There are ways you can learn how to grow your social media following for free.

Many people don't know this, but there are ways that you can grow your social media following for free. That's right, digital marketing (at least in the form of social media accounts) can be done without costing you a penny.

Growing your social media following takes time, effort, and consistency. But if you're ready to start, then we can help. Here are our top tips on growing your social media following naturally, without having to spend a fortune.

We caught up with the experts at Fresh Engagements to ask their advice on growing our social media accounts for nothing. They gave us the inside scoop on the industry tricks to growing your social media, without spending a dime.

Build Quality Content

The rumors in the digital world for the coming years say that video is the new picture. While Instagram grew with the rise of the image, video is the next big thing. Short videos are encouraged on Social Media but don't forget to add in closed captions for those with their phones on silent.

As to regular posts, if you don't have video, then you need to keep to images. People scroll past posts that don't have striking visuals. Facebook has an interesting article about capturing the user's attention with videos during their feed if you want to read up on this. If not, then inserting a video or image on all your posts will help get those views.

Run Contests

Although the art of having free giveaways might be ancient history, the act of having people compete with one another is not. People love a challenge. They want to know that they are better at something than the next person is. All you need is a halfway decent prize, and people will be willing to do anything creative you can think of.

If you have products aimed at children, then this should be a common marketing tactic for you. Run competitions for packaging designs for mascots, have your adult followers comment, tag, like, and share. Use competitions to your advantage... you don't even need to offer a physical prize. For many, having their name and creation highlighted on your website and social feeds is enough.

Be Proactive

You need to pay attention to what works and what doesn't. If you routinely post about something that always gets lots of likes, you need to take a close look at it and find out what it is that people like so much about. If you can figure out why it's successful, you can then copy that method onto other posts.

Being proactive means you get a good sense of what your clients want and don't want, before you even hit the post button. This is a great tactic for everything from advertising to social media. It's definitely something to keep in mind before you post.

Make Use of Free Analytics Tools

A lot of people don't realize there are so many tools at their disposal that they can use to grow their social media following. The best part? A lot of these tools are totally free! Take Instagram Insights for example, which is built into the app when you have a Business Account. Using your insights is a great way to visually see your audience's habits and how your posts perform. This includes seeing if the hashtags you're using and the times you are posting are working to benefit your reach.