It can be difficult to stand out from the crowd when you consider the many millions of accounts that appear on social platforms daily. With over a billion Facebook users, almost 650 million Twitter accounts and then all of the social media in between.

The most vital part of starting a new platform (or advancing your current one), is how you use all of the available information in order to achieve success.

People are on the internet to consume, so don’t be shy about sharing. Start with creating a strategy, because there are millions of potential consumers just waiting to hear what you have to say.

That being said, here are the 5 tips we’re imparting to you to build your brand.

Create a Marketing Strategy

Before you do anything, sit down and make a plan of what it is you want to accomplish. Consider how you can use social media to create traffic to your website, blog, and company. Who is your target audience and what platforms do they use with the most frequency? What are your brand’s most popular concepts and how can you use that in order to engage followers? What is your brand identity?

Listen & Talk Equally

Social media moves fast, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by that and start bombarding the platform with messages and images. Don’t fall in to that trap, because people like to feel valued, and they enjoy personal relationships. Take time to engage in two-way conversations, find out what people are looking at, and engage as frequently as possible. If you can answer questions- even better.

Quality beats Quantity 

It’s easy to get drawn into how many followers you have, but just because they’re following or subscribing doesn’t mean they’re keeping up. So make sure you’re offering something that will engage your audience and keep their interest.

Consistency is Key

There are plenty of content creators out there and people have a short attention span. So unless you provide consistent content that engages your audience they will simply replace you. Update your profiles and blogs regularly to ensure that your audience has something interesting to engage with.

Be Creative

People are more likely to buy into your brand is you are offering things for their enjoyment, versus someone just selling something. Be yourself, and offer unique information- breweries and wineries have a lot more behind the scenes information to share than plumbers and electricians. So think about what parts of your business you can use to catch consumer attention. Have fun with it.

Social media and blogging are two of the most popular ways to exercise content marketing, but understanding who your audience is and where they congregate is the key to success. You can find a breakdown here of the users for each social media platform. Remember to link all of your social media sites to your website and blog and vice versa.