Toward the end of her “Social Media Bootcamp” education session at ASI Chicago on Tuesday, instructor Emmie Brown proved the power of online business networks with a simple but effective demo: A crowd selfie.

“See?” she said as the 65 small business owners and distributor sales reps leapt to their feet, waved their arms and smiled for her camera. “You’re up and you’re engaged!”

Social media sites and apps like Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram are very tangible tools that can help anyone in business humanize their brand and generate more leads, said Brown, of Nashville’s Southwestern Consulting. “I’ll teach you how to use social media to put money in your pocket.”

Using free online marketing tools can generate leads and important third party testimonials while allowing for easy follow up with potential new clients, said Brown.

“It keeps people engaged and buying from us again and again and again,” she said.

LinkedIn is the most powerful tool businesses can employ, attracting 106 million unique users per month, with 45% boasting an annual income of at least $75,000. “These are people we want to connect with because they’ll buy from us,” she said.

Using LinkedIn’s search bar, insert the title, zip code and industry you’re interested in targeting, while using filters to uncover other LinkedIn users who are connected to you. The results will yield a prospect list anyone can tap into and widen their business circle.

Need must-have referrals? Just ask.

“There are three reasons why people don’t get referrals,” said Brown. “They didn’t ask, they’re too passive or they didn’t make it easy for them to refer someone to you.”

Throughout her 90-minute session Brown offered up simple, 5-minute “game plans” for using Facebook (with 1.9 billion unique monthly users), LinkedIn and Instagram (with 90% of its users under age 35 – a prime business demographic).

For Facebook, determine a posting plan for fresh, fun, informative content and a call to action, like visiting your website.

“Don’t data dump,” Brown said. “With a blog, don’t just give advice – provide a solution to a problem.”

Instagram, she said, is a great platform to promote your brand, stay in touch and prove you’re relatable. “We want to do business with people,” she said. “We want to see the human side of your business, too.”