How to approach social media as a new or small business
- Crescent Digital Marketing
- Feb 25
- 4 min read
Social media is such an important and versatile marketing tool for new and small businesses; each social media channel is different and can be used in a variety of ways to promote and showcase your business. Deciding which platform to use can be difficult, especially when you consider the fact that you will need to invest your time (and potentially money) in them, so I've broken them down to make it simple to gauge which it best for you.
One of the oldest channels, and easily the most iconic of all social media, is Facebook; everyone knows of it, even if they have not used it or do not know exactly how it works.
It has a wide audience, from Gen X to Baby Boomers, although the end users do tend to be a bit older than other platforms now.
Great for community-building; you can create Groups based on your business/audience/location.
You can create events, which can be easily shared online to expand your reach.
It is a great starting point for those new to social media.
The ideal platform for visual storytelling.
Very popular with Millennials and Gen-Z.
If you have a lot of visual content or an online store, it's perfect to showcase them.
It is owned by Meta - the same as Facebook - so you can link your accounts, which make it easy to share posts and cross-examine analytics.
Very user-friendly and easy to be creative with it.
Twitter/X
Now known as 'X', this platform is very fast-paced and is text-heavy.
Known for limiting the number of characters in a post.
It is ideal for finding out the latest news or getting real-time updates.
Great for researching trends and popular topics.
Tends to be used by professionals, journalists and thought-leaders.
To get the most out of it you need to be quite active on it and have a good presence there.
The professional platform for networking.
Much less corporate than it used to be.
It can be used to find out about careers, industry insights, and connecting with people, particularly finding people with synergy that you could or want to work with.
Good for professionals and B2B (business-to-business) networking.
Great for testing ideas and getting feedback.
TikTok
One of the most popular social media platforms.
Great for short form video content.
Very popular with younger audiences, although older generations are starting to explore it.
To be successful, from a business perspective, you need a strong, consistent strategy.
Great for keeping up with trends and being creative.
YouTube
The platform for watching videos - both long and short form.
It caters to all demographics.
It has a very wide range of content – channels for kids, how-to guides, product showcases, tutorials, vlogs.
If you’re not sure how to do something, there will be a video on YouTube about it!
The visual inspiration board.
Great for showcasing products or for getting inspiration.
It has everything from home décor, to tattoos, fashion, food, landscaping…
It works well for any kind of visual content and for online shops.
When you are choosing the social media platforms you are going to use for your business, you need to focus on:
What suits your audience?
Do you have a lot of visual content or an online shop?
Are you B2B and want to build connections?
What are your business goals and target audience?
BUT! It's important to remember:
Don’t sign up to all of them; it's not realistic in terms of managing all of them. Focus on 2 or 3 and do them well.
Not all platforms will be relevant or work with your goals.
Be consistent; post regularly! If you’re not sure what days/times work best for you, spend a few months testing and trialling content; then review the analytics and see what your audience engaged with most, when and on what platform.
Different content works best on different platforms; it can be trial and error to find out what works for you.
Engage with your audience; reply to comments, strike a conversation and build that relationship with them.
Do not get caught up in ‘going viral’; essentially, it doesn’t mean anything. Yes, it can be great to see the engagement figures, the reach or number of comments increase, but if it doesn’t translate into sales, hits on your website or whatever it is you’re aiming for, it’s meaningless.
Look at your analytics; you need to know what works and what doesn’t in order to be able to build your strategy.
Don’t get caught up in vanity metrics; if you’ve got 200 follows and business is going well – that’s great! You don’t have to hit 2000, 20,000 or 200,000 to be successful. If you’ve got a big audience and no one is engaging, the numbers are irrelevant. Focus on producing engaging content rather than number of followers.
You need to build a relationship with your current audience and focus on cultivating that, slow and steady. Build on it and become a trusted source/supplier so that when people need your services, they know to come to you.
Don't be afraid to reuse/recycle content; reshare old blogs or create videos out of carousel posts. Not all of your audience will see every post your share.
And finally - remember that nothing in social media is guaranteed and there is no 'one size fits all' answer. The algorithms often change, and people aren't always online at the same time every day, so you can't always predict what will get a high number of views or engagement. This is why it is so important to take the time to build up the relationship with your audience.
So, which social media channels do you use? Do you have a favourite?
Listen to Crescent Podcast to find out more tips and advice about running a small business.
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