Social media has been one of the key ways I built my brand and business over the years. Building my brand didn’t happen overnight; it took time and dedication. But once I figured out how to do it, it wasn’t hard.

A major factor in my social media success was in building and nurturing my audience’s trust through sustaining an authentic brand persona in my social media marketing strategy. I did this by sticking to my content pillars – the areas of expertise for which I wanted to be known that were in my wheelhouse.

One of the key lessons I learned was that I didn’t need to be on every social media channel. It’s better to choose one or two and do it right. For me, LinkedIn is the primary channel where I focus my efforts.

What you don’t want to do is spread yourself too thin or be on the wrong social media channels – meaning those where your clients aren’t.

However, your brand should be unified and in line with your brand identity across all social media channels. Be consistent with graphics, color, style and language and even post frequency if you’re using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.

You also don’t want to post the same content on every social media platform. It’s simply just not one size fits all. Not to mention the dimensions of the images need to be adjusted and the way in which you use hashtags are different on each platform.

It’s also so important to post frequently. If you’re not posting with a regular cadence, you’re not visible, and if you’re not visible, you’re forgettable, so focus on the frequency of your posts while also focusing on their quality. Quality is just as important as the quantity of your posts.

Here are 10 quick ways anyone can use social media to build their business and brand.

1. Share content that is helpful and useful for your target audience and written in their language (that means no legalese!)

2. Offer solutions and insights to your clients’ pain points in every post – keep the self-congratulatory posts to a minimum – everything needs to be focused on your clients

3. Don’t wait to post — your good is often good enough – don’t miss your opportunity

4. Use visuals and the right hashtags to help people discover your posts and so they “stop the scroll”

5. Experiment with new media such as videos and podcasts to engage with your connections in a medium that has high engagement

6. Generate leads with a clear call to action on your posts

7. Encourage employees to share company content to their social networks – tapping into their social networks is key for your social media success in order to amplify your posts

8. Interact with your connections on LinkedIn daily by liking, commenting and sharing their content as well as yours

9. Use news sources to inspire content ideas and to give you additional posts – just add your unique commentary and why your audience should care about the post

10. Actively build your network — don’t just accept connections — initiate them. That’s how you’ll increase your network and visibility.

I hope these tips have given you some ideas for how you can raise your social media presence without putting a ton of time or effort into it. Anyone can do any of these tips at any point of their careers.

Try them out and let me know how your brand and business grows as a result!