Social Media Strategy for Small Business for 2023 by Oostas
Madison Mohn • 3 January 2023
Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses
Small business owners often struggle with social media. They don't know how to use it, or they may think it's not worth their time. As professionals in the marketing world, our team at Oostas knows that social media can be one of the most powerful tools for businesses of all sizes.

That fact is great and all, but what might be a mystery to some business owners is how to create an effective social media strategy. Your presence on social media is only as good as your strategy, so how do you create an effective strategy for social media? In this blog post, we'll outline some tips for small businesses who want to use social media to grow their business.
How Social Media Marketing Helps Small Businesses
So we told you that social media marketing can be one of your most valuable tools for building brand awareness online. But what exactly are those benefits of using social media?
Social media marketing helps small businesses by increasing their visibility online.
When you market your business on social media, you're essentially getting free advertising (unless you utilize paid social media ads, which we will discuss later). Every time someone likes or shares one of your posts, their friends and followers will see it, which means more potential customers will learn about your business. And the more people that know about your business, the more likely they are to use your products or services.
Social media marketing helps small businesses by giving them a chance to build relationships with their customers.
One of the best things about social media marketing is that it allows you to build relationships with your customers. You can interact with them directly, which gives you an opportunity to get feedback and learn more about what they want and need from your business. These relationships are extremely valuable, and they can help you turn one-time customers into lifelong fans.
Social media marketing helps small businesses by providing them with an affordable way to reach a large audience.
Traditional advertising can be very expensive, especially for small businesses. But with social media marketing, you can reach a large audience without spending a lot of money. You can even use free social networks like Facebook and Twitter to market your business cost-effectively.
The Value of Social Media for Small Businesses.
Despite its many challenges, social media offers small businesses a unique opportunity to connect with their customers and create a community around their brand. When used effectively, social media can help you build relationships, drive traffic to your website, and even make sales. In other words, it's well worth the effort.
1. Drive traffic
Social media can also be used to drive traffic to your website or blog. By sharing links to your content on social media, you can increase your reach and get more people reading what you have to say. And if those people like what they read, they'll be more likely to visit your site again in the future.
2. Direct Sales
Social media can also be used as a sales tool. With platforms like Facebook and Instagram offering built-in shopping features, it's easier than ever for small businesses to sell their products and services directly to their customers. And since people are already spending time on social media, it's a great way to reach them where they're already spending their time—no extra effort required!
Social media plans for small businesses
While there isn’t one specific cookie cutter plan for all businesses, there are a few steps that you as a business owner can take to launch your new social profiles.
Pick the right platforms
The first step is to figure out which social media platforms make the most sense for your business. There is no need to be on every single platform if you are not going to be active or if your target audience is not active on that platform. Think about where your target audience hangs out online and start from there. Once you have selected a few platforms, it’s time to create your accounts and start posting!
facebook
- Used for- updates and messages
- Active users- 2 billion
- Largest audience- men ages 25-35
instagram
- Used for- Sharing photos, videos, and graphics
- Active users- 2 billion
- Largest audience- women ages 25-34
pinterest
- Used for- Sharing aesthetic photos and videos
- Active users- 478 million
- Largest audience- women ages 50-64
Linkedin
- Used for- Highlighting business accomplishments and making connections
- Active users- 810 million
- Largest audience- men ages 25-34
snapchat
- Used for- Sharing stories (Photos and videos)
- Active users- 319 million
- Largest audience- women ages 18-29
tiktok
- Used for- Sharing videos
- Active users- 1.2 billion
- Largest audience- women ages 18-24
Create engaging content
Now that you have your accounts set up, it’s time to start posting content that your audience will find useful or interesting. If you are constantly posting salesy content, people will tune out and eventually unfollow you. A good rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule – 80% of your content should provide value and 20% of your content can be promotional.
Some ideas for content include blog posts, industry news, tips & tricks, behind the scenes photos/videos, and infographics. If you are stuck for ideas, take a look at what other businesses in your industry are doing on social media and see what performs well for them.
engage with your audience
Once you start posting content, don’t forget to engage with your audience! Responding to comments and messages shows that you are active on social media and that you care about your customers. You can also run social media contests or polls to get people talking and increase engagement.
