Social media can warrant all sorts of well-deserved reactions, and personal perceptions. Social media seemed to show up overnight and before anyone realized, it was ruling the world. Only recently have colleges and universities begin to offer Social Media majors, as well as those in Entrepreneurship. As the years have passed, it’s amazing how these two studies have developed.

Fortunately, it’s not too late to learn how to use social media to the benefit of your company. Here are four ways every entrepreneur should be using social media:

1. Post regularly

Creating a page doesn’t mean anything if you leave it sitting to collect cyber cobwebs. You should be posting content as often as possible, preferably daily. Be sure to check the social media algorithms to see which types of posts show up first in newsfeeds so you can use it to your advantage.

2. Respond to comments

When your followers send messages, post on your business’ wall or comment on your posts, respond to them! Let them know there’s a real person there who genuinely cares about their customers’ feedback.

(When I worked at my university’s newspaper, I noticed a huge decline in our social media numbers when my social media manager wasn’t responding to anyone’s comments or questions. We revamped that and our numbers grew immediately!)

3. Use hashtags

OK, as someone working on her own social media marketing, I know how much a pain using hashtags can be. (Not to mention it makes me feel like a teenager.) But they are so useful! Say you’re in the market selling novelty t-shirts. There are plenty of people who follow the hashtag #noveltytshirts on Facebook, and one day they see your post pop up. The next day, they see another post of yours. And so on, and so forth.

If one post of yours didn’t spark enough curiosity, seeing you show up regularly in their feed will. They’re going to click on your page and see what you’ve got. Hashtags are your way of ensuring that people who fall under your target audience actually see you. Plus, it’s practically advertisement you get for free. How much better does it get than that?

4. Facebook Insights

Did you know that Facebook has its own analytics program? It’s basically a simplified version of Google Analytics, so you can see what kind of audience you’re attracting, who stays for how long, who clicks on your links, etc. This is fantastic information for anyone in the entrepreneur business – no matter how long you’ve been around. With Insights, you can create strategies to improve your social media marketing and get more precise with your results and goals.

Whatever it is you’re selling, I can guarantee you there’s a market for it on at least one of the many popular social media platforms. Don’t be afraid to experiment around to find which platform(s) work best and give you the most success for your business!