Which Small Business Social Media Platforms Are Worth Your Time?

There are so many social platforms to keep up with that small business owners often feel like they can’t commit the time and resources necessary to establish a presence on all of them. In reality, you do not have to be on every platform — just the ones that make sense for your business.

Facebook: The Reliable Workhorse

Facebook had all but floundered, yet most small businesses couldn’t survive without it. This is particularly valuable for service-based companies where customers deal more with individuals and less through mass product purchases. 2.9 billion users, great local business features. Facebook offers very granular targeting and Facebook Local exists to reach local customers, while being part of a group you can foster your own community around what it is that you do.

A good platform for anyone looking to reach an audience over the age of 30 and ideal if you are thinking about event promotion, customer service or sharing some longer form content. For help from Marketing Strategy Consultants, visit reallyhelpfulmarketing.co.uk/specialist-services/marketing-strategy-consultant

Instagram: Visual Storytelling Power

Your business — restaurants, retail, beauty, fitness and creative services all have a visually appealing brand that would match perfectly for Instagram. And with more than 2 billion users, it is definitely the perfect place to display products as well as behind-the-scenes content or personality building.

Instagram Stories and Reels are both convenient for great engagement, along with shopping features that allow product-based businesses to easily turn posts into direct sales.

LinkedIn: B2B Gold Standard

Most B2B startups or companies working in professional services (think consultancies) live and breathe LinkedIn. It is the platform for thought leadership, quality information about your craft and general professional considerations.

Accountants, lawyers, and business coaches do especially well on LinkedIn — as do those serving other businesses or corporate clients.

TikTok: The Wild Card

TikTok’s reputation as a youth social platform is expanding to include the young at heart also. If your audience is under 40 or you can produce fun, educational content — the organic reach potential on TikTok is insane. The tradeoff is that it must be new and different all the time so this will not work for every type of business or owner comfort level.

YouTube: Long-Term Investment

YouTube operates as more of a search engine than traditional social media. Creating informative, educational content is sustainable because it attracts regular traffic and authority in the long term. Useful for tutorials, demonstrations and businesses that have something useful you can teach.

Making Your Choice

Instead of getting overwhelmed across platforms, focus on 2–3 that your audience and skill set aligns better with. No brand is better off with a weak presence everywhere than on fewer stronger platforms.