As small business owners, we can all agree one of the most common challenges we face is effectively promoting our products and services. We’re eager to shout from the rooftops, but the problem is, which rooftop should we shout from?
Social media often feels like the right path for your small business digital marketing, and I agree! While many claim social media marketing is ‘free’ (monetarily, technically yes; time and effort-wise, not so much—but that’s a topic for another post!). There's no denying how essential an online presence is in today’s digital world. When done correctly, it can greatly benefit your small business.
However, the question still stands. Which rooftop (now social media platform) do we shout from?
Simple: the one where your customers are.
And I’m going to help you find it!
Quick Guide:
All Social Media Channels (+ a free week of content ideas for all channels!)
Where are you now?
Perhaps you’re just starting your social media journey for your small business, or you’ve already been ticking along but finding you’re not really getting much traction or engagement.
No matter where you stand, it’s essential to assess your current situation to understand how to best move forward. Ask yourself:
How did you/will you choose which social media platform to use?
It’s my favourite platform! I use it daily, so I just created a business page and started posting,
I Googled which social media platform is best for small businesses, and went with that,
I signed up to them all… now I have a million channels to run!
I took a wild guess and picked the channels I thought would work best.
Now, none of this is to take away from the fact that you’re posting! Sometimes, the hardest part is simply getting started.
However, there’s little strategy behind any of these choices.
It may seem like a simple and insignificant action, but this decision actually lays the foundations for all your future social media efforts, and here’s why:
Why does it even matter?
You may or may not be aware that each social media platform serves different demographics. For example, the largest proportion of Facebook users globally are aged 25-34 years old (30.8%), compared to the largest proportion of Tik Tok users who are aged 18-24 years old (34.8%).
This is where knowing and understanding your audience really pays off! For example, if your target demographic is aged between 25-30 years old, it’s clear your time and effort is best focused on Facebook, as this is where your audience is most likely to be.
That said, this doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t engage on other social media platforms, or that your audience isn’t present elsewhere. For example, on Facebook, 22% of users are aged 18-24 meaning there are still users of that age group there.
This information helps to guide you into choosing the right social media platform(s) to utilise together, maximising your chances of reaching your target audience.
Other demographics
This is just one piece of the social media platform puzzle. This information should be combined with other insights to build a comprehensive picture and help you identify the most effective social media channels for your small business.
Spoiler: It will differ from business to business!
This small but simple task sets you up for small business social media success. You can be confident that your content is in the correct place for your target audience to find, rather than randomly shouting into the digital abyss and hoping for the best. And those small actions all add up!
This small but simple tasks will set you up for small business social media success. It allows you to strategically place your content where your target audience can easily find it, rather than aimlessly shouting into the digital void and hoping for the best.
Remember, little by little, a little becomes a lot.
To help you make the best decision, we’ll cover a range of demographics and insights below for a range of social media channels, so you can make an informed decision and start to see traction from your efforts!
We will cover:
No. Global Monthly Users
Understand the size of the social media platform,
Age Demographics
Which are the most popular age groups,
Gender Distribution
Understand gender differences across different social media channels,
Types of Content
The types of content best suited to that platform,
Features & Benefits
Review key features of the social media platform,
A week of post ideas for this platform
A free week of effective social media content ideas for small businesses!
Let’s get started!
Social Media Channels
Facebook for Small Business Marketing
No. Global Monthly Users:
Let’s start with the most used social media platform. Globally, Facebook has 3.065 billion monthly active users, and 2.11 billion daily active users.
Age Demographics:
The largest proportion of Facebook users globally are aged 25-34 years old (30.8%). The second largest is aged 18-24 years old (22.6%).
Gender Distribution:
As of 2024, 53.3% of Facebook Users in the UK were women, and 46.7% were male (Statista, 2024).
Types of Content:
Facebook is a great social media platform to help foster a community. People on Facebook love to share content, tag their friends or comment on posts. That’s why content that promotes this type of engagement is KEY to showing the algorithm that your page should be at the top of users feed’s, because others are enjoying it!
To do this, utilise reels and short-form video content. Make it funny, captivating and entertaining. People go on Facebook to be entertained.
Share meme’s, create funny images and content to share with their friends. Relatable stories, giveaways and authentic content always works well here.
Features & Benefits:
Ability to add status’, opinion polls and questions to interact directly with your audience,
Create public or private groups to create an online digital community,
Ability to plan and schedule posts through Meta Business Suite, helping you to stay consistent,
Access to local groups for businesses looking to service a particular area.
