Extending your reach to maximize your audience is probably the most important focus area for your development as a social media promoter.  Pursuing a wider audience is the foundation of what it means to be an online marketer, and with a wider audience exposure, more people will see your brand, your engagement metrics will show results over time, and you will be able to sell your products and services to a larger and more diverse audience.

Core Strategies

This article addresses core strategies for extending your reach and how they can impact your online presence, including bringing growth to your customer base.  A larger reach means more potential customers, and draws new customers to your universe.  With a wider reach, you are more likely to see an increase in engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and clicks. More people interacting with your content can lead to a more vibrant and active online community, thereby increasing your brand awareness among a larger audience.

The underlying and undeniable truth to all of this is, having a large audience also gives you greater credibility.  A brand that reaches a substantial number of people gives a sense of confidence among potential customers, and come across as authoritative. When others see that your content is being widely shared and engaged with, they’re more likely to view your brand as trustworthy and reputable.  At the same time, you also increase your chances of experiencing the ever-elusive viral post.  While a posting that goes viral is generally not something to plan for, for it to be in the frame of possibility, it helps to know your audience, have a strong message that hits a chord, and to have a large audience to begin with.  A viral posting for a small-time blogger is just another article for someone with a large and well-cultivated audience.

To achieve a successful extended reach in your social media promotional campaign, it’s important to develop engaging and shareable content, utilize appropriate hashtags and keywords, collaborate with influencers, run targeted advertisements, and actively engage with your audience across various platforms. Keep in mind that while extending your reach is important, maintaining the quality and authenticity of your content should always be a priority.

Action Items

With that as the basis, there are a few key actions items that must be on your activity list on a regular basis to achieve audience and engagement growth over time.

• Use Relevant Hashtags – Research your market and commonly used hashtags.  This step could be rated as the easiest step with the largest benefit for the amount of time it takes to simply add some hashtags.  There will be other articles in the future on the effective use of hashtags.  Get the basics done first, by incorporating popular and relevant hashtags in your posts.  The benefit of this simple step is that hashtags will increase the discoverability of your content by making it visible to users who have similar and relevant interests. 
• Collaborate with Influencers – As the next step in your development, and with a growing base of followers which would make you attractive to another early-stage social media promoter, find someone with a similar area of interest – not necessarily the same, but ideally someone whose products/services/blogging topics complement and are tangentially relevant to yours.  Partner with influencers in your industry who have a substantial following, and keep getting the word out about your online presence. 
• Post Consistently – Maintaining a consistent posting schedule is absolutely critical, as a major metric of nearly all online algorithms is the frequency of posting, as an indicator of the quality and reliability of you and your organization as a source of good content.  Regular posts keep your audience engaged and increase the likelihood of your content being seen by a larger number of users.
• Optimize Content for Each Platform – Customize your content for each social media platform. Tailor the format, visuals, and messaging to suit the preferences of the specific platform’s users.
• Use Eye-Catching Visuals – Visual content tends to attract more attention. Use high-quality images, videos, and graphics to make your posts stand out in users’ feeds.
• Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC) – Encourage your followers to create and share content related to your brand. Reposting UGC not only showcases user loyalty but also extends your content’s reach to the creator’s followers.
• Engage with Your Audience – Respond to comments, messages, and mentions promptly. Engaging with your audience encourages more interactions and can lead to higher visibility through shares and word-of-mouth.
• Run Paid Social Media Ads – Invest in paid advertising to reach a broader audience. Social media platforms offer targeting options to ensure your content reaches users who match your target demographics.
• Host Contests and Giveaways – Organize contests or giveaways that require participants to engage with your content (like, share, comment). This not only boosts engagement but also exposes your campaign to new audiences as participants share with their followers.
• Share Timely and Trending Content – Stay updated with current events, trends, and holidays. Creating content that’s relevant to trending topics can help your posts gain traction and visibility.  Craft content that is informative, entertaining, or emotional enough for users to want to share it with their networks.
• Leverage Stories and Live Streaming – Stories and live streaming are temporary yet engaging formats. They can draw attention to your campaign by showing up prominently at the top of users’ feeds.
• Cross-Promote on Multiple Platforms – Share your campaign content across multiple social media platforms. Tailor the content for each platform to suit its unique features.
• Network and Engage with Peers – Engage with other brands, individuals, and organizations in your industry. Like and follow their posts, and make yourself part of that community, as a means of generating curiosity among other readers about your community. 
• Monitor Analytics and Adjust – Regularly review your analytics to identify which types of content and strategies are driving the most reach and impressions.

Improving reach and impressions takes time and consistent effort, and without time and effort put into continuously refining your messaging, then you risk repeating the same mistakes time and again. 

Jot down a list of bullet points for each of the strategies described above, what you intend to do, and specifically, how this strategy applies to your promotional efforts.  While the volume of tasks would feel overwhelming at the start, picking them away one tick-box at a time will yield positive results over time.  The other good impact is that before long, these activities will become second-nature.  It will be a part of your basic skill set as a digital marketer. 

Skills Development

With the basic skill set in place, you will be able to create more sophisticated strategies to support higher-value outcomes.  As your reach grows, along with the number of potential leads and customers increases, you will also be able to manage your campaign to more effectively increase conversion rates.  Having more data on successful messaging enables you to expand the diversity of your audience, and hone messaging to attract more nuanced segments.  This level of detail and complexity will be a key factor in building a competitive advantage against others who, up to now, have more experience than you have. 

Extending your reach can give you an edge over competitors who might not be as proactive in engaging with a larger audience.  Ultimately, a consistent cadence in reaching your audience will build recognition, which will improve your branding, and ultimately customer loyalty and their online advocacy will grow.  When you reach this point, you now have an audience of followers who effectively engage in your marketing efforts on your behalf, and you don’t have to pay them anything to do that!

For now, start with the basics, and keep doing that consistently over time.