Once you’ve made the leap to “go social” on behalf of your business, one of the next few questions that’s likely to pop into your mind is: How do I let our customers know they can find us on social media?

As contradictory as it sounds, many of the ways to let customers know that you can be found online are through offline methods. Here’s a quick rundown of 10 ways you can employ.

10 Ways to Get Customers to Follow your Business on Social Media

1. Proactively reach out to your customers on social media Every major social media platform allows – and, in fact, encourages – you to invite email contacts or contacts from other social media networks to become a new friend or follower.
2. Post signs in your brick & mortar store Store windows, counter cards, and menus are three popular choices spots to include your website address and social media usernames.
3. Add your social media handles to marketing materials Add them to brochures, catalogs, business cards, postcards, etc.
4. Add your social media handles to your email signature You can “set it and forget it” using the default signature tool within your existing email provider, or through a tool like WiseStamp.
5. Add your social media handles to your paper receipts Enough said.
6. Add linked social media icons to your website One of our most popular blog posts shows you exactly how to add linked social media icons to your site.
7. Include live links to your social media accounts in your newsletters We’re talking about email newsletters here, such as MailChimp and Constant Contact.
8. Link up other social media accounts within your social media account Meaning, many social media platforms offer additional space or fields to include at least 1 other social media profile link. So if a customer finds you on Facebook, for example, they can locate your Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ profile links from reading the About section on your Fan Page.
9. Use retargeting Setting up your Facebook retargeting pixel or Twitter retargeting pixel, and then paying to promote your account to those who have already visited your website, is a great way to get your customers and potential customers connected to your social media accounts.
10. Hold a social media contest You would need to employ at least a couple of the ideas above in order to run a social media contest, but doing so is a great way to get a bunch of new Likes and Followers in a very short amount of time.

What technique has worked best for you?