A week of post ideas for this platform:
Post your weekend roundup - bonus if you can drop in product pic, or business related service over the weekend
Ask your audience a question - what do you need to know? How can you spin the question? For example:
Re-share a trending meme and relate it to your business, or create your own!
Share your product or offering in a local business group,
Share a product review, or ask for some reviews!
Post a throwback Thursday - bonus points if you can relate to your business e.g. Can you believe this was the first iteration of our beloved X product? What a journey!
Trend - create a reel and jump on a trend - make sure it’s relevant & entertaining though!
Instagram for Small Business Marketing
No. Global Monthly Users:
Globally, Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users.
Age Demographics:
The largest proportion of Instagram users globally are aged 18-24 (31.3%), and in close second are those aged 25-34 years old (31%).
Gender Distribution:
As of 2024, 55% of Facebook Users in the UK were women, and 45% were male (Statista, 2024).
Types of Content:
As I’m sure you’re aware, Instagram is a very visual platform. Similar to Facebook, Instagram is strongly focused on short-form content and interesting imagery, and is great for fostering a community and demonstrating your brand values.
However, gone are the days of just posting your offers and products. To succeed on Instagram you need to get creative. Show your audience that your products, services or offerings are unmissable. Create interest with high-quality, educational or entertaining content
Features & Benefits:
Instagram stories are a great way to build a community with your audience! Share behind the scenes, daily content to engage your followers.
Top tip: daily stories show Instagram you’re active, which the algorithm likes!
Instagram stories offer a range of stickers including location, music, polls and more. All there to enhance audience interaction. The best part? If someone interacts with your sticker, it signals to the algorithm that someone is interacting with your content… yay! But don’t overdo it, keep the stickers relevant and logical.
Reels are a large part of Instagram. Utilise high quality visuals to grab the audience’s attention, along with trending audio’s.
DM’s and comments - a direct line to your audience. Make sure to respond to everything to build your community.
A week of post ideas for this platform:
Share your morning or daily working routine - bonus if you can A) make this into a reel and use trending audio, B) add your product or service.
Bust an industry myth! (Carousel)
A behind the scenes story of your brand,
Share your favourite quote and how it resonates with you, and can with your followers too!
Share what you’re working on - new product launch, service upgrades or a current client project.
Collaborate with a friend or someone in the industry - put both of your knowledge and experience together to create a jam-packed educational post!
Find out your audience’s biggest pain point and show how your product/service overcomes this.
YouTube for Small Business Marketing
No. Global Monthly Users:
Globally, Instagram has 2.5 billion monthly active users (and it also has the highest average session time compared to other social platforms!).
Age Demographics:
The largest proportion of YouTube users globally are aged 25-34 (21.5%). The second largest proportion are those aged 35-44 (17.9%).
Gender Distribution:
In the UK, it is pretty much a 50/50 split of female and male users on YouTube (Statista, 2024).
Types of Content:
YouTube is, obviously, a video based platform. Whilst for a long time YouTube catered to long-form videos, the popularity of short-form content saw the creation of YouTube Shorts. Interestingly, some channels have seen success by only publishing short-form content.
Most individuals go to YouTube to find informational or educational content (e.g. How To’s), or to be entertained. The most popular type of content on YouTube is music videos.
If you have the time, energy and resources to produce video content, and the confidence to be on camera (even though you don’t have too!), YouTube is a great option. YouTube videos can also rank in Google Search, meaning you’re increasing your potential reach*.
*Videos and content need to be of good quality. Please note this will not happen instantly. YouTube, Websites, SEO etc. all take years… and years of hard work.
Features & Benefits:
Evergreen content - content posted on YouTube, perhaps months or years ago, can still appear in searches if it’s relevant.
YouTube playlists - group together a series of videos all related to each other. You could start a series e.g. a series showcasing your product development journey and put all the videos together in a convenient place for your audience!
YouTube also offers a community tab where you can interact with your audience,
Utilise YouTube shorts by editing your longer form videos into bite-sized chunks meaning you A) make your content work harder, and B) reach new audiences to bring people to your channel.
A week of post ideas for this platform:
A day in my life as a small business owner,
Q&A Videos - either ask your audience, or get a list online. Try to do a mix of yourself and your products/services,
A ‘Work With Me’ - a timelapse of you packing orders or working,
Product tutorial or service explanation,
Bust the top 3 myths in your industry,
Your opinion on the latest industry updates,
Share what you wish you knew before started your small business.
