What is Follow / Unfollow?

Follow / Unfollow, as a marketing growth tactic, came into being with the rise of social media platforms.

The concept is pretty straightforward – you engage with potential customers by following their accounts in hope that they follow you back, thereby expanding your social media visibility. A secondary step to this tactic is the 'unfollow', essentially reducing the number of accounts you follow while maintaining your increased follower count.

The goal of this tactic is to create traffic. This means generating activity and movement of users towards your social media platforms, which can consequently lead to more interaction with your brand, more brand awareness, and potentially more sales. As social media platforms like Twitter form a significant part of today's digital landscape, having more followers translates into having a wider influence and reach.

What makes Follow / Unfollow particularly attractive is its scalability. It's a strategy that can be automated and executed on a large scale, allowing for quick and efficient follower growth. By targeting users from a specific audience segment, you're not only gaining more followers but also ensuring that these followers are likely to be interested in your product or service.

Examples of Follow / Unfollow

1. Twitter Engagement: A nutrition startup can follow individuals who frequently tweet about healthy eating or fitness, prompting them to check out and possibly follow the startup's page, providing them a larger follower base interested in nutrition.

2. Instagram Brand Awareness: A clothing brand may follow fans of a similar fashion brand on Instagram. When these individuals notice the follow, they may check out the clothing brand's page and products and potentially follow back.

3. LinkedIn Networking: A job recruitment agency could use the Follow / Unfollow method on LinkedIn to expand its network, following potential candidates, who might then check out and follow the recruitment agency's page.

4. Pinterest Exposure: A DIY crafts page can follow users who pin a lot of DIY projects to increase their visibility among the right audience.

5. Facebook Promotions: A newly opened restaurant may follow local food bloggers and influencers on Facebook so when they follow back, they would notice the restaurant's promotional posts.

Marketing Tactics Similar to Follow / Unfollow

• Social Media Cross-Promotion: It involves promoting content across different social media platforms to tap into their various audiences.
• Influencer Marketing: It focuses on using key industry influencers to amplify your brand message to a larger market.
• Content Marketing: It revolves around creating and sharing valuable content to attract, retain and engage a clearly defined audience.
• Community Engagement: This involves actively interacting with your community (sharing, commenting, liking) to encourage increased interaction back to your own page.

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