Social media is a valuable tool for small businesses. It can be used to build your brand’s reputation, create loyal customers, and even increase sales. From self-promotion on their owned channels to working with influencers who will tout the benefits of each specific company, social media builds buzz and awareness around a specific brand, product, or service and establishes an identity in the digital world.

Check out these five tips for making the most of your social media presence and using it to drive sales.

1. Know your audience and potential customers.

The first step to creating successful social media campaigns is understanding your target audience and meeting them where they live.

Social media starts with knowing your audience and which platforms they are using to reach them with your brand message on the platforms that they are already on.

2. Use paid ads.

It’s no longer enough just to post regularly to social media and reply to comments. The best way to use your social media accounts is through paid ads. To increase eyes on your content, and ultimately sales, you’ll likely need to pay to get in front of them. While all social media platforms have advertising capabilities, Facebook has extensive targeting tools that make it easy to create successful campaigns.

3. Learn from past campaigns.

Like almost everything in business, it’s important to take inventory of past mistakes and make small changes to make your campaigns more successful. Look at social media analytics and insights to determine what’s working and what isn’t. Past social media campaigns can offer insights as to which platform, audiences, messaging, and ad units are the most cost-effective at bringing in sales.

4. Use social influencers.

It’s important to build your social media following and accounts, but businesses can also use social media influencers to increase sales. Social media influencers are people with a large and engaging following. Since over 70 per cent of consumers trust social influencers, brands must use these platforms and the talent that creates content in order to increase visibility, which, in turn, drives sales.

5. Don’t focus on making sales.

It may seem counterproductive to focus on anything besides sales, but that’s not the point of social media. People are using social media to be social and connect with friends, family and their favourite brands. Even your most loyal customers aren’t going to want to follow your business if you’re only selling on social media.