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If you’re a small business owner, social media probably feels like a must. It can be cheap and easy to use, but that doesn’t mean that doing social media is the same thing as marketing your business.
Social media is part of marketing. It simply isn’t ALL of marketing. It is one small piece, and you still need other marketing strategies working with it if you want your activity online to make an actual impact on your business.
One thing we hear most often from entrepreneurs is:
The most challenging part of marketing my business is figuring out how to market my business. Said by every entrepreneur everywhere.
That is exactly where the confusion begins. Social media gives you something visible to do, so it feels like you are marketing. But posting is not the same as having a strategy behind what you post, who needs to see it, why they should care or what should happen next.
Social Media Marketing is a form of marketing that uses the social media platforms to promote brands. Social Media Marketing helps you connect with your current and potential customers where they are already spending their time.
SMM allows you to build relationships with potential customers, attract them to your social media profiles, increase customer loyalty, and ultimately convert them into long-term customers by selling products and services.
So many entrepreneurs get confused and think that because social media is marketing, managing their social media means they have handled their marketing. Those are not the same thing.
Social media is a marketing channel. Your marketing strategy determines who you need to reach, what they need to understand, why they should choose you and what you want them to do next. Social media gives you one place to put that strategy to work.
The problem is that many entrepreneurs put most of their effort into posting, boosting posts or trying to gain followers before they have worked through the marketing decisions that make those activities effective.
Smart entrepreneurs will use social media as only one piece of their overall, holistic marketing strategy to see best results.
People are not going to follow, like or trust you simply because you post frequently. They need to understand what your company does, why it matters to them and how you are different from the alternatives.
Social media will not sell a bad product. It won’t even help a good product much if it isn’t marketed correctly.
According to surveys:
Social media is something you should consider as a supplemental branding and customer-building activity, but shouldn’t be the main focus of your marketing efforts because it still doesn’t convert well unless your product or service is so unique & mind blowing that people have to purchase from you on impulse or for life.
Then how does social media help build a brand?
You use social media to create awareness about your brand among your target audience, engage with people regularly, and show them how you’re different from the competition – like why they should do business with you instead of making them feel like they should purchase your product or service because you keep pestering them for it.
That is why it’s important to have a holistic marketing plan that will allow you to focus on marketing activities that are proven to work. Social media cannot be the only thing you do!
You see, people like me really do use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family. We don’t necessarily open it because we are hoping another business will interrupt us with an ad. I’m betting you don’t either.
That does not mean businesses should stay off Facebook or any other social platform. It means you need to understand why people are there and find a way to become part of that experience without making every interaction feel like an unwanted sales pitch.
Your product or service must have a specific market, so know who you are selling to before deciding that you need to be active on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube or anywhere else.
Then look at how that audience actually uses each platform. Having an account does not automatically mean they use that platform to discover businesses, research purchases or make buying decisions.
Social media is only one piece of the marketing puzzle. It can be easy for entrepreneurs to get confused and think social media is all they need to help grow their business (or even the most important part). That isn’t true.
Social media cannot replace your marketing strategy! Your product or service must have a specific market, so know who you are selling to before thinking about creating content on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter etc. Your focus needs to be on being able to show potential customers what you offer them so that they can choose to buy from you instead of your competitors.
We help our clients choose which platforms make sense, when to add them and how to use their time and money efficiently. You do not need to be everywhere. You need to be where your audience is most likely to pay attention and take the next step.
To measure the ROI on a social media campaign, you have to compare the full investment with the business return.
For example, you might spend $1,000 on Facebook ads and receive $2,000 in sales. On the surface, that produced $1,000 more than you spent on the advertising. But that does not automatically tell you the true ROI. You still have to consider the cost of delivering the product or service, creating the campaign, managing it and following up with the leads.
That is why it is important to understand which marketing channels are producing results, how quickly those results happen and how long they last.
Also keep in mind that the costs are not limited to money paid directly to a platform. Even when you are using strictly organic methods, you are using your time, which I will argue is often even more valuable.
