The Dos and Don'ts of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

Digital marketing has been essential for businesses for decades now. Ever since the rise of the internet, businesses have been leveraging digital channels like email and internet ads to reach wider audiences, working to build brand awareness and drive sales to another level.

If you own a small business, this is something you will have to do to keep up with the competition, but while emails and ads are just as important now as they were twenty five years ago, there is another channel that has become a powerhouse in and of itself – social media marketing.

Over the last few years, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn have transformed the way businesses interact with their audience, offering direct engagement, real-time feedback, and powerful advertising tools to reach new customers. Unlike traditional digital marketing methods, social media has also allowed small businesses to build relationships with customers, showcasing their brand personality while creating a loyal, engaged community. But it isn’t all good news, however.

While social media might be the prime digital marketing channel in 2025, it is also a double-edged sword, with the potential to harm your brand if it is not used correctly. If you’re serious about getting this right, then, you will need to take the time to understand what you should be doing and what you should be avoiding, working to make the most of social media while never being subject to its more negative traits.

That’s exactly what we’re here for. To help you on your journey, we’ve listed out the five do’s and don’ts of social media marketing, giving you the best chance possible of making your endeavour a success.

Do: Define Your Brand Voice

One of the most important things to recognise as a small business is that your online presence is the first interaction many customers will have with your brand. To get this right, it’s likely you’ve used a website builder that accurately defines your voice and showcases your identity, but this kind of work shouldn’t stop at your website. On the contrary, your voice needs to be consistent across all digital marketing channels, especially on social media, where you will be doing the most engaging with your audience.

Do: Engage With Customers

Speaking of engagement, this is another thing you will need to get right. One of the best things about social media as a marketing channel is that it’s a two-way street, giving you the opportunity to interact with your customers, just as your customers can interact with you. In order to take advantage of this, you need to be attributing at least thirty minutes a day to respond to comments, answer questions, and interact with followers in a way that builds relationships and fosters loyalty.

Do: Post Regularly

With the above point in mind, it’s also important to post quality content regularly. Make sure to share valuable, visually appealing content at least three times a week, making sure to remain relevant and highlight things you know your customers – and potential customers, for that matter – will care about.

Do: Utilise Social Media Analytics

In terms of how users interact with your posts, this shouldn’t just be analysed through the amount of likes or comments that you get. Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok actually offer excellent analytic tools, helping you to monitor engagement, reach, and conversion rates in order to refine your strategy accordingly. Every time you post on social media, make sure you’re utilising these tools, checking and comparing how well your posts have done, and what kind of audience members you are reaching. If you do this, then not only will you see how well you’re performing as a brand, but you might also get some interesting insights into new audience members to target – and how to target them.

Do: Leverage Video Content

Perhaps the most popular social media platform in 2025 is TikTok, which prioritises short-form video content and highly engaging, algorithm-driven recommendations. For small businesses, leveraging video content is no longer optional, it’s an essential tactic for standing out in a crowded digital space. Even if you’re not familiar with it, there’s nothing stopping you from trying a few things out and seeing what hits well with your typical audience.

Don’t: Post Without a Strategy

Now on to the dreaded don’ts! Any social media advice article will tell you that the worst thing you can do is post without a strategy, and we’re not going to go against the grain! It’s true that random or inconsistent posting can really disengage your audience, so it’s essential that you post with a strategy in mind and make sure to keep to that strategy to stop your audience from getting confused.

Don’t: Over-Promote

Marketing doesn’t always mean marketing. Or, at least, it doesn’t always mean pushing your products in front of people in the hope that they will be engaged. On social media, the most important thing is connecting with your audience, building lasting relationships that can turn people from passive observers into loyal customers. With this in mind, it’s crucial that you don’t over-promote your products, and instead focus on storytelling, education, and engagement first and foremost. We’re not saying you can’t ever highlight your products, or showcase a new product coming to your catalogue. But it’s important to get the balance right and make sure users aren’t being bombarded with clear and obvious advertisements.

Don’t: Use Too Many Platforms

There are multiple social media channels to choose from, but rather than create a business account for all of them, it’s far better to master a few key platforms where you know your audience is more active. Do your research into the best social media platform for your target audience, and take your time getting to know the channel and how you can engage with it. If you use too many platforms at once, the chances are you will spread yourself too thin and end up making a minimal impact.

Don’t: Rely on Organic Reach

Social media is fickle, and the algorithms are constantly changing. While two or three years ago, you would have been able to grow quickly on Instagram through organic reach, in 2025, the algorithm has changed, and it is a lot harder to make that impact. This is why it’s important to invest in targeted ads and collaborations to expand your audience and make sure you’re constantly driving engagement. Compared to traditional digital marketing, the costs are still relatively cheap. For instance, boosting an Instagram post doesn’t have to cost you any more than $15. But the important thing is that you take the time to research and make sure you know what you’re doing, boosting and marketing your posts strategically, without relying on solely organic engagement.

Don’t: Be Negative

One of the common downfalls of businesses is that they get a little too invested when engaging with their audience. It’s highly likely, for instance, that someone out there will have a bad experience with your product, and they will take to social media to share that experience. The important thing for you to remember is that their experience is valid, and pushing back on criticism will only make your company look unprofessional. Again, that’s not to say you should entirely ignore negative comments. In fact, addressing criticism professionally and promptly can emphasise that you care and actively enhance your credibility. But you need to ensure any responses are professional, and always concocted with the wider audience in mind.

Conclusion

These are five do’s and don’ts that can ensure your first year – and the years beyond that – on social media goes smoothly. As we mentioned previously, this can be the best marketing channel to help your company grow and reach a whole new audience, but it’s essential you take it seriously and make the right decisions to guarantee your success. Oh, and don’t spend too much time on there doom scrolling; it can really be a killer for productivity!