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If you are a business, you must have social media as part of your marketing strategy. However, it takes more than just creating social media accounts to garner brand awareness. You need to have a strategy to build a following, encourage engagement and have a strong social media presence. Here are four ways your business can create a strong social media presence.

1. Identify Your Audience

Who are your customers and what social media platforms do they utilize? There are millions of consumers on social media, but you want to reach those that are your target customer. In order to accomplish this you must know your audience persona, or those imaginary people who are your target audience. Here is a sample persona from Hubspot:

Based on what you know about your target audience, you can identify what type of social media platforms and content resonates with them.

2. Focus on Select Social Media Platforms

Be selective on which social media platform you are going to utilize. Choose only those that will reach your target audience effectively. If you are a small business owner, you may want to only focus on one or two platforms so you don’t overextend yourself.

3. Make Your Profiles Known

You spent all this time and effort creating great social media content, now you need to make sure people see it! Use every opportunity to promote your social media profiles. Simple things like adding links from your company website, including your social media usernames on all your printed materials, and adding links in your email signature help promote your social media platforms. But you also can’t be afraid to pay to get your company more visibility quickly. For just a few dollars a day, you can run campaigns on social media platforms to garner new followers. By doing this, you are able to set different parameters to ensure you are reaching your target audience. The same is true when boosting posts.

4. Engage Your Followers

Give your followers the opportunity to interact with you. They have taken the time to comment on your post or tag your company in one of their posts, so be sure to respond and engage with them. Be fun and creative! Build relationships with your followers and social media influencers.

5. Stay Active

A lack of activity is a sure way to lose followers. Be sure to publish content on a regular basis. Your social media posts don’t always have to be direct sales campaigns. In fact, it’s better if they’re not. Stay on top of “national days” like National Chocolate Chip Day or Thank A Nurse week. Include motivational or humorous memes that may be relevant to your company. Create content that makes them what to engage!

Remember, running a social-media strategy is just like any other process…it takes time. However, by utilizing these tactics, your company will be on its way to creating a strong social media presence and brand awareness.