Social media marketing has become one of the most effective ways to promote your business online and connect with your customers on a personal level. But as most people know, social media also comes with its own unique set of challenges, many of which are nearly impossible to overcome without the right training and resources. Fortunately, with the right tricks and strategies, you can learn social media marketing from home with little or no outside help or instruction. Here are five tricks that will help you get started.

How to get started even if you don’t have a business

Social media marketing can seem like a tough business, but it’s not as hard as you think. The best place to start is with social media in general. Start following your favorite pages and influencers on Facebook and Twitter for great daily content. Next, go through the latest blog posts from your favorite blogs and take notes on anything interesting you find on there. And finally, start responding to people that post in your feed.

Design great graphics without needing Adobe Suite

There are many programs you can use to design graphics and not all of them require a pricey Adobe Suite! Check out sites like Canva, Visual.ly, and PicMonkey to create awesome graphics on the cheap. If you don't have the budget for Photoshop, there's always free options such as GIMP or Pixlr Editor. Create good content: As much as it may seem tempting to start spamming your social media channels with ads, this will only do more harm than good. Instead focus on creating great content that people want to share with their friends and followers. That way when they see your brand again in their feed it will be in an organic setting and won't come off as spammy!

Engage and build up your following with Instagram

Learning how to post the right pictures on Instagram and other social media sites can feel daunting, especially if you don't have any experience. Here are a few tips that will help get you started:

1) Make sure your account is public before posting anything- The last thing you want is to be spamming people with empty posts.

2) Create an awesome profile pic- Some people get really specific with their hashtags while others just make sure their photo is colorful and interesting.

3) Don't over post- You don't need to create new content every hour; take some time off from posting every now and then.

4) Upload multiple photos in one session- It's best not to upload them one by one or all of them might be deleted due to technical issues.

Get followers from Reddit

An easy way to start building your audience is by joining subreddits and actively participating in them. People on Reddit are much more receptive to marketing messages than people on other social networks. If you're not ready for that yet, subscribe first! That's what I did, and I built my following up enough that I felt confident making posts. After you have some confidence, go ahead and post marketing messages about your blog posts.

Choose between Snapchat and Instagram Stories

Snapchat is one of the most popular social media apps with hundreds of millions of daily active users. People use Snapchat mainly to send personal, private messages and images with a handful of recipients. On the other hand, Instagram Stories allows individuals to post their life moments through photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. It's up to you what would work best for your business or brand - it may depend on who your target audience is as well as where they spend time online.