How to Start Social Media Marketing for Small Business
So, you’ve set up your accounts, drafted a few posts, and now what? You don't have the same budget as the big guys, so you have to get creative. One of the best ways to market your small business on a shoestring budget is through social media. But if you're not a social media expert, where do you even begin? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Post regularly
Consistency is key when it comes to social media marketing. If you only post sporadically, people will forget about you quickly. But if you post regularly (at the very least once or twice per week), people will start to recognize your name and associate it with quality content—which is exactly what you want!
Use hashtags strategically
Hashtags are a great way to get more eyes on your content—but only if they're used correctly! Don't just throw a bunch of random hashtags into every post; instead, take the time to research which hashtags are being used most frequently by your target audience and use those accordingly.
Run Social Media Ads
Social media advertising can be a great way to reach more people with your content—but it's not necessary (or even advisable) for every business type or budget size. If you do decide to run ads, make sure they're targeted specifically at your target audience so that you
don't waste money
reaching people who aren't interested in what you have to offer anyway.
Social Media schedule for Small Businesses
A social media schedule will help you save time by batching your content creation and giving you a plan for what to post and when. It will also help you be more strategic about your social media marketing by making sure you're posting content that is aligned with your business goals. Creating a social media schedule is easy! Just follow these simple steps:
Decide how often you want to post on each platform
Once you've chosen your platform(s), it's time to decide how often you want to post. The frequency of your posts will depend on a number of factors, including the type of content you're posting and the size of your audience. A good rule of thumb is to post at least once per day on each platform.
Create or curate content in advance
One of the best ways to save time on social media is to create or curate content in advance. This way, you can batch your content creation and have a stockpile of content ready to go when it's time to post. Not sure what kind of content to create? Try mixing things up with a mix of images, videos, blog posts, infographics, etc.
Use scheduling tools to automate your posts
Once you have some content created, it's time to start scheduling your posts! There are a number of different scheduling tools available (including Hootsuite, Buffer, and CoSchedule), so find one that works best for you and start automating those posts!
Key to successful Social Media Marketing
Let’s face it, as a small business owner, you’re always looking for
ways to get ahead of the competition. And in today’s digital age, one of the best ways to do that is through social media marketing. But with so many businesses out there fighting for attention, how can you make sure that your small business is the one that goes viral?
Analyze your results
After running your social media marketing campaign for awhile, take some time to analyze the results so that you can see what's working well and what could be improved upon next time around. This will help ensure that each successive campaign is more successful than the last!
Pay attention to trends
One of the best ways to ensure that your social media marketing campaigns are successful is to pay attention to trends. What’s hot right now? What are people talking about? If you can tap into what’s trending, you’ll be more likely to capture people’s attention—and get them talking about your business.
Keep it fresh
No one wants to see the same old thing over and over again. That’s why it’s important to keep your social media content fresh. Mix things up with different types of posts—text, images, videos, infographics, etc.—and switch up your messaging on a regular basis. This will not only help you stand out from the crowd, but it will also keep people engaged with your content.
Be responsive
In today’s digital world, people expect businesses to be responsive—especially on social media. If someone takes the time to reach out to you on social media, they expect a quick response. So, make sure you have someone monitoring your social media channels regularly and responding to comments and questions in a timely manner.
Have fun
Another key to successful social media marketing is enjoying yourself. Yes, you read that correctly. It's important to remember that social media is first and foremost a way to connect with people. If you're not having fun, chances are your followers aren't either. So go ahead and crack a few jokes, show your personality, and above all, don't take yourself too seriously.
Social Media outsourcing for Small businesses
Let's face it: social media is fun and beneficial, but for a full time business owner, it can be a real pain to manage. Managing all those accounts, coming up with new content, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends is a full-time job in itself. And that's where Oostas comes in.
We're social media experts, so we can take all the pain out of social media for you. We'll handle everything from content curation to account management, and we'll make sure your social media presence is always in front of your target audience. So go ahead and
outsource your social media
needs to us - we'll make sure that your online presence is on point, while freeing up your time to focus on other things.
Social media should be a part of every small business’s marketing strategy. By being active on social media, you can connect with new and existing customers, increase brand awareness, and drive traffic back to your website. Start by picking the right platforms for your business and then post engaging content that provides value to your audience.
