Facebook her, tweet that, post this, follow him, chat them- these are just a handful of popular social media sayings that anyone living in the 21st century is sure to be able to relate to. But what’s the appeal? Why do we crave likes, followers, and retweets like my girlfriend craves an engagement ring? It’s because social media is how this generation (and the hip parents and grandparents of previous generations) connects with one another. It’s how we get our news, how we find what we want to eat, where we want to go, what we want to do, and where we’re going to shop. I can’t emphasize that last point enough. The large majority of consumers today will search on the web before making an online or in-store purchase. With social media, you’re able to grow your following and customer-base exponentially faster than with just a website or with more classic forms of advertising. Obviously, just setting up a Twitter handle and Facebook page aren’t going to help you grow  your business. So how can you reach a larger audience and bring in new customers for your small business through social media? Here are 5 of the best ways to do so:

1. Keep on typing- Content is king! If you haven’t guessed it by now, perhaps the most important piece of the social media puzzle is your content. When push comes to shove, what you post is the most important factor in gaining followers. The key to posting content is to not pitch your product right away. Post about your industry as a whole. Post about interesting topics that are relevant to your business. Only then should you start talking about your business and what you have to offer. The most important part is to make sure your posts are done tastefully and in a fun way as opposed to just throwing random information at your followers.

‍2. Post frequency Posting good content isn’t enough. It’s important to find a happy balance for how often you’re posting, tweeting, etc. as well. You don’t want to bombard your followers with 10,000 posts an hour, but you also don’t want to post too infrequently to the point that people forget about your business. 1-5 posts a day (spread out evenly of course) is a happy medium. ‍

3. Post pretty pictures

It’s true, everyone loves a pretty picture. In an age where the most valuable asset someone can give you is their attention, it’s crucial to be able to hook, line, and sink ‘em. If you post too much written content, chances are your readers and followers will lose interest. This will lead them to not reading the whole way through. To counter this, we can post pretty pictures of your store, inspirational quotes, funny pictures, cool links, etc. This is a great way to help keep your posts quirky and fun and to avoid becoming too mundane. Remember, it’s less important to always post about your business than it is to retain followers at all costs. Why? This way when you do have something important to post about your business, you’ll increase the likelihood of it being read, which leads to more customers.

‍4. Use #’s: #UseHashtags Yes. This is real. Whether we like it or not, the hashtag has become an integral part of social media and pop culture. For your business, by adding hashtags at the end of your posts, you’re exponentially increasing the amount of views your post will get. It’ll post on your page and on a feed with other posts with the same hashtags. This means that not only will more people see your post, but the people that will see it were already talking about the same topic. #UseHashtags

5. Ask for likes and retweets We’ve all heard the old saying “I heard it through the grapevine”. Well my advice to you is to grab onto that grapevine so tight that it turns into wine. Word of mouth will get your name out there faster than any single post. Start by asking a few friends to like your page and retweet your tweets. Then, have those same friends ask 5 more of their friends do the same thing and so on and so forth. Before you know it, you’ll have a huge reach and will be able to efficiently spread your business through your online community.

‍How are you using social media to grow your biz? Do let us know in the comments.

Image Credits: Peshkova/Shutterstock, Gonzalo Aragon/Shutterstock, Michael Coghlan/Flickr