Social media marketing is an obvious marketing tool to most. Nearly every business knows of its importance, and yet not how gain a social media following or even how to turn that following into increased business can seem inherently difficult at times. Knowing how to use social media properly and how to provide more value to users is key to growing a community of fans that can then become repeat business. You want to use social media as your business’s face, and you want to make friends with those you meet online.

Follow these tips, and you can achieve this:

Have an Aesthetic

Regardless of which platform you use, there are certain photography choices, formatting, and content options you will need to make. By making what you post uniform in terms of aesthetic or theme, you can draw users in. That is because people rarely will follow an account for the brand itself, they follow these accounts for what they post. Having a beautiful Instagram feed can help you gain more followers than posting mere product photography. Have a strong, unique aesthetic, and you’ll be able to turn your social media account into a commodity onto itself. That is the first step to growing your following.

Captions and Call to Actions

If you think that the caption doesn’t matter, think again. The first step to make users pause as they are scrolling to look at your photo, the second is to get them to engage with you based on your caption. Asking questions, telling funny stories about the behind-the-scenes information, or otherwise offering value and call-to-action statements can go a long way. Comments are huge, because not only are they the first point of contact for you to meet users, they are also highly ranked by newsfeed algorithms. This means that if more people comment early on, more people will see your post without you needing to pay for it.

Use The Story Function

While your feed should remain professional, stories offer the chance to add more value through storytelling into the mix. You are no longer limited by Snapchat, either, and can engage with users on all platforms. Show off your team building exercise at Syracuse Escape Room, or let your followers get to know the team behind your work while they create within the office. The more you show the behind the scenes, real stories of what goes on, the more human your business will seem. This is particularly important for small businesses just starting out. It is a lot of effort for a user to see your story, and then go to your profile and click on the link in your bio. You need to endear them with your story and convince them to go the extra effort.

Social media rules change all the time. The only aspect that remains the same is the human element behind each account. Engage with followers, ask questions, comment on their photos, and make friends. It is a lot of effort, but one repeat customer who then recommends your business to their friends is worth a lot more than an extra few clicks that can be achieved through advertising.