An authentic brand is personable – it’s human!  People want to interact with other people, not automated posting bots or white-washed PR firms. Follow these five tips for building a more authentic brand on your social networks.

1.  Be Yourself!  Be professional and appropriate, but be yourself. Actor Stephen Amell, who eschewed public relations assistance with his Facebook page, scored over three million followers in about two years by interacting on a personal level with his fans. He posts updates about his show, involves his followers in contests and meme creation, and posts the occasional picture of his toddler daughter.

2.  Vary Post Type.   Repeated statistics and polls have shown that images are more likely to spawn feedback and response on social media, but don’t clutter your feed with photographs or hard-to-load videos. Cater to a variety of followers by varying post types – include links, videos, photos, and plain text.

3.  Respond to Others.   You aren’t shouting into a vacuum. Build you brand through communication – when people comment or ask questions, take some time to respond. You don’t have to answer every comment, but join the conversation as a person from time to time.

4.  Join the Community!   Join the overall community on whatever platform you choose. On Twitter, that means following others and retweeting from time to time. On Facebook, that means supporting other business pages, and on LinkedIn, you might join and participate in groups that are related to your industry.

5.  Don’t Disappear!  Social media presence takes time, and it’s common—especially for small businesses—to launch a strong page and forget about it after a few weeks. Don’t leave your social media profiles to virtual crickets and weeds – take at least a few minutes every day to update statuses and respond to followers.