Tik Tok for Small Business Marketing
No. Global Monthly Users:
Globally, Tik Tok has 1.04 billion monthly active users.
Age Demographics:
The largest proportion of Tik Tok users are aged 10-19 year olds (25%), followed by 20-29 year olds (22.4%).
Gender Distribution:
As of 2024, Tik Tok’s gender split is 45.2% female and 54.8% male (Statista, 2024).
Types of Content:
Tik Tok is a short-form visual platform. You have around 3 seconds to capture the users attention, before they scroll the next video. So, as you can imagine, this can be difficult!
However, Tik Tok has exploded over recent years so I understand why it often seems like the place to be. Compared to Instagram, many believe the less-polished the content the better. Thus providing a more authentic connection with your audience.
Plus, the addition of the Tik Tok shop means customers can purchase directly in-app. A win-win!
Features & Benefits:
As above, Tik Tok Shop. Upload all your products, and even tag your products in videos, streamlining your purchasing processing,
Video replies - allowing you to engage directly with your audience through comments,
Creator tools that allow small business owners to see what's trending, analyse analytics and resources for optimising their content,
Other features including: duets, live’s and live shopping.
A week of post ideas for this platform:
Share a before and after utilising your product or service,
Offer your thoughts on a trending topic,
Share your origin story and how your small business came to be (Either talking through or share clips and videos if you don’t feel comfortable talking to the camera!),
Showcase your product process - from start to finish,
Got pets? Show off your office buddy!
Organise our inventory with me / tidy up my workspace with me,
Your favourite business tools you couldn’t live without.
Pinterest for Small Business Marketing
No. Global Monthly Users:
Globally, pinterest has over 533 million monthly active users.
Age Demographics:
The largest proportion of Pinterest users in the UK are aged 18-24 (39%), followed by those aged 25-34 (31%).
Gender Distribution:
The UK Pinterest audience is predominantly female, with 70% women and 30% male.
Types of Content:
Pinterest is also a very visual platform. Whilst the monthly users may be less than other big social media sites, this by no means diminishes this platform.
In actual fact, 55% of Pinterest users are looking to purchase and 97% of searches are unbranded. Suggesting that searchers on Pinterest are actually more ready to make a purchase. Similarly, Pinterest drives more referral traffic to shopping websites than other social platforms.
Pinterest is definitely a channel to consider!
Features & Benefits:
Pinterest acts like a social media search engine. Utilise this to your advantage by using words your audience may search for,
Users can build boards and pin your posts to these boards. Whether they use for inspiration, mood-boards or anything else, your pins are they waiting for the user to refer back to it,
Increase visibility by sharing high-quality images and graphics, an easy way to engage your audience and help them to find you!
Link pins directly to your website, streamlining the shopping process.
A week of post ideas for this platform:
Create an infographic of your product or service and highlight its benefits,
Share high quality images or videos of your product in action,
Create a board inspired by your product or service,
Write a blog post on how your product answers your audiences pain point. Create 3-5 pins that link to this,
Share your desk setup,
Share a moodboard with your product,
Share before and after photos from using your product or service.
Summary & Bonus Tips
Utilising social media to market your small business is a must in today’s digital world. However, it can be overwhelming to decide where to even begin. Hopefully the above has given you some strategic direction on which social media platform you should put effort into for your small business.
As a bonus, here are some extra top tips!:
Quality over quantity. Always. Picking one platform and doing it well is so much better than spreading yourself too thin across every platform.
TIP: get handles on other platforms you might explore in the future so you own them, you don’t need to post anything.
Start small. E.g. 2 x posts per week consistently is always better than 4 posts one week and none for the next 2 weeks!
Just get started, something is better than nothing and you can grow and adapt along the way!
Next Steps:
Figure out your age demographics - who are you trying to target / who already interacts with your business. Then pick the social channel,
Is there a platform your business lends itself too? For example, can you create long-form videos (Try YouTube!), or are you much more visual (Try Pinterest or Instagram).
Choose your platforms - I suggest two platforms, or an absolute maximum of three. From there, research the types of content and how you will make it work. Can you create one big piece of content and re-format across different platforms, is this too much work? Maybe start with two platforms instead and go from there.
The biggest piece of advice is start, you can learn, adapt and change along the way. If all of this is too overwhelming, start with one platform and get consistent there. Content creation and managing your social media channels is a lot more work than people think, so start slow, and build yourself up!
Good luck! Shai x
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