Your time has a hard cost based on the value of an hour of your work. It also has a soft cost based on what you could have been doing instead.
There are activities that ONLY you can do for your business. That can make every hour you spend creating, posting and monitoring social media worth double or triple the hourly rate you would normally charge.
Before deciding that social media is producing a return, determine what result you expected from it. Was the goal awareness, website traffic, leads, appointments, sales or repeat business?
Then look beyond likes and followers. Did people click? Did they visit the website? Did they join your email list? Did they inquire about a service? Did they buy something? Did the profit justify the time and money involved?
Engagement can be useful, but engagement is not automatically ROI.
Even if you are not ready to invest money in advertising, you can still use social media effectively.
Be human. People want to feel like they are interacting with an actual person, not a company that copied generic content from the same source as everyone else.
Be helpful. Answer real questions, share useful information and give people a reason to pay attention before asking them to buy.
Be relevant. A post can get plenty of engagement and still do absolutely nothing for your business. If people cannot connect the content back to what you do, you may be entertaining them without marketing to them.
Be clear. People should be able to tell what your business does and why the information matters to them. Give them a relevant next step, whether that means reading something, signing up, contacting you or buying.
Be consistent, but do not confuse consistency with posting constantly. The right frequency depends on your audience, platform, content and capacity. Posting more often will not fix unclear messaging or content that your audience does not care about.
And do not make everything self-promotional. If every post says “buy now,” people will stop paying attention. But the opposite can also be a problem. If you never connect your content to what you sell, people may enjoy following you without ever realizing they should hire you.
While social media is great because it doesn’t cost anything to post, if your posts are just promoting your products, people will probably unfollow you or they’ll report your posts for spamming. If you take the time to create a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, you’ll be able to take advantage of all of the benefits of social media while reaching a broader audience.
You have to think about what impression you want people who see your posts to have about your company. When people read them, do you want them to think it’s a business they could go to or one they should avoid? If people are bored by your posts, they’re not going to come back. Instead, think about ways you can use your social media to complement other marketing efforts.
After people visit your website, make sure to give them another reason to keep coming back instead of only having the same “buy now” message on all of your profiles. If you can build relationships online, people will be more likely to keep coming back and potentially refer their friends. The good news is that this doesn’t have to have a high monetary investment! In fact, it could actually save you money.
Make sure that people can tell what your company is all about as they scroll through their newsfeed or scroll through your business page. If they cannot figure out the answer after just a few posts then you might want to rethink what posts have been going out – start with an engaging lead image and continue with a clear caption. Make sure that your posts always include a call-to-action so people know exactly how they should respond next – even if that action is to simply comment.
Consistency is key in this regard because once people start paying attention to your business online, you don’t want them to unfollow you because of irrelevant posts. It can happen. Sometimes it’s simply that your information is no longer relevant because they’re at a different spot in their life or business than they were when they started following you, but sometimes it’s because your posts themselves aren’t relevant. Keep an eye on analytics when you are posting on social media so you know when people are actually seeing your posts. Maybe it is not the best time to post – look at when other posts in your industry are getting attention and consider changing what times of day or days of the week you are posting.
Actively listen. Just because someone doesn’t follow your company anymore, don’t think that they’re automatically out of sight….if they write a negative review about your business online, for example, then answer it! This could be a great opportunity for some free PR because if you can successfully resolve an issue with a customer who has come forward about their experience with your business, then potential new customers will see this and feel more comfortable purchasing from you.
This is a great opportunity to show that you care about your customers and this will then actually boost your business!
People need to know why they should choose you instead of all of your competitors. This is where smart digital marketing comes in. For most entrepreneurs, the differentiator they think they have is not actually what they do have, or what the market wants or needs … which is why I’ve dropped my 30 years of branding and differentiation knowledge into an on-demand Differentiation & Niche workshop.
When your social media, website, blog, email marketing and other activities all support the same strategy, people receive a consistent message wherever they encounter your business. Each piece helps the others work better.
