Who to Follow on Social Media - How & Why

We all want to connect with more people online - but what's the best way to go about it? This helpful how-to is all about WHO, HOW & WHY to follow people on social media.

Following people online isn't about follow for follow- or.....shouldn't be. You should be following people who really inspire you and are bringing value to you, or value that you can re-share to your audience as well.

WHO?

Some of the first people that you should follow, are your fellow business colleagues and/or, your clients.

When I say follow, I don't mean "Friend" there is a difference between friending and following someone and I don't recommend friending fellow business colleague. Keep it professional. Invite them to follow your page, you can follow their page or connect on a professional network like LinkedIn.

HOW?

So, first things first, open a word document and start brainstorming! Make a list ofbusinesses and clients that you interact with and want to genuinely support

Next - get online on social media and sign in! Find the search bar and enter a name from your list.

This will bring up suggestions and direct you to their profile page where you can either "Like" their page if you're on Facebook or "Follow" them if you're on Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media sites.

WHY?

The benefit to following pages is that their content will then come up in your newsfeed, making it easier to interact and support those businesses and clients.

When you like someone's post comment or give genuine comments, you're showing support for their business. In turn, they're more likely to interact and support your business, and your social media campaigns as well.

After you've searched out businesses and or clients, you might want to move on to keywords, topics or local areas that your business is interested or involved with. Then you can start connecting with other pages or people that might be beneficial for your business. Take the same steps, and again, be genuine!

So don't just follow accounts online, trying get more followers back - think about the value they provide for you and your followers, as well as who you want to support!