Inspiring brand loyalty, with both retailers and customers, starts with humanizing your company. If your customers don't align with your brand, or fail to understand your brand message, they are less likely to engage with and support your products. Social media can act as the bridge between your company name and your customers. It allows your business to interact directly with the people who buy your products, an essential activity for small and medium-sized businesses that have not yet achieved mass market penetration. Here are a few tips to help you leverage social media for better engagement.

Pin Early and Often
When customers see your products in use on a social media site, it can be a real boost, and Pinterest can be a great product platform. For example, it provides a way to show customers fun and delicious ways to use food products. Just check out the many pins involving Philadelphia Cream Cheese — the number of images is appearingly endless. If you give people tips on how to use your products, you instantly bolster engagement and help build your brand.

Social Contests Add Fun & Grow Your Email List
Posting simple and consistent surveys and contests on your Facebook account are another way to interact positively with your customers. Ask questions about which products they like best. Offer contest opportunities that glean customer testimonials and experiences to publish across the web. One giveaway may net you thousands of responses and thousands of email addresses you can use to grow your business.

Build Brand Ambassadors
You may already have brand ambassadors and not even know it. Brand ambassadors are your company's biggest fans. They tweet, snap, share, like and sing your product's praises. To make the most of these influencers, reach out and offer them product samples and the opportunity to act as beta testers. They're already committed to your brand, but you can build that relationship further with a little bit of communication.

With almost one-third of the worldwide population regularly using one social media platform or another, you can't afford to ignore this selling avenue. Many retail buyers using Bulu Marketplace cite marketing plans and social media strategies as crucial factors in their purchasing decisions.

Keep an Open Eye for New Trends
Trends are trends because of customers. Listen to what they have to say on social media and look for trends. Social media channels like Instagram and Twitter are excellent sources for gaining insight into what's hot at the moment and capitalizing on it. In fact, check out these 5 Instagram food trends you should know about and look for ways to incorporate them into your own strategy.

You don't need a dedicated team or tremendous advertising budget to leverage social media. All you need is a small but consistent time commitment. If you regularly pin new products, interact with your Facebook fans, and reach out to create brand ambassadors, you can steadily gain social ground.