Indeed, social media is one of the most effective channels to connect with people who already engage your brand. It is also a proven channel to reach those who have no idea about your brand.

Building your business brand with a social media channel doesn’t have to be expensive or scary. With these five simple social media marketing and brand building tips, businesses of any size can connect with new markets, build awareness, and drive sales.

1. Begin with a plan

Social media tools are easy to utilize; you can get started with free organic posts. Although that might make it tempting just to delve in and start posting, using social media for any business brand’s success needs to begin with an excellent plan.

Without a plan, there is no clear picture of your aims and objectives. That implies that there is no way to evaluate and assess your results. Therefore, take your time to research your competitors, conduct social media audit, create a social media calendar, draft out a plan, and ensure that all your social media efforts aim to achieve those business goals.

2. Decide what platform is right for you

Don’t assume where your audiences spend most of their time online. If you target Millenials, you might think that you should skip Facebook and focus on Snapchat and Instagram. But a recent study revealed that over 84% of millennials are still active on Facebook. Conduct extensive research on your own to understand how your target audiences spend their time online.

3. Study your audience

The significant advantage that social media offers is the ability to micro-target your preferred audiences. To achieve that, you need to know who they are. Begin by gathering data on your current clients. Then, dive deeper with social media analytics. These processes will help you develop a reliable picture of the people engaging your brands and buying from you online.

4. Use compelling visuals

Most people now expect social media posts to have visual components. According to Social Drive Real-World Action, over half of millennial internet users said their most recent brand purchases were based on pictures seen on social media.

If you cannot DIY, then seek the expertise of a professional graphic design service provider. Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest, specifically, are visual-based networks. If your content is not attractive, no one will stop scrolling to check out what you have for them. Even tweets benefit from beautiful graphics. Twitter itself submits, “the single most straightforward action you can take to attract engagement is to add a GIF GIF en image.”

5. Build relationships

A particular benefit that social media offers to brands is that it helps them communicate directly with followers and customers. With that, you can build a relationship over time. Over 30% of digital customers utilize social media networks to research new products and brands. An aspect of that discovery is getting to know what your brand stands for.

When people engage with your content, the right thing is to engage back. That helps you build trust and develop a reliable and loyal follower base. These relationships may also develop into sales over time, If well nurtured.