Many of us use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as a fun part of our personal lives. But many small business owners are unaware of how social media can benefit their business, or are unsure of how to go about using social media for business purposes.

Small businesses with an active Google+, Facebook and Twitter presence can significantly build up their customer base and use these social networks as free promotional tools to complement their websites.

It only takes a few minutes to set up a profile on each social network, and you can get started straight away.

Here are five things you can do today to build your company’s social media presence:

1. Build your profiles and ensure your branding is consistent throughout. Always use the same name, profile picture and tone of voice throughout all of your online communications.

2. Search for existing and potential customers and use your social networks to answer their questions in real time.

3. Create content (news/blogs/articles) for your website and share the links on your new social media profiles.  This helps you maximise the number of people viewing your article.

4. Run a competition or giveaway. This can help increase your number of followers and get your company name seen by more people. Just be careful to abide by the social network’s terms of service!

5. Promote your latest offers with a strong call-to-action. You could even run a special offer exclusively for your Facebook fans or Twitter followers.

By creating and maintaining a social media presence, you can build your brand with minimum effort. When potential customers search for your business online they will find these along with your website, making your business stand out as a professional brand.

Social media profiles are the perfect complement to your small business website. We can easily link your bOnline site with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram. Don’t be scared of social media - take just a few minutes to get started and you’ll start to see positive results straight away.