Social media accounts are must haves for companies new and old. They serve to update customers on news, events and promotions – basically everything readers need to know about a business. But without a faithful following, you can’t spread or share this information very far.

Here are 5 social media tips to help increase your following and expand your business:

1. Optimize

Most importantly, make sure your social media profiles are optimized. If they aren’t, all of your efforts may go to waste. To optimize, make sure your bios and descriptions contain clear and concise information, as well as your logo and website URL. Use appropriate keywords in your posts to allow your content to be found in search engines, as social media updates are now included in search results.

2. Reach out

A great way to gain followers is to be a follower. You can follow potential partners, resellers or distributors they wish to work with or potential customers who might like your product. If you’re having a hard time finding people to follow, look at the profiles of professionals in your industry. Who are they following? Who is following them? The people you follow could follow you back, and better yet, tell others about you.

If you’re a one-person operation and don’t feel comfortable connecting with people you don’t know on a personal level, you could reach out to people of interest in Facebook or LinkedIn groups first.

Above all, engage with your followers. Share and like posts, participate in discussions, join groups, start trending topics, participate in chats or hashtag conversations, etc. Doing so will expose your business to a network of users who weren’t already following you.

3. Share, share and share some more

First and foremost, include share, like, +1 and follow options under your website content so that your site visitors can find you on social media. Many social media also have specific follow buttons that you can use on your website, so that users can follow you right from the page they are on instead of being redirected to your profile first. Either way, you can create your own buttons. Syndicate your posts in as many places as possible. You can also use a ping tool to tell search engines that you have new content to be indexed.

Another great way to gain a following is to share useful content from other businesses in your industry on your social media profiles. Doing so puts you on other businesses’ radars, as well as shows your followers that you care about their needs.

4. Tell stories

What is the story behind your business? Who or what are your greatest success stories? Do you have any interesting employees? Who are your best clients? Share these stories with your followers. People like to read posts on social media that are real and relatable. Through these stories, you can demonstrate your values, beliefs, mission, purpose, personality, etc. The more interesting your stories, the more social media shares they may get. And if they are especially influential, they even have the potential to go viral.

In general, your content should be useful and engaging. Remember, people don’t want to hear about your products day in and day out. HubSpot recommends that you avoid product-centric content and focus more on educating and attracting followers.

5. Offer incentives

According to HubSpot, research shows that 58 percent of Facebook users expect exclusive offers from business pages. Exclusive promotions, resources, coupons or discounts will make following worthwhile. You can create contests that require users to follow, add or like your page in order to participate; or have Twitter users tweet at you for a chance to win a prize. You can also offer coupons to users who recommend your business to their friends. And either way, followers who obtained a desirable offer from your page are likely to encourage their friends to do the same. With offer incentives, everyone is happy – you get followers, and they get offers.

Slowly but surely, following these social media tips closely will ensure an increase in your social media following.