content, you will not see them go up!

Schedule ahead!

Scheduling your posts and social media ahead of time is the best way to stay active on both of those even when life gets busy (which happens to every blogger). During the school year, I typically write and schedule my blog posts during the weekend so I only have to worry about the social media aspect during the week. Recently, I started using Hootsuite, which is amazing for scheduling your Tweets and Instagrams!

While I'm talking about social media, be sure that you're following along with me on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Tumblr!

And for more social media tips, be sure to check out this post about Instagram and this post about Pinterest!

My fellow bloggers, anything y'all would add? Let me know in the comments!