Social media is not only a great place to advertising your products, but it's also one of the best ways to develop customer relationships and build your brand. The possibilities are endless when it comes to social media marketing, so if you aren't already using it, you certainly should be! Here are a few examples of how to use social media to give your small business a boost.
Run a competition
If you want to generate a bit of hype around your business or let people know about a new product launch, running a competition on Facebook (amongst others) is a great way to spread the word. Most companies will give away a free product or offer a complimentary service to the "chosen at random" winner.
Ask your followers to share your post and encourage them to comment on your page. You might be surprised at how many new followers you can gain from one simple competition.
Collaborate with influencers
It's been suggested that people in their twenties are far more likely to buy something endorsed by their favorite YouTube or Instagram star. That's why you should never underestimate the power of the social media influencer. Whilst you can try and make contact with influencers or their agents directly, using companies like Collabstr makes the whole process far quicker and a lot easier. For a fee, you will be given access to a host of influencers who will promote your products online. If one of your products goes viral, it could boost your business in ways you never imagined.
Direct shopping
A shop feature is available on many social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Customers are more likely to purchase if they can do so immediately, so it is an option that could boost your sales rates. As well as images of your products, you can add descriptions and prices and show any pricing discounts. Impulse buys are more likely when the user experience is simple and quick, so if you don't already have that shop button enabled, you might be missing a trick!
Increased customer service
One of the great things about social media is that you can implement fairly quick response times to customers. If a customer messages you via Messenger, for example, an automated reply can be sent instantly, and a notification sent to your phone. Customers are far more likely to give repeat business to companies who provide good customer service, so take advantage of this when you can.
Ask for feedback
Where possible, ask customers to leave a review on your social media platforms. The more positive reviews you obtain, the more chance of new customers feeling content to purchase from you. If you are struggling to get customers to leave a review, consider popping a reminder card in with their order. A good review is worth its weight in gold, and feedback regardless of whether it is positive or negative allows you to improve and make changes within your business where necessary.
Related: how to make money on Instagram with 1k followers
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Where Small Businesses Waste Time on Social Media (and What to Fix in 2026)
I've sat with hundreds of small business owners over the years, and the same three mistakes show up again and again. First, they post on every platform at once because someone told them consistency matters, but consistency without a clear reason to be on a channel just burns hours. Second, they treat social media as a broadcast tool instead of a discovery tool. Third, they measure success by likes rather than by whether a stranger became a lead. None of that is new, but 2026 has made the cost of these mistakes much higher.
Here's what changed. Search behaviour has shifted so that people now type questions directly into TikTok, Instagram, and even LinkedIn instead of Google. AI overviews and chat-based search tools also pull answers from social posts, not just websites. That means a small business posting vague lifestyle content is invisible to both humans searching and AI systems scraping for answers. The businesses winning right now are the ones answering specific questions in their captions and video hooks, the same questions their customers used to type into a search bar.
Let me give you a real example. A local plumbing business I worked with used to post generic "we're open" updates with a photo of a van. Nothing happened. We switched the approach: short videos answering things like "why does my boiler make a banging noise" or "how much does an emergency call-out cost near me." Within eight weeks, calls from social media went from almost zero to roughly a third of their new enquiries. Nothing about their service changed. Only the content strategy did, moving from announcement to answer.
A few things worth building into your approach if you want this to work rather than just look busy:
- Pick one platform where your customers already ask questions and go deep there before spreading thin elsewhere.
- Write captions like you're answering a search query, because increasingly you are.
- Track enquiries and bookings that come from social, not just engagement numbers.
- Reuse one strong piece of content across formats instead of creating something new every single day.
- Respond to comments and DMs quickly. In 2026, response speed is a bigger trust signal than posting frequency.
Social media for a small business isn't about being everywhere. It's about being findable and useful in the two or three places your customers already spend time asking questions.
More questions
How many platforms should a small business manage?
One or two, done well, beats five done badly. Pick the platform where your existing customers already ask questions or make buying decisions, and master that before expanding.
Does posting frequency still matter in 2026?
Less than it used to. Relevance and answering real questions matter more than daily posting. A useful post once a week will outperform a shallow post every day.
How do I know if social media is bringing in business, not just attention?
Track it directly. Ask every new enquiry where they found you, tag social-sourced leads in your booking system, and review that number monthly instead of watching likes and follower counts.
