The content of this article is provided for informational purposes only. You should always obtain independent business, tax, financial, and legal advice before making any business decision.
Given the endless supply of entertaining, informative, and interactive content available on our feeds, it should come as no surprise that usage and time spent on social media has skyrocketed. In 2024, the average daily social media usage of global internet users reached a whopping 143 minutes.1
Social media has captivated the attention of young adults in particular: 67% of 18- to 29-year-olds are active on Facebook, 78% use Instagram, and a staggering 93% watch content on YouTube.2
It’s clear that tapping into the power of social media is a must in today’s digital-first world.
That’s particularly true when it comes to reaching your audience around key holidays. A recent report found 52% of surveyed small or medium business in the U.S. said they were investing more in holiday season advertising to stay top-of-mind with customers.3
In this guide, we'll explain how to promote your small business on social media, including tips on getting started with platforms’ advertising tools and overall best practices to keep in mind.
Today, social media marketing is a mainstay for promoting small businesses. How do you use social media to promote your business? With it, you can:
Not only do 5.17 billion people worldwide use social media at least once a month4, but there are multiple ways to get more customers using social media. One survey found that 66% of polled U.S. shoppers are discovering brands through a post by someone on social media5 and 64% of U.S. consumers are discovering brands more now through a social media ad compared to just one year ago.5
Going forward, those numbers will likely increase, making social media a prime way to grow your business presence and reach new customers.
Small business owners may wonder how to enhance brand awareness using social media. Posting engaging content is an essential first step in attracting new customers. The effectiveness of how compelling your content is can be measured in the form of impressions, clicks, comments, and shares. From there, businesses can drive customers further down the marketing funnel with consideration, conversion, and re-engagement campaigns.
Businesses can use social media to gather granular data about their audiences and interact with their customers directly. You might track ad metrics to see which demographics interact most with your content, for instance. Or you might create your own Facebook group or TikTok hashtag, which you can monitor to learn about customer values, interests, behaviors, and pain points.
Social media platforms aren't meant for set-it-and-forget-it strategies. They're full of infinite feeds that are constantly being updated with new content and users. So, use these networks to consistently engage with your customers on a weekly, daily, or even hourly basis. This way, you can create an ongoing dialogue with your audience and nurture relationships over time.
Chances are your competitors are using social media to promote their businesses and engage with customers. Visit and analyze their pages to gather ideas – if one of their strategies is working well, for instance, you can adapt it to your own account. Or, if you notice a gap in their approach, you can build that missing tactic into your own strategy and help increase your market share.
There are several popular social media platforms to choose from, each with its own demographics, tools, and benefits.
Get started on the social media platform you feel is the best fit for your business and the most workable with your schedule and resources. Focus on building a dedicated audience on one platform first before expanding to others.
After choosing a social media platform, it’s good practice to post at least multiple times a week to keep your followers engaged. Small businesses can use Facebook, for example, to generate brand awareness and website traffic, build community, and even drive purchases directly from the social network. They can also launch interactive content like livestreams, polls, and video and carousel ads.
Ready to see which social media platform is best for your business? Read on for an overview of each option, including:
Instagram can be a helpful marketing solution for small businesses in image-focused industries, such as fashion, beauty, food, and travel. More than 90% of people on Instagram follow at least one business, and it's been deemed the number-one media platform for building relationships with brands.6
Despite all the headlines about its future, TikTok – launched in 2016 and rising to be one of the most popular social apps and video platforms – had approximately 656 million global users in 2021, making it a vital platform.7 In the last few years, it’s emerged as a hub for millennial and Gen Z content, with 18- to 24-year-olds making up approximately 36.6% of its global audience.8
TikTok is also one of the most unique and creative social apps available, offering a range of filters, editing tools, templates, audio clips, and formats for short-form videos. But TikTok users aren't just there to consume interesting content – they’re making purchases and recommending products to others. One report from TikTok reveals that small and midsized businesses’ use of the platform contributed $24.2 billion to the U.S. GDP in 2023, driven by nearly $15 billion in revenue from paid advertising and marketing, as well as organic growth facilitated by TikTok’s free services.9
Small businesses can use YouTube to create their own short- or long-form videos and livestreams, such as for product demos, Q&As, behind-the-scenes content, and entertaining or educational series. Brands can also launch YouTube ads, which play before or during videos on other channels.
