Is your business active on Facebook? Do you have a Twitter account with plenty of interesting content? Social media can be a great marketing channel for businesses, but without an audience it’s unlikely that anyone will engage with your message.

From local businesses to large companies, a wide range of businesses can benefit from the exposure that social media offers. Over time, your business can build its brand and strengthen its connection with its target audience.

That is, as long as there are people to engage with your content. While the majority of businesses grow their social media presence online, it’s also possible to make use of offline marketing methods to develop your social media presence.

From direct mail to print advertising, a wide variety of channels can be used to grow your social media audience and build a loyal following of people that are interested in your business.

Would you like to grow your brand’s social media page? Read on to learn how you can use in-store posters to grow your social media audience and give your business an additional marketing channel.

List your URL in your in-store posters

Do you use posters to promote sales and specific items in your retail store? If you use retail posters to promote items and events, you can also use them to promote your business’s social media page.

The easiest way to promote your social media page using posters is to include your URL – for example,Facebook.com/YourBrandName – in your posters. You can also add a call to action to encourage prospective followers to take action.

This method is simple and low-cost, but it’s also very effective. People that have had positive interactions with your business offline will often want to follow you online, giving you a loyal audience with no significant costs.

Offer a benefit for people that follow you

Would you like to grow your social media audience much faster? While listing your social media URLs or usernames is a great way to attract a small number of highly loyal followers, it’s not always the best way to build a large audience quickly.

If you’d like to grow your social media following quickly, try giving something away in exchange for people following you. This creates an incentive for people to follow your business on Twitter, Facebook or other social media platforms.

The best giveaways are typically of products or services related to your business. A closely related item – preferably one of your own products – is more likely to attract real followers than something chosen purely for its mass appeal.

Use QR codes to make adding you easy

Does your business cater to a tech-friendly audience? If your customers are highly tech-savvy and love all things digital, you can market your social media profiles by using QR codes.

QR codes are scannable two-dimensional barcodes that redirect users to a specific URL. Once a user scans a QR code with their smartphone, they’re automatically sent to your social media profile – or any other target URL.

The biggest benefit of using QR codes is the convenience. Since QR codes only take a second or two to scan, they’re far more convenient than entering a URL manually on a smartphone, giving them a higher than average response rate.

Deliver exclusive online content

Does your business specialize in creating content for its customers? From guides to technical videos, content – whether it’s written, recorded or purely digital – can be an extremely powerful marketing tool for a variety of businesses.

If your business produces content to market to its customers, one of the best ways to promote this content is through your social media channels as an exclusive offer for followers and fans.

Instead of offering the chance to win a free product or offer for following your brand on social media, try promoting your online content as a type of value for people that follow your business online to increase the size of your social media audience.

Is your business active on social media?

From helping you retain customers to expanding your business’s reach online, social media has a wide range of marketing benefits for businesses. Is your business active on social media? If so, how can you use posters to promote your social media pages?