The top social media platforms have experienced explosive growth over the past decade, and most show no signs of slowing down. According to projections by Statista, there will be nearly 2.8 billion social media users by 2019 — representing a 211 percent jump from 2010.

But as social platforms grow in popularity and sophistication, so does the challenge for marketers. Not only do you now have to keep up with ever-changing trends and features, you're expected to build a social media marketing strategy that performs successfully across a wide range of channels and consistently engages users — all while retaining your brand's originality and authenticity.

This herculean task often seems impossible, but here's the good news: brands of all sizes are enjoying wild success with a multi-platform social media marketing strategy. Here are three ways you can do the same:

Contracting can be a very hard business to market. For roofing specialists, it can be especially difficult to reach out to customers throughout the year, as roofing isn't something many people have on their minds on a regular basis.

However, with some tried and true techniques, it is possible to see real results from marketing on social media. A simple strategy can help build your business no matter the season! Here are three tips to follow.

1. Post Quality & Valuable Content

Content is key to any online marketing plan, but it's particularly important for those in specialty niches — you need to market yourself in a way that appeals to people who haven't even thought about the need for roof maintenance, repair or replacement. The best way to do this is by creating highly shareable articles, videos and even infographics that can inform customers about different aspects of roofing.

As you may have heard, Facebook made a big splash in the news last week with Mark Zuckerberg’s announced changes (post, newsroom) to how their algorithm surfaces posts from businesses, brands, and media in their news feed.  

If the news didn’t make it to the top of your feed, Facebook has decided that it will prioritize posts in the News Feed that spark conversations and inspire meaningful interactions between people. These interactions can be any form of engagement, but interactions between people like comments, shares, and messages in addition to posts from friends will be weighted most heavily.

So as you develop your 2018 social strategies here are 3 tips to ensure success for your business on social media.

It's been less than 15 years since Facebook and Twitter were founded, but 69% of the public uses some type of social media according to the Pew Research Center.

Despite its growth in popularity, many brands are struggling to connect with audiences and drive lasting engagement via social media. If you're not seeing the sort of results you'd like from social channels, you're not alone. Fortunately, a few simple tweaks to your current strategy could lead to an uptick in online interactions.

Here are six common social media marketing mistakes that could be hurting your engagement.

Customers want custom experiences, but personalization can quickly turn creepy if it crosses a line of comfort with its audience. There's just one problem: Where exactly is that line?

No brand knows for sure, and different customers will have different thresholds of tolerance for these experiences. The best way for an organization to avoid any blowback for these efforts is to establish a strategy for developing, testing and tweaking the methods it uses to offer custom content for individual users.

Here are some tips that companies can use to stay smart and safe while driving innovation.

Facebook advertising is a large and growing business. Businesses spent more than $9 billion on Facebook ads in the second quarter of 2017 alone, according to Facebook's Q2 earnings report. That's an increase of 47 percent from 2016!

But for small and medium businesses that are just getting started, Facebook advertising can be very confusing. So, before jumping in, you should understand the two major types of advertising on Facebook — news feed ads and boosted posts — to help you determine which is best for meeting your business goals.

Facebook video is big. According to Facebook's 2016 Q4 earnings call, people are watching 100 million hours of video per day on the platform, a number expected to rise even further in the future. Video marketing is also growing as well, as eMarketer reported that 63% of marketers plan to increase their social video spending in the next 12 months, with much of that going to the social media giant. However, if you're just getting started with Facebook video advertising and wonder how you can boost your viewership, here are three tips and tricks you can use to get ahead of the game.

Video has become increasingly important to the social networks. According to a recent study by SocialFlow, over the last year their platform has seen a 164% increase in the number of video posts on Facebook and Twitter. And even though video only made up 2.3% of the posts in 2016 it represented 20% of the engagements on those platforms. While you might be tempted to think that social video ads are only for big companies, this format may actually be one of the most cost-effective tools you can invest in if you're a local business. Here's what you need to know to get started:

Many business owners already understand social media's impact on content marketing. Sharing links on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram is essential to exposing your content to the widest audience possible. However, even though marketers may spend hours researching and writing content, the same amount of time should be used to craft and hone a specific social media strategy.

According to a report from Simply Measured, 63 percent of marketing organizations now have social media teams, which was a jump from 49 percent in 2015. It's the job of these professionals to create a strategy that'll bring your content marketing to the next level.

While popular culture would have you believe that a social media consultant is a made-up job title, in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. These professionals serve an essential function in today's world, working with business owners to help target potential customers with ads, boost loyalty among established markets and manage various social media profiles. And while a small or midsize business may recognize the need to hire such an expert, what separates an average social media consultant from a real expert? Here are three things to look for: