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How to start social media for your business
It’s clear that social media plays a crucial part in most people’s lives. It’s the first thing most people see in the morning and often, the last thing that they see at night. With that much usage, it’s obvious it offers a multitude of business benefits crucial for thriving in 2025.
Social media fosters direct engagement with your audience, enabling you to build relationships, gather feedback, and address concerns in real-time. But it also grows in size and magnitude every day and can be difficult to know where to start for your business.
Which social media platforms should my business be on?
Whilst all social media platforms allow you to share content and be ‘social’ online, they are all slightly different and shouldn’t be used or treated the same. Depending on your business and brand this could affect the platform that you need to be on, the tone of voice you use in your content or the type of content that you create.
Your approach to social shouldn’t be “one size fits all”, it’s better for your business to represent itself differently on different social media platforms. Ryanair is a great example of a brand that is very playful on their TikTok and main X account, however they also have an “Ask Ryanair” account for more serious customer service interactions.
Different social media channels also attract different demographics. For visually-driven businesses like fashion or food, Instagram is ideal, while LinkedIn suits B2B or professional services. If your target audience includes younger users, TikTok offers high engagement, while Facebook is excellent for reaching a broad audience and fostering a community. For real-time updates or news, consider Twitter/X (with the caveat that the audience demographic is changing rapidly on that platform at the moment). Focus on the platforms where your audience is most active to maximise impact.
You might be tempted to start an account on whichever social platforms your competitors are already on, however don’t be afraid to try new channels where your competitors aren’t, there may be an untapped audience for you to capture.
Some tips for choosing the right social account for your business:
- Understand your audience and who you expect to follow your social profiles.
- Research platform demographics, so you can plan who you are targeting.
- Consider your resources and skills, for example, would a platform that enables cross-posting be easier for you/your team to manage?
- Evaluate platform features that lean into your design skills.
- Be flexible and adapt. Some profiles are moving away from X (formally known as Twitter), and being able to pivot into Threads or Blue Sky is an important part of social media.
What goals should I set for social media for business?
Setting clear, measurable goals for your business’s social media presence is crucial for driving strategy, measuring success, and achieving meaningful results. For example:
Increase Brand Awareness With Social Media
Social media is great for the top-of-funnel content. You can get your brand in front of lots of people in an organic way, whilst showcasing your company values as well as your product.
Goal: Expand your reach and make more people aware of your brand.
Metrics to Track: Follower growth, impressions, reach, and mentions.
Actions: Post consistently, use hashtags, collaborate with influencers, and run awareness campaigns.
Boost Engagement On Social Media
This should be a top goal when you are investing in your social media, whether that is organically or through paid ads. Understanding how people are engaging with your content is the only way you will understand what your audience likes to see and what you should be making more of vs what you should be avoiding.
Goal: Build a loyal community by encouraging interactions with your audience.
Metrics to Track: Likes, comments, shares, saves, and engagement rate.
Actions: Post interactive content (polls, quizzes, Q&A sessions), respond to comments, and create shareable content.
Improve Customer Service
In 2025, using social media for customer service is crucial because it meets customers where they already spend their time, providing instant, accessible, and personalised support that enhances satisfaction.
Goal: Use social media as a channel for customer support and satisfaction.
Metrics to Track: Response time, resolution rate, and customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores.
Actions: Monitor DMs and comments, use chatbots for quick responses, and address complaints promptly.
Build Brand Loyalty and Advocacy
Social media isn’t just for getting your brand in front of new customers, it’s about continuing to engage your current customers before they make a repeat purchase. If you smash this goal, you can even have your customers create content for you help spread the word.
Goal: Turn customers into brand advocates who promote your business.
Metrics to Track: User-generated content (UGC), and mentions/tags.
Actions: Create loyalty programs, share customer testimonials, and encourage UGC with branded hashtags.
Build Partnerships and Collaborations
Don’t just rely on your audience, use social media to collaborate with other brands and leverage their audience too! This works especially well when two brands collaborate that have a shared audience and make sense. You can choose to be strategic with this goal and choose to collaborate with a brand that will help you hit another one of your social media goals. For example, choosing a brand with a highly engaged audience to help you hit your engagement reach goal, or a brand with a strong following to adopt part of their audience.
Goal: Use social media to connect with other brands, influencers, or industry leaders.
Metrics to Track: Number of partnerships, collaboration reach, and engagement from joint campaigns.
Actions: Engage with potential partners, co-create content, and cross-promote.
Track and Improve Audience Insights
The more you know and understand about your audience, the easier it will be to create content for them. This goal helps you make more informed decisions and a lot of the platforms have built-in demographic analytics, to give you a basic understanding.
Goal: Understand your audience better to create more targeted content.
Metrics to Track: Demographics, interests, and behaviour of your followers.
Actions: Use analytics tools and content-gathering tactics to gain insights and adjust your content strategy accordingly.
Drive Website Traffic From Social Media
Some social media platforms have higher click-through rates than others. If you think of the user journey of Instagram, the user has to go from the post, to the profile and click a link in the bio, this is a much longer process than on LinkedIn where you can embed links in the post caption. It’s important to consider which platforms you are posting on before you set this as a goal.
Goal: Use social media to direct users to your website or landing pages.
Metrics to Track: Click-through rate (CTR), referral traffic (via Google Analytics), and link clicks.
Actions: Share blog posts, product pages, and promotions with clear calls-to-action (CTAs).
Social Media for Business Training
Ready to master social media for your business? Enrol in our Social Media For Business Course today and gain the skills, strategies, and confidence to grow your brand—book your spot now!
