1. If you’ve got a Facebook page, stop firing out boring company updates and make it fun. If you try the hard sell on your ‘friends’, people will just switch off. Instead, fill your page with videos and articles that they’ll appreciate, maybe even with some offers if you’re in the business of retail.

Targeted selling will have you un-friended very quickly and the companies that do well on Facebook use a fun approach.

2) Try updating customers (both real and potential) with an email newsletter – you can ask an IT type to put a ‘subscribe’ button on your site.

Say you run a small business concerned with technology - send your customers a mailout with interesting tech links in it, perhaps making one of the links go to something you’ve put on your site/Facebook page.

You can use services such as Mail Chimp for this.

3) Have a conversation with your customers, rather than talking at them. By telling them about interesting things that are going on in your chosen field and prompting discussions, you become someone they’re happy to interact with.

Write a blog on your company website and, like the Facebook page, update it regularly with interesting and engaging stuff. Once they’re on your site, people are more likely to use your paid-for services.

4) One of the best uses for Twitter is as a filter to the net. ‘Follow’ and ‘re-tweet’ journalists and experts in your field, because they’ll point you to articles and trends that you may not have heard about. You in turn can use those ideas yourself or link them back to your Facebook or website. There’s a whole world out there – be inspired by it.

5) Don’t get lazy. Facebook, Twitter and blogs rely on people updating their profiles and if you don’t supply good content your profile won’t get off the ground.

Like it or not, the state of your social media says a lot about your company’s attitude. If you haven’t added anything to your blog in three months, it’ll look like you’re closed for business and people will go elsewhere.

Try implementing these five suggestions into your social media use and you should see stats and engagement start to improve. Let us know your practical suggestions too.