Social media is an excellent tool for building your business. A study by The Social Habit shows that 53 percent of Americans who follow brands on social are more loyal to those brands.

Many businesses don’t take full advantage of social media because they’re overwhelmed and not sure where to start. While there is no one right way to manage your social media presence, there is one sure way to fail – not starting at all. Here are a few tips to help you start building your social media presence.

Decide where to be

When looking at which platforms to utilize, think about where your customers are. Depending on the demographics of your target audience and when and how they are looking for information, some platforms will be a better fit for your business than others. Facebook is a great platform to be on in both terms of name recognition and number of users. It’s the biggest network and the most versatile from an advertising perspective. Facebook provides a way to communicate with your customers, and it also delivers useful insights. With daily active engagement, you can acquire customer data and use that information to help make smarter business decisions.

Decide what you’ll post

Social media is an extension of the value you provide to customers. Post updates about your business that affect your customers. Showcase new or enhanced products and services, introduce new team members, share answers to frequently asked questions. The conversations you have with your customers, the questions you answer for them are excellent sources of unique and post-worthy content. You can also share resources from your vendors and partners that would help your customers.

Get a boost with ads

Once you have a great presence on social media, it’s time to consider running ads. Ads can help you get in front of the right audience. You can segment and target to narrow your focus by location, job title, gender, age, interests and other criteria. Ads can also increase traffic to your website and improve search rankings.

Utilizing social media effectively for your business allows you to engage with customers while also keeping an eye on your competitors. Through social media analytics, you can see how you compare across various metrics with other businesses, and this can help you make strategic decisions that will keep you ahead of the curve.

Six Simple Ideas for Social Media Posts for your Business