Marketing
A simple social media plan for a small business
6 min read
Most small business social plans fail because they are built for a marketing team that does not exist. This one assumes one person, one platform and about an hour a fortnight.
Choose one platform, deliberately
Pick the platform where your buyers already discuss the problem you solve, and ignore the rest until that one works. For B2B services this is usually LinkedIn; for local and visual trades, Instagram or Facebook groups; for search-adjacent demand, short video.
One platform done consistently beats four done occasionally, because reach on every network rewards regular posting.
Four content pillars
Rotate these in order. The rotation removes the daily "what do I post" decision, which is the real reason schedules collapse.
- Proof: work you have done, before and after, results with permission.
- Teaching: one useful thing your customer could act on today.
- Point of view: what you think the industry gets wrong, argued politely.
- Behind the business: process, people, decisions — the posts that build familiarity.
Batch a fortnight in one sitting
- 1.Block one hour, fortnightly, in the calendar as a real appointment.
- 2.List ten post ideas against the four pillars — recent client questions are the best source.
- 3.Write the hook line for all ten first, then the bodies. Hooks are where attention is won or lost.
- 4.Add one image, clip or screenshot per post; reuse work you already produced.
- 5.Schedule them across the fortnight, leaving two slots free for anything topical.
Measure two numbers, not twelve
Track saves or shares as your quality signal, and profile visits or link clicks as your intent signal. Likes tell you almost nothing about whether the work is producing enquiries.
Review monthly. Keep the top two posts and make variations of them next month; drop the format that produced nothing twice in a row.
- Write down enquiries that mention a post — the only metric that pays.
- Repost your best-performing content after a quarter; most followers never saw it.
- Put one clear call to action in the profile, not in every post.
Common questions
- How often should a small business post on social media?
- Two to three times a week on one platform is enough to build reach and is realistic to sustain. Consistency matters more than volume.
- How far ahead should I plan social media posts?
- A fortnight is the sweet spot for small businesses: long enough to batch efficiently, short enough that the content stays current.