.Brands, organizations, and institutions use social media platforms every single day to connect with their audiences, raise awareness, and drive leads and business.
With an engaged following on one or more of the major social networks, brands can effectively spread the word about campaigns, new initiatives, and new products and services. The key is to build a thriving online community of your ideal fans, the ones who'll actively engage with your content, share it with their networks, and ultimately, become paying customers.
It takes work to establish such, but that effort can pay off big time.
Looking to grow your social media audience?

Include a visual with every post

Visuals are high-performers on social media, so be sure to include an eye-catching, colourful image or graphic with each post.

Consider these visual marketing statistics, compiled by HubSpot:

• Content with relevant images racks up 94% more views than content without images.
• Compared to other types of content, visual content is more than 40x more likely to get shared on social media.
• Instagram photos showing faces get 38% more likes than photos without faces.

You can use free graphic design tools like Canva to add graphics to your blog entries and social media posts.

Share more video

Video is the most engaging content type on every social media platform, so if you can, it's a good idea to create at least some form of video content to maximize engagement.

Be sure to upload your video directly to your platform of choice, rather than posting a link to an outside website (like YouTube). This way, your video will autoplay as people land on it while scrolling through their feeds, grabbing more attention.

Lots of views can lead to increased reach, engagement, and exposure for your brand.

Be proactive in listening to and responding to your online community.

Did you know that 83% of your Facebook fans, and 71% of your Twitter followers, now expect a response from you on the same day that they pose a question on each respective platform?
In fact, 32% of Twitter users now expect a response within just 30 minutes.
Give your followers a fantastic user experience on social by being exceptionally responsive.

change your Page profile photos and cover photos

Your profile photos and banners are some of your best and most-viewed social profile elements. Use these visual tools to showcase the impact of your work, and the stories of those who benefit from your services.

On Facebook, consider changing up your cover photo at least once per month, and remember to write a great caption.

On Twitter, use your profile picture and banner photo to highlight your great work.

Give people a reason to follow you

Give both prospective and current fans reason to follow you on multiple platforms.
Don't simply “set it and forget it” with generic, automated links blasted across all of your social media channels. Tailor your content for each channel’s users.
For example, you should use Twitter to share the latest news and real-time alerts, while you can use Facebook to tell more compelling, longer stories about the people who benefit from your work.
You should look to strategically use each social media channel based on its strengths and demographics, and give your target audience a good reason to connect with you on that specific network.
What value are you providing?