Kat Stacks, the former queen of World Star viral videos, seemed like the perfect source to give advice on how to stay popping online. Since I met Kat a little over two years ago, she has probably had her Instagram account shut down and deleted at least five times that I can recall. However, every time it gets shut down, in less than 45 days, she has at least 30K followers again. I’ve had my Instagram account for over four years and I am unable to obtain those type of numbers when it comes to my followers. What am I doing wrong? Or should I ask, what am I not doing right? Kat was very helpful, giving out the following three tips to increase your social media numbers.
1. Networking – You have to go out and promote yourself. It’s not about sitting online and posting a few tweets and Instagram posts and watching your social media numbers skyrocket. When you are out in public, you must interact with people. Ask for their social media account. One follow leads to a follow back. One picture leads to a follow and a simple conversation with a group can lead to several new followers.
2. Be a star in your own land – If you are in the industry, it’s important to attend industry events, support and participate with the promoters and people who are hosting these events, so they will in turn support you and help with your endeavors. If you want to be a star, you have to align yourself with stars and place yourself in those types of environments to achieve the goals you are striving for.
“I think Atlanta has proven to be one of my most effective cities in terms of popularity and seeing my numbers quickly escalate over all my social media platforms. You see the celebrities in common places. In Atlanta, I can go to the gas station and probably run into Young Dro or a cast member from Vh1’s “Love and Hip Hop.” Everyone is so accessible here, so it’s really easy to gain popularity and expand your brand amongst industry folks,” says Kat.
3. Ignore Twitter and Instagram trolls – Be yourself and say whatever you feel and please don’t be afraid of social media thugs. I am myself all the time and if someone has something to say about what I do, I don’t hesitate to call them on it instantly. This is called the shock factor and either your reaction or the reaction of onlookers who I call look-e-loos will get your more followers, as well. Communicate with those who support you and answer them back. It’s called social media for a reason. Be social and not gangster online.
