Still haven’t established all your social media profiles, even after the boom of Facebook and many other platforms? Don’t worry, it’s still not too late to connect with an audience through social media, especially now that every site is growing and Facebook has nearly two billion active users. There’s a ton of social media platforms to choose from that will get you directly connected with an audience who can engage with your work. But why should you care about engagement rates of your social media platforms? Here are 3 ways social media can lead to better engagement.

1.  It puts you directly in front of your audience

Whenever you Tweet, create a Facebook post, or pin something on Pinterest, you’re increasing the opportunity for someone to view your content and engage with it. The higher your engagement level, the more opportunity you have to convert someone from a social media follower to an actual business lead. Not everyone that’s connected with you through social media will buy from your business, but staying at the top of your audience’s mind can increase your chances. Use a service like Buffer to stay consistent and guarantee that you always stay in the minds of your social media followers and customers.

2. It gives you a channel to speak with your customers one-on-one

Customer service is usually expensive, but when you answer customer questions and concerns using social media, you’re giving your audience an opportunity to also engage with your content, while also keeping customer service costs low. It’s simple to take a few minutes out of your day to reply to comments and questions from your audience on social media, but if you don’t want to do it yourself, you can always go through a corporate barter service like Sherwood Integrated Solutions. With corporate barter, you essentially trade assets or service hours that your business isn’t using to get services from other business.

3. Your audience spreads your content to their network, gaining more engagement and amplification

Creating content and talking directly with customers isn’t the only reason to use social media. Businesses also use social media marketing strategies to spread their content far through other people’s networks. If you have fans that love your work, the right content can take off with their audience and throughout the web too. Going viral is a big deal and sometimes hard work, but it is possible as long as you’re consistent with publishing great content.

These are three ways social media can lead to better engagement, and ultimately, reasons why your business needs to get on social media asap. To learn how to build a great social media strategy, start by looking at your competitors and seeing how they use social. Write down where they fail and what they do well, and you’ll be able to emulate their successes while building on their weaknesses. With enough effort, you will find the same level of success or greater of your largest direct competitors. What’s your reason for using social media? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.