Social media is a new frontier for businesses. Many of the traditional marketing practices that we’ve known and used successfully for years don’t work so well on this ever-developing platform. So how can your company make good use of social media? Here are 19 of my top tips:

#1. Post a variety of content. Post pictures and videos. Ask and answer questions. Share links. Balance a good mix of it all and figure out what works for your fans.

#2. Give the people what they want. Your fans are unique. Check insights and see what they interact with the most. If they don’t respond to questions, figure out what works and stick to that.

#3. Dress up your links. Never, NEVER post a link and move on. Always make sure your link preview has a photo, engaging headline and a short description to pull the reader in. You could also pull out a snippet of your content to put in the text of your post to draw readers in.

#4. Back your posts up with good content. You can have the best post in the whole Internet, but if you aren’t linking to quality content, it doesn’t matter. Keep your readers wanting to come back for more.

#5. Use Facebook Page Manager to stay connected. Whether it’s a good thing or not, social media is always open for business. Staying on top of new comments, messages and reviews is important in such a fast-paced, always-connected world.

#6. Test different types of pictures. We’ve seen research on whether or not having people in your photos resonates with your fans more. For clothing, your fans may have a harder time picturing themselves in the outfit if they see someone else modeling it. Test it out, and see what works best for your brand.

#7. Post when your fans are there. Check Insights and see when your fans are online. Make sure you’re posting during those times!

#8. Keep up with the latest trends. Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? That’s a great way to hop into the conversation and get your page noticed. Follow what’s hot and see how you can make it work for your business.

#9. But don’t get crazy. Remember, keep it professional. It’s okay to have fun but remember, you are a business. Watching you Whip and Nae Nae may not resonate well with your fans.

#10. Follow similar brands. See what they’re doing. Watch their results and see what works and doesn’t work. You don’t want to simply copy them but look to others for an example. Then beat them at their own game.

#11. Upload video directly to Facebook. We know you want to drive traffic to your YouTube page, but your post will get exponentially more reach if your video is posted directly to Facebook. And with more analytics tools now, you can track your video’s view count and stats directly in Insights.

#12. Like and reply to every comment. They took the first step to engage with your business. Take the opportunity and engage back. Every like, comment and share is an opportunity to earn a new customer.

#13. Set up action buttons. When you upload a video or ad, take advantage of the call-to-action buttons. Whether it’s Shop Now, Learn More, Read More or one of the other options, don’t leave a potential new customer hanging.

#14. Be consistent. Post once or twice a day. Don’t blow up your fans’ feeds, but consistency is key with the amount of content on Facebook.

#15. Ask questions. This is a great way to get tons of interaction with your updates. But don’t forget to keep the conversation going by replying to fans’ comments.

#16. Give something away. Everybody loves free stuff. We’ve seen our best engagement on contests where fans have to like the page, comment, and tag a friend on the post and share the post. Just make sure it’s worthwhile.

#17. Be local. People go to social media to connect with their friends and what’s around them. Be a relevant source of local information.

#18. Don’t go overboard. Keep your content related to your area of expertise. If you’re a car dealer, stick to local content and posts related to car buying and ownership.

#19. Go for more than just a like. Don’t get us wrong; likes are good. But comments and shares are much more engaging, and present a better opportunity to keep the conversation going.