This does not mean repeating the same “buy now” message everywhere. It means your audience can recognize who you are, understand what you offer and see why it is relevant to them. (“Buy Now” messages aren’t even the best option – listen to my podcast on the concept of “Be vs Buy”).
Personality matters here. People like interacting with businesses that feel human instead of robotic, generic or fake. Share enough of your company’s personality that people can connect with you, but make sure the content still makes sense for your brand and audience.
Your friends and family are not always your customers. Your followers are not automatically your customers either. The goal is not simply to collect more people. It is to build a marketing system that helps the right people understand why they should take the next step.
A lot can get lost in translation when social media is used without a larger plan. Social media is one small piece of the puzzle, and it should support your marketing strategy rather than trying to replace it.
Start by determining what your business needs to accomplish. Do you need more awareness, qualified leads, appointments, sales or repeat customers?
Then identify the audience most likely to help you reach that goal. Decide what they need to understand, what message will matter to them and what action you want them to take.
Only then should you decide which social platforms, content and posting schedule make sense.
Social media may produce a direct return, or it may contribute to a return that happens later through your website, email marketing, sales follow-up or another channel. That is why social media should not be evaluated completely by itself.
The strongest marketing usually happens when multiple tactics work together. Search engine optimization, email marketing, content, advertising, networking, public relations and social media can each play a different role in moving someone toward a purchase.
More followers may create more exposure, but exposure by itself is not enough. You still need a strategy for turning that attention into something useful for the business.
One of my favorite FUN ways to use social media is through a contest or giveaway. For example, I might ask people to answer a simple question or take another quick action for a chance to win something relevant from the business.
This can be a fun way to increase reach or engagement without a large advertising budget, as long as the promotion follows the platform’s current rules.
But is it marketing?
Yes, if it connects to a real marketing goal and attracts people who could reasonably become customers. If it generates a pile of activity from people who only want something free and will never buy from you, it may be popular without being useful.
When I tell clients that their marketing plan should include social media activity, they often ask, “What should I do?”
Do the same things you would do to market your business if social media did not exist. Answer customer questions. Demonstrate your expertise. Show how your product works. Share testimonials. Promote useful content. Give people a reason to join your email list or visit your website.
Then adapt those activities to the social platform.
Do you see the distinction?
The marketing plan determines the goal, audience, message, offer and next step. The social media plan determines how you will use social platforms to support those decisions.
Something does not become “social media” simply because it is free, and it does not become “marketing” only when you spend money. Your time has value, and every activity should earn its place in the larger plan.
Prospective clients should look for evidence of previous projects completed, testimonials from previous clients, and willingness to answer any questions you may have about their work. The best way is to find someone who can give you faith in their ability based on past performance or personal interest in your project.
When everything feels fragmented, the problem usually isn’t effort — it’s lack of perspective.
This is a community where you can slow options down just enough so they start making sense again.
Most businesses are working hard—but still missing the right strategic support.
Step into The Unscrewed Room—where growth-minded entrepreneurs get expert insights, no-fluff tools, and real guidance in our casual virtual meetings.
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Drop in when you need it. Step away when you don’t.
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This is where things get simplified so progress doesn’t require constant effort.
The Unscrewed Room gives you a steady place to simplify, pressure-test ideas, and focus on what actually matters next.
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The Unscrewed Room gives you a steady place learn real strategy from an expert.
More tweaks, tools, and tactics won’t help if the underlying structure is off.
But how do you know?
Inside the Unscrewed Room, the focus isn’t “what should I try next,” but “what’s actually causing this,” using a monthly strategy anchor and live discussion to identify the real constraint … before you rebuild the wrong thing again.
When every option sounds plausible, it becomes impossible to move forward with confidence.
The Unscrewed Room exists so you’re not making decisions alone in a vacuum — each month centers on strategic focus, with a live call where you can talk through what applies to your situation and what doesn’t, before you waste more time chasing the wrong thing.
A business that only works under constant attention isn’t sustainable.
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Conflicting opinions, more frameworks, and “best practices” erode trust in your own judgment.
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Let the pros handle your social media.
