As an SEO company will tell you, social media should be an intrinsic part of an ad campaign. You need it for your company; you should have accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. You would do well to consider Pinterest, YouTube, and others as well. But how do you go about building your following via social media? Let’s take a moment to examine that question.

Set Your Goals

At the start of any marketing campaign you need to have specific goals in mind. That is the case with social media as well. Your objective could be a certain number of Twitter or Facebook followers. You want your goals to be measurable and attainable. That means they must be realistic, and it also means that you need someone who knows what they’re doing running your social media accounts. Consider hiring a director of marketing or social media, or contracting an SEO company.

Give Yourself An Audit

Look at your strategy. What’s working, and what isn’t? The results are quantifiable through analytics tools that are widely available. You can use them to see how many people are looking at your tweets and posts, and you can see what kind of content is getting you the most attention. Then, you can customize your approach further with these criteria in mind. Create a spreadsheet and document your findings. It will be good to have it for reference.

Do Your Research

You should be looking at every aspect of your social media presence. Look at your competitors, the audience, and your niche, and figure out which social media platforms are most likely to get you noticed. What interests your customers? Where and when are they most likely to be active? Look at your target audience on Facebook, for example. See what dominates their conversation threads, and pay attention to the demographics of those with whom they interact. You can use Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule and sync your posts across multiple platforms.

The final step is to create quality content. Avoid the bland, the impersonal, and the hard sell. Make your brand stand out as an authority in your niche. Never be condescending, and try to make your posts sound as though they’re coming from a person rather than an organization. You’re looking to make a personal connection. That way, you’ll earn the trust of the potential customers with whom you are interacting.