Do I Need to Use Social Media? A Guide for Small Business Owners

Getting into business and doing what you love is easy, but how do you market yourself and your business?

For most business owners, setting up a social media account is a quick and easy way to start getting the word out about what you do. But what if you aren’t familiar with social media platforms, have limited time, or just don’t want to spend your time on this particular method of communication?

Here are 6 questions to consider if you are thinking about how, or even whether, to use social media in your business.

1. What is the buyer journey like?

Depending on the importance of a potential purchase, the buyer’s journey may be long or short, deliberate or impulsive. Does a quick Google search deliver a list of nearby businesses? Do they look for updated photos and reviews? Will they ask friends and family for recommendations? Will customers do lots of research and gather ideas before making a purchase decision? Can social media help them along the way?

Start by thinking about your customers. If they need your product or service, where will they start looking? How are they most likely to find you? If you aren’t sure, ask them! Instead of guessing, go right to the source and poll them.

If your customers are largely seeking you out in a Google listing and don’t need to know a lot about you to make a purchase, then you might be able to ignore social media for the most part. I don’t go looking for the Facebook profile of my local gas station before I fill up the tank in my car. I go to the one with a rewards program I like, is conveniently located, and is average in price.

However, when deciding where to eat, I will likely combine a Google search with social media to find restaurant hours, menus, reviews, and entertainment schedules. Knowing the personality and ambiance of an eatery before I visit is important, depending on the circumstances of each visit. Does it fit with my desire for date night? Is it good for families? Can they accommodate a large group, do they have an interesting atmosphere and good service?

2. Could you attract new and returning customers through discovery and sharing?

If you are a local convenience store franchise, then you probably aren’t going to spend time developing a strong local following on a Facebook page. People already know a national brand. Thirsty commuters can Google your location or will impulsively visit as they drive by your high-traffic location. The product selection is standard, and the only big news is a free frozen drink day every summer.

On the other hand, if you are a local independent convenience store, the way you use social media can help convey your brand personality and develop an identity that attracts visitors. The friendly customer service and great craft beer selection keep me coming back to one particular family-owned store in my community. I follow them on social media and enjoy seeing nostalgic photos of the family and news about seasonal products arriving in the shop.

Some small businesses become known to us because they have great content. Maybe a friend has shared a great post from a cool cheese shop about pairing cheese and wine. Perhaps I have stumbled on an article from a local outfitter about great places to kayak in my region. A friend might have shared a post from a local orchard sharing their process for making apple cider or highlighting the three generations of family that run the farm. These are the stories we are drawn to and the kinds of communication social media can help us with.

3. Are you willing to have meaningful and genuine conversations?

It is helpful to remember that most people are on social media to maintain personal connections, keep up with trends, follow the news, get ideas, or research topics they are interested in (including products, services, and brands that might help them satisfy a need). They are not there to see your advertisements or hear you talk about yourself in a sales-focused way.

Social media will be worth your time if you are willing to converse with people. If you approach social media as a one-way medium, you will turn people off and find it ineffective. The beauty of social media is the ability to have two-way conversations and ask questions. Like any conversation, you need two or more willing parties and something in common (such as the willingness to engage and share ideas around a particular topic).

If you are going to use social media, you need to approach it like you would a cocktail party with both current acquaintances and potential new friends. You don’t want to be self-centered and boring. You want to be curious about the people in the room and be a good conversationalist. Of course, you will share information, but it should be interesting stories and helpful content. Occasionally, you will make a pitch or ask to do business, but only after a healthy relationship has been established.

4. Are there social media platforms available that suit your business?

Different platforms cater to different kinds of people and have unique ways of interacting. The cocktail party with your business colleagues (LinkedIn) is going to feel a lot different than the one you attend with family, friends, and clients (Facebook) the one you attend with complete strangers (X fka Twitter), or the one you attend at an art gallery or cultural event (Instagram). Get to know which type of party your customers attend and how they interact there. Act accordingly.

Depending on your goals, you might choose one platform to focus on or more than one. The audience for each is unique. You might have similar posts on each, but typically, you should take a slightly different approach that keeps the tone and flavor of each platform in mind. If you are mostly a B2B company, LinkedIn might be the ideal place to spend your time. If your product is visual (fresh baked goods or hand-dyed yarns), then Instagram may be your best friend. If you are a service-based business, you might share industry news or weigh in on topics on Twitter to establish authority and credibility.

5. Are you willing to invest time or money?

A social media presence can help level the playing field between big-budget corporate outlets and small mom-and-pop shops. Your investment as a small-business owner is largely your precious time and energy. Planning your social media strategy can help minimize your time on its execution. If using social media is not already a strong skill, it may be worthwhile to outsource the execution of social media after carefully considering your goals and developing a plan for its use.

Setting up a social media account is simple. Maintaining it is another. Start with the one best platform and master it, then add other accounts only if the time and energy costs make it worth doing. If you can’t keep an active presence on a platform, you may be better off not having a presence. Dormant accounts or profiles with stale information can negatively impact the perception of your business.

Once you use social media, you must commit to a regular content creation schedule and respond to your followers. For some businesses, this turns out to be a daily effort; for others, once or twice a week may suffice. If you can not make some effort once a month or more, the effort may not be regular enough to gain momentum.

Extend the life of your posts by creating evergreen content that will be interesting and useful for weeks and months to come, not just a moment in time. Posting about National Taco Day is nice, but behind-the-scenes photos of your handmade tortilla-making process or a story about your grandmother’s recipe for seasoning is even better.

6. Does it make sense to maintain a social media presence in-house, or should you pay someone to do it?

If your time is better spent interacting with customers one-on-one or operating your business, consider hiring someone with expertise to create content and manage social media on your behalf. Just be sure your voice shines through in the stories you tell. You can collaborate with your provider on a content calendar and use their photography, writing, editing, or posting expertise to bring your vision to life.

Monitoring social media can be time-consuming if you let it, but free or inexpensive tools are available to help you follow hashtags, mentions of your brand, and related topics without accessing the distracting environment of each individual platform. For example, Hootsuite and similar applications allow you and your collaborators to draft content, monitor accounts, and schedule posts without going directly to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Keeping the work all in one place lets you coordinate your communication and helps you avoid the rabbit hole that is the social media news feed.

Having at least some familiarity with each platform and understanding its use cases will help a small business owner make good decisions about using social media. Research and find out how other businesses have succeeded with social media. Follow your competitors and neighboring businesses to see what works and what doesn’t. Ask your customers what they like and where they spend their time.

Bottom Line: Use Social Media, But Only to the Degree that Works for You

Consumers largely expect to see at least some presence on social media. A basic Facebook page and a website can establish legitimacy and relevance for many businesses. If you are new to social media, pick one platform and learn to use it well before you expand to more platforms.

Remember that you are having a conversation, and have fun with it. This is your chance to show your individual brand personality. Don’t worry about appealing to everyone. Talk with the people who share your vision and think about how to help or entertain them.

Keep sales pitches to a minimum and focus on content that is so interesting they feel compelled to share it with friends. Then, when you have a “sale” or an ask, they are more likely to support your business with a purchase.

While sales may be your ultimate goal, consider social media a long game. You are developing relationships and crafting a brand, not trying to pick your customer’s pocket over the internet. Your small business is best served by a long-term investment in the people you care about and who care about you in return.

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In addition to social media, consider a broader communication strategy by reading Why You Should Increase Your Reliance on First-Party Data and Communication in 2024.