With the prevalence of the Internet in everyday life, it’s impossible to ignore the growing social media landscape when it comes to marketing your business, service, or product. Social media sites have been on the rise ever since the Myspace days, and while they come and go over the years, the social media culture shows no sign of slowing down as app developers continually adapt to new technology and trends. For instance, when Instagram updated the app to include video for their popular photo-sharing platform, nearly five million videos were uploaded in just 24 hours of launch. The value of social media is such that Facebook was willing to pay $1 billion to acquire Instagram and its value has risen even higher as more users sign up.

You can take advantage of cutting-edge social media like Instagram to grow your brand by creating content that appeals to possible customers. Here are some tips for maximizing the effectiveness of your posts on social media sites.

1. Remember your audience! It’s important to create pointed content that appeals to your target audience. If you’re selling dog food and your content features cars, obviously it won’t work! Your video a picture messages have to be equal parts entertaining and informative to increase the chances that individual users share with new users and expand your reach.
2. Be specific! Remember to create content that is specific to your product or service and is targeted toward the geographic region where you operate. Now a days, keeping up with your social media presence can be a full-time job and it is very important use your resources wisely and not overreach.
3. Stay relevant! Don’t produce something that’s too abstract to understand. Many ads make you wonder what they’re selling. Tie in current events or sports to capture your audience’s attention. Even if your question has nothing to do with what you’re selling. Tying anything to your message to start the engagement process is crucial for success.
4. Keep it fresh! Search engines like Google index sites based on the frequency and relevance of posts, so it’s important to keep your social media presence truckin’. However, frequent, repetitive posts have the chance to bog people down and cause them to ‘un-follow’ your business. A good imagination comes in handy to keep your posts fresh and entertaining.
5. Don’t break the bank! Not everybody can send people to space for their marketing campaigns like Redbull (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I). There are many solutions for businesses on a budget that can still get your point across effectively and if you can’t think of anything, well, we’re here to help!