Since YouTube is owned by Google, small businesses can further use this social platform to improve their search engine ranking and reach.
Small businesses can use Pinterest to share visuals of their home, culinary, and design products, as well as provide inspiration for Pinners in their target audience. Pinterest reports that 80% of weekly Pinners feel inspired by the shopping experience on the platform, with many users creating wish lists of their favorite Pins for future reference.10
While LinkedIn was built to help working professionals find job opportunities, it has expanded to become a content platform for thought leadership, industry trends, and discussions that move businesses forward.
LinkedIn's audience spans age groups, but 50.6% of its users are aged 25 to 34.11 Companies can also create their own LinkedIn pages, where they can connect with talent, post industry news, and publish their own content.
X is the place to be for real-time conversations about breaking and hot-topic news in industries. Businesses, for example, can lead or join conversations with trending hashtags, join audio-based X Spaces, start group chats with Communities, and, of course, build up their own followings. They can also promote their posts to reach more people.
Taking a consistent and iterative approach to marketing your business on social media can help you stand out from the noise. Keep these best practices in mind:
Last-minute content has that unmistakable rushed vibe, and your followers can tell. To avoid panic posting, start planning your content calendar weeks in advance. Each entry in your calendar should include:
Several social media platforms, like Facebook and LinkedIn, offer the ability to pre-schedule content natively. Scheduling content can help you adhere to a regular posting cadence, so your channels stay fresh and updated.
Also, try experimenting with different times of day and days of the week to see when your posts drive the most engagement.
As you plan how to promote your business through social media, an important step involves considering what your brand will sound and look like on social media? Will your copy be informative, casual, professional, witty, flowery, or to the point? Which color palette will you use? What will your images, videos, and page headers look like?
Use your answers to create brand guidelines for social media marketing. Then, make sure to follow these guidelines with each account and post, creating a comprehensive experience for customers across social platforms.
If you’re in the early stages of learning how to market on social media, you might consider a general brand awareness campaign that includes posts designed to introduce customers to what your brand stands for and offers.
Streamline your digital marketing with social media tools for small businesses. There are many platforms and resources available to help you with how to market your business on social media, covering social listening, content creation, campaign measurement, and planning.
Some popular tools include Hootsuite (for enterprise-grade social media management) and Postpone (for newer and more niche platforms).
When time and budget allow, you can also supplement your organic content with paid social ads. The biggest benefits of paid social media advertising include reaching a wider audience, targeting specific types of customers, and creating campaigns that support specific goals and KPIs.
For example, you might launch a paid Instagram Story to drive semi-annual sales or create a sponsored X post to promote an online event. Just remember not to be too promotional as you build your following.
Knowing how to track social media performance can help you optimize your campaigns and improve results. It can also help you meet your goals faster and more efficiently. Depending on your social channels, you might track metrics like impressions, clicks, comments, shares, saves, followers, and video views.
Say you launch a Facebook campaign to drive traffic back to your website. You can track impressions and click-through rates to see which ad formats work best among your audience. If carousel ads drive more clicks than video ads, for instance, you can allocate more of your budget to carousel ads and either cut or adjust your video ad strategy accordingly.
Going further, you can use these creative social media marketing tips to build more engaging content for your audience:
Small businesses can use social media marketing to expand their reach and build direct customer relationships. Whether you want to engage Gen Z on TikTok, professionals on LinkedIn, or millennials on Instagram, you can use the tips outlined there to grow your business.
Visit our Marketing resources page to discover more proven tactics and strategies that can help convert shoppers into buyers.
In partnership with three expert business owners, the PayPal Bootcamp includes practical checklists and a short video loaded with tips to help take your business to the next level.
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