This year especially, everything has started turning digital. Social media platforms are a creative way to put your business information in front of consumers’ fingertips. Choosing and producing content that is appropriate for your business and goals can greatly increase your exposure.

Social media can be a wonderful tool if used correctly. Here are a few tips to grow your small business social media following:

Start your Accounts

It’s hard to grow your presence on a platform if you don’t have any accounts. Choosing which social media platforms are best for your business can be a daunting task but once the decision is made you can start your journey of digital growth.

With so many platform options launching every year, narrowing down the channels that will reach your target audiences the most is ideal. It is important to keep in mind when launching your business accounts to not spread yourself thin or make easily avoidable social media mistakes. Starting an Instagram or Facebook account and then abandoning it for months at a time makes it difficult to steadily grow.

Have a Plan

Once your accounts have launched it can be tempting to start posting about every single service or product you offer. While your followers want to know the new arrivals and special deals you have available, multiple posts and notifications can be overwhelming.

Creating a strategic plan that includes a detailed content calendar with the number of posts per day or week will help to avoid flooding followers’ feeds. Making sure to communicate your style, vision and values through your accounts is also important. This can help consumers learn more about your business in a fun, creative way rather than reading a page full of text.

Interact with your Audience

Automated responses can be frustrating for your followers. While they may be necessary when you receive a large influx of messages, trying to narrow down the topic of the problem or question with automated responses and then connecting them to a real person can be a great way to keep customers interested.

Along with customizing social media direct messages, commenting on pictures you are tagged in, reposting others’ content and responding to your own post comments are a great way to add a human touch.

Other fun ways to build relationships with customers is through giveaways, contests and interactive activities that not only help promote your business but also allow your followers to be included.

Maximize the Benefits

It is important that when you create an account, no matter the platform, you learn how to maximize its benefits. Simply creating a page will not cause an influx of followers or new leads.

There are a few tips and tricks that can help to easily increase your exposure to various platforms. Depending on the platform, utilizing paid promotional ads, hashtags, and different types of images can help your business account gain more attention.

Redirect them Back

An easy way to connect your followers with your social media accounts is to direct them in the correct direction! Including “Follow Us” buttons on your website that link to your social media accounts is a great way to keep interested customers connected. Along with your website, these icons can go on promotional materials that unfamiliar eyes may land on.

It is important when choosing where to include these icons and handles to not go overboard. It can be distracting and look like clutter if too many social media connections are plastered everywhere. Finding a happy medium will allow customers to know you are on social media, easily find you but still learn about your business.

Create a Strong Profile

A social media profile with little to no information or personalization is not greatly beneficial to the viewer.

Once you have chosen your preferred platform, a profile picture, contact information and a bio should be created. These simple additions take little time but can inform customers and encourage them to continue searching and reaching out to learn more about services or products.

Social media is a wonderful tool in today’s world. If your business is not on any platforms the likelihood of gaining a significant amount of new customers, while possible, is difficult. Exploring the world of digital platforms can greatly benefit your business in the long run.

No matter which social media accounts you chose to launch, it should be done strategically. Researching the most appropriate platform and best practices before you dive into the digital deep end can help save you from frustration later.