One of the biggest advantages of running a social media campaign is its near-limitless growth. As you gain more followers, your audience gets bigger, and every piece of content you share gets seen by more people; therefore, every action you take becomes more valuable and leads to even more growth, resulting in a feedback loop that should theoretically keep escalating with no upper limit. It’s one reason why social media ROI is so high; in fact, about a third of all marketers claim an ROI of at least 150 percent.

But what happens when that feedback loop is cut short, or stops working the way it used to? Sometimes, you’ll notice your follower count remaining stagnant, or even worse, declining. So what can you do in this situation? How can you rescue a stagnant social media campaign?

Experimentation

Your social media campaign has probably grown stagnant because your content doesn’t resonate the way it used to or because it isn’t working for a large audience the way it worked for a smaller one. Either way, if you keep using the same tactics you’re using now, over and over, you can expect to see similar results indefinitely.

The only way to break out of the loop is through experimentation—trying new strategies and new anglesuntil you find something that works. The process is always the same; try something new, measure its impact, and reject it if it doesn’t make things better. Repeat this enough, with at least some of the strategies I mention below, and you should be able to pull yourself out.

1. Create New Content

First, you can try to create new, more engaging content, whether that’s new posts on social media, or new blog posts on your main site that you merely distribute through social media. In any case, try changing some of the following:

• If your audience isn’t responding to your “usual” content, try going a step further with content that’s unusual for your brand, or that’s more or less niche focused.
• Try varying your length, too. Short content and long content can both be effective, but if your posts are always the same length, users might get bored. You’ll broaden your audience and increase interest by including more variety.
• Work on your presentation by including more visual elements, like photos or videos embedded in your work.
• Try to make your content more interactive by including opportunities for discussion, debate, or even user-submitted pieces of content.

2. Shake Up the Schedule

If you’re like most brands on social media, you schedule most of your posts in advance so you can have a consistently-running queue of content rolling out (even when everyone’s gone home for the day). There are advantages to this, but if your schedule has become predictable, you’ll lose interest.

Shake things up by changing your regular schedule, and by posting with greater spontaneity; encourage your social media managers to get inspired by their surroundings and post at random times.

3. Engage With More Individuals

Next, try to engage with more people on an individual basis. These one-on-one interactions go beyond what most brands are willing to contribute, and have a massive effect on brand loyalty (while attracting new fans at the same time).

Keep these conversations going, and try to respond to any questions or comments you receive from others.

4. Use More Visual Content

Four times as many people would rather watch a video about a given topic than read about it, and brands are increasingly shifting their content assets to favor visual content over written content. You can do the same by creating more images and videos, and showing them off as consistently as possible.

You’ll get more initial attention and you’ll be able to engage your fans better; plus, visual content is more shareable, so you’ll load your page with assets that have the highest likelihood of generating new audience members.

5. Sponsor a Contest

About 34 percent of new fans for a given brand on social media come from specific campaigns to generate new visibility, such as in a contest. Contests are effective because they give followers reasons to like you, follow you, or otherwise engage with you, and on top of that, they’re highly shareable.

Pick a prize that’s worth getting—even a prize of $100 is significant enough to get attention—and encourage your followers to share your contest to maximize visibility. It could be just what you need to breathe new life into your campaign.

6. Launch Supportive Personal Brands

Instead of relying on only one brand to support itself, launch satellite personal brands that can support your core corporate brand. These personal brands can share core content, build followings of their own, and serve as brand ambassadors to followers who would prefer not to follow a company brand.

7. Mimic Competitor Followings

Finally, take a look at some of your competitors and see who’s following them; these are people who are interested in your industry, and have a high propensity for following you. Try following small batches of them; a good chunk of them will take notice and follow you back, giving you fresh eyes to see your campaign for the first time.

Thankfully, you don’t have to remain the victim of your stagnant social media campaign for long. With a few strategic adjustments, a few quick fixes, and some major changes to your campaign, you’ll be able to restore your momentum in no time and reap the benefits of social media marketing.

Article written by: Jayson DeMers