Building an effective presence on social media requires preparation, planning and a keen sense of what a particular brand’s audience wants. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram make it possible to share with audiences a variety of content offerings, news, entertainment and even products and services.

However, to build an effective social media following on any platform, it is important to understand exactly why people follow brands in the first place. To help guide you in the right direction, let’s examine the biggest reasons that audiences choose to follow brands on social media.

Staying Up-to-Date with Sales

By far, most members of a brand’s audience when surveyed report that their single biggest reason for following brands on social media is to keep up-to-date on sales and discounts. For any brand pinging users with social media updates, it is imperative to make this a key selling point. If users know that they can expect updates in their feeds regarding new sales, discounts and other promotions, then they’ll be far more likely to engage with your brand on a permanent basis.

Not only can this help generate more followers, but it also gives users a reason to check back in frequently (and can also make any future promotions more successful due to increased visibility).

Learning About New Products

Another big reason why consumers follow their favorite brands is to learn about new products being released. Social media for businesses and brands is of course a promotional environment at its core: both brands and consumers know this. As such, they tend to tune into these social media accounts in order to catch the latest news about upcoming products and services.

This makes it much easier to promote new additions to a receptive audience, given that many are already loyal customers. Whether your business is large or small, keeping your following abreast of upcoming products is a fantastic way to boost engagement and generate buzz. Whether you do so through snapshots of the product in development, promotional videos or some other format is entirely up to you.

Showing Support for the Brand

In many situations, consumers simply love various brands and want to show them support. There are many nuanced reasons for why brand lovers become brand followers, including a positive personal experience, a round of bad PR in the media (which can generate a counter-response or defense), or simply just good marketing on the part of the brand.

It becomes quite easy to rope in a variety of customers who may appreciate your brand but who are not otherwise following it presently: through clever marketing, consistent updates and a loyal core of existing brand followers, amplifying your following based merely on existing support is easily doable on most social networks.

There are many reasons why consumers follow brands on social media, but the most common reasons include a desire to learn about new deals and new products, as well as simply showing the brand some love and support. With this information in hand, you can leverage it into your existing marketing tactics to help amplify their effect and bolster your following.