Email is the audience you own (that was Part 6). Now for the channel every business owner feels they “should” be doing, often with a sigh: social media. The pressure to be everywhere, post constantly, and chase the latest trend is exhausting — and mostly unnecessary.
Let me give you a calmer, smarter approach that actually works for a small business without swallowing your entire week.
📢 This is Part 7 of my “Get Customers Online” series. A 10-part, plain-English guide to digital marketing for business owners. You can see every part of the series here — bookmark it and follow along.
What social media is actually for
First, a reframe that takes the pressure off. For most small businesses, social media isn’t a direct sales machine — it’s where you build awareness, personality, and trust (the early stages of the customer journey from Part 1). People rarely see one post and buy. But they do get familiar with you, start to like you, and remember you when the need arises. That’s the real job: staying visible and human.
Pick one or two platforms — not all of them
This is the single biggest mistake I see: spreading yourself thin across five platforms and doing all of them badly. Instead, go where your customer (Part 2) actually spends time, and do it well:
| Platform | Tends to suit |
|---|---|
| Visual products, food, lifestyle, local shops | |
| Local services, community, broad audiences | |
| B2B, professional services, consultants | |
| TikTok / Reels | Reaching new audiences with short video |
One platform done consistently and well beats five done occasionally and badly. You can always add another once the first is a comfortable habit.
What to post (without running dry)
- Helpful tips — recycle your content (Part 5) into bite-sized advice.
- Behind the scenes — your team, your process, your day. People buy from people.
- Results and reviews — happy customers and before/afters build instant trust.
- Answers to common questions — the same ones that fuel your blog and emails.
- The occasional offer — just don’t let selling be all you ever post.
Batch it: set aside an hour or two, create a week or two of posts at once, and schedule them. That one habit turns social media from a daily anxiety into a tidy, manageable task.
⚠️ Don’t build your whole business on rented land. Social platforms are powerful, but you don’t own your followers, and reach can vanish with an algorithm change overnight. Use social to attract attention — then guide people toward what you do own: your website and your email list (Part 6). Followers are nice; subscribers and customers pay the bills.
🚀 Your action this week: Choose the one platform where your ideal customer actually hangs out, and commit to it. Batch-create a week of simple, helpful posts in a single sitting. Consistency on one channel will always beat scattered effort across five.
What’s next in the series
Every channel so far — SEO, ads, content, email, social — sends people to one place: your website. So it had better turn those visitors into customers. In Part 8, I’ll show you how to make your website a conversion machine. Follow the full series here.
Feeling overwhelmed by social media, or not sure it’s paying off? A focused social strategy — or having it managed for you — is something I help businesses with. See how I can help with social media — or just reach out and say hi.
