Ever wanted to grow your brand’s social media following for free but didn’t know where to start? It can be very overwhelming with all the chaos and constant change in the social media world. Fortunately, the answer isn’t too hard to find – remember, it’s called social media for a reason.

Today I’m thrilled to share our most tactical and detailed piece of content yet – I call it the “30-20-10 Connection.” It’s a 3-part, 1-hour strategy for organically growing your social media following and post engagement. 30 minutes on Instagram, 20 minutes on Twitter, and 10 minutes on Facebook. Read on below to learn how it works and try it out yourself!

Call-Outs Before We Get Started

Some things to make clear before we get into the nitty-gritty:

  • This is heavily inspired by GaryVee’s $1.80 Instagram Strategy. His strategy is one of the most valuable pieces of content I’ve ever come across and has enabled us to build our Instagram presence from scratch in the past 6 months. With my 30-20-10 Connection, I wanted to make 2 major tweaks to Gary’s $1.80 Strategy:
    1. Develop a strategy that works across multiple platforms (in our case, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) as opposed to just focusing on Instagram.
    2. Find an efficient mix of time that works across platforms. Gary mentions his $1.80 strategy should take around 3 hours per day on Instagram. I wanted to find a way to use similar tactics across platforms that could be done in 1-hour sessions.
  • You can take a similar approach on other platforms as well, including LinkedIn and Pinterest, but will need to find the sweet spot of time to dedicate and learn the intricacies of engaging on those platforms.
  • The time amounts can be reshuffled depending on your social media priorities. I’ve found the 30-20-10 weight gives you the best use of time to see organic results.
  • This is an organic approach, meaning putting in the effort without spending any money. Facebook is known to be “pay-to-play” and the other platforms are trending that way as well, so you can expect a bigger return by actually putting advertising spend on these platforms.
  • You can execute this strategy as much as you want – weigh your priorities. I like to use this strategy in 2 sessions per day – typically once in the morning and once in the afternoon. On days we have a post planned, I always put in an hour of work right after I post.

Now that I’ve covered every asterisk in the book, let’s get started!

Part 1: 30 Minutes on Instagram

Instagram gets the biggest time block as it’s the most time-consuming to execute with the widest variety of ways to do so. Divide your 30 minutes into the following parts:

  • People you follow (15 minutes)
    • Make sure you follow enough relevant people similar to your specialties or audience in the first place
    • Swipe through your feed and like and comment on posts, adding value – not spammy comments. Post genuine, thoughtful, original comments and questions
      • Incorporating emojis into your comments draws more attention and helps keep a playful vibe
    • When you see a comment you agree with or can add value to, like and reply to the comment to truly enter the conversation more
    • If there are some big accounts you follow but they didn’t come across your feed, go directly to their page and engage with their most recent post
  • Hashtags (15 minutes)
    • Search for hashtags that are relevant to your brand or business. Instagram shows you the amount of posts using each hashtag and also related hashtags that are similar to what you searched.
      • Gary’s article gives a great example of finding hashtags on which to focus
    • Go through the top posts under each hashtag you select and like, comment, and engage in the conversation as you did in your feed
    • Take a few of the most popular hashtags on Instagram and do the same. Focus on those that generally fit with your content

As I mentioned back in our March Digital Marketing Tips, be careful as you spend time engaging with so many posts. Instagram can temporarily ban you from liking or commenting if they think you’re a spam account. Make sure to post consistently so they know you’re not a bot, and don’t go much beyond these 30 minutes of engagement in a single session.

That’s all for Instagram. On to the Twitter chatter!

Part 2: 20 Minutes on Twitter

Twitter gets the next segment as it’s extremely valuable as a conversation and search platform, but engaging with hashtags doesn’t allow you to become quite as discoverable as Instagram hashtags do. Divide your 20 minutes into the following parts:

  • People you follow (10 minutes)
    • Scroll through your feed and actively like and reply to tweets that are relevant to your line of work
    • Your reply is crucial on Twitter since it’s such a great conversation tool. Ask questions and add witty insight and you very well could start public conversations with even top influencers in your industry
    • To use more humor in your replies, include funny GIFs
  • Hashtags (10 minutes)
    • Twitter Search is an incredible tool. Search relevant terms or hashtags to your industry and engage with the top posts
    • The fact Twitter showcases the top trending hashtags is super helpful. Take your pick of what’s trending in that moment and scroll through that feed to engage with the top tweets. If you time it right, your comment could become the top comment and get almost as much popularity as the original tweet
    • In addition to the top tweets under each hashtag, you can scroll through the “Latest” tweets to see who’s tweeting real time. Brownie points if you see a blue check mark and engage with a verified user, who’s more likely to have a bigger following

Focusing on the items above does a great job of producing buzz and drawing engagement with your account. Every now and then you should participate in Twitter Chats as an alternative. They’re an amazing way to supercharge your discoverability. You can even sponsor them or eventually host them yourself if you put in enough work!

Alrighty! On to the last part – The Facebook (can you believe it used to be called that?!)

Part 3: 10 Minutes on Facebook

Facebook is the toughest platform to grow organically since they have such a mature advertising model. At this point, their algorithm mostly favors connecting with people you’re already friends with. In turn, it’s hardest to see results – and gain page likes organically – so putting in work for a short 10 minutes allows you to be active while not wasting much time. Here’s what to focus on:

  • First, make sure you’re operating as your company/brand page as opposed to your personal account. On desktop, go to any page you’re interested in, click the 3 dots near the “Like” button, and click “Like As Your Page.” You can make this switch on any post as well by clicking the tiny version of your profile picture in the lower right of the post, and switching to your brand account
  • Go through the pages you like and engage with their most recent post. Remember to add value
  • You can also use the search bar to find posts and pages relevant to you

Putting It All Together

Guess what….that’s it!! You’re done! By using the tactics above, you can efficiently grow your accounts in just 1 hour without spending a dime. Consistent use of this approach can help you improve your social media skills and build relationships with influencers, while learning along the way. Anybody can put in 1 hour of work – the hard part is putting in the work every single day. Putting the “social” into “social media” is where the real growth potential is at, and you need to stay on it – so carve out that recurring time on your calendar! 

Try it out and let us know what you think! If you enjoyed this article or strategy, check out our other marketing resources from Hippo Direct and let us know how we can help you:

Always remember to have FUN, you social butterflies!