Okotoks businesses have plenty of fresh ideas for social media posts and interactions after the Okotoks Business Association Meeting this morning.

The meetings, which are held monthly for local businesses to talk with others, and learn tips tools on sales, social media, branding, customer service, and much more.

Julie Boake presenter for the business association says social media presence is essential to a successful business.

"To give you an idea there's over 2.8 million on social media platforms right now, so it's about being accessible to your public, it's a branding tool, it's an awareness tool. So whether you're trying to grow sales or not, it's a tool to get your business recognized in your local community."

Boake shares the biggest mistake a business can make on social media is to post too many advertisements, which can overwhelm customers.

"The most important thing I tried to get people to understand is that social media is about being social, so essentially just posting about sales is going irritate people, just getting pitched to all the time. So you have to go out and be social and engage in the community. The other thing is being your brand and honouring your brand, you have to reflect those on social media."

As for the most popular platforms, Boauke explains Facebook still remains king in the social media world, however Instagram is the fastest growing platform right now, Twitter on the other hand has seen little to no growth.

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