Social Media is a minefield, and can be very daunting for many founders and small business owners. Where do you start? What type of content do your audience want and need? This can be difficult to figure out (and that’s why there are people like me to help you), so today I will give you an overview of each platform and help you make that vital decision.

There are dozens of social media platforms we could discuss, but the main 5 that I will be covering today are:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

Instagram

When you think of social media marketing, 9 times out of 10, you think of Instagram. Its versatility across reels, static posts, and stories gives a brand many options for posting a variety of content. Furthermore, Instagram’s main demographic is 18-34, making it a great platform for targeting a younger audience if your brand requires it.

With 2 billion monthly users (as of 2025), Instagram is perfect for driving engagement and boosting awareness for your business. On a visually driven platform, success depends on your ability to share high-quality content that appeals to your specific audience. More recently, the importance of video content has grown to the point that it is often a higher priority in marketing strategies than basic static content.

In the past, successful brand content was just photos of their products, with relevant hashtags. Now, with a growing desire for authenticity, audiences are favouring behind-the-scenes content and connection with the people behind these brands.

In the past, you would add 30 generic hashtags to your Instagram post caption to boost engagement. That no longer works. Now, Instagram favours 3-5 high-niched hashtags. Using generic tags such as #followme or #newbusiness will not have the desired effect. It is important to research your niche and see what your competitors are doing and what’s working for them. If done correctly, hashtags can still help with searchability and therefore increase reach.

On Instagram, you can advertise and boost through Meta. This allows you to strategically target specific demographics with your content, using filters such as location, age, and interests. With this, you can better target your ad spend and channel it toward more bookings or leads, depending on your business goals. A great feature is that you can boost after posting, meaning you can boost a video that has already performed well and is likely to do well when put in front of your desired audience.

Consistency is vital on Instagram. Posting 2 to 3 times a week is amazing for growth, so that your audience can constantly engage with you and your brand. On that note, you should prioritise engaging with your audience and community, as this will also boost engagement. However, be careful not to overwhelm your audience, posting multiple times a day with overly self-promoting content. A strong strategy can help keep you on track and make sure you find that sweet spot.

Facebook

Facebook is the king of social media, with 3 billion monthly users as of 2025. Facebook has a more varied core demographic, ranging from 18 to 44. This means you can better reach a more varied audience, or perhaps an older one if this is your goal. As part of Meta, Facebook integrates well with Instagram, allowing you to post the same content on both platforms, thereby increasing productivity.

For the most part, strategies should follow the same guidelines as on Instagram. Post consistently with relevant, engaging content and ensure that your brand remains consistent across your posts. On the other hand, Facebook has a more limited organic reach than Instagram, placing greater emphasis on targeted ads, which can significantly increase engagement.

Facebook offers multiple paid ad formats, including:

• Image ad: static, single photo
• Video ad: short video advertisement
• Carousel ad: multiple images that a user can scroll through
• Stories ad: full-screen content that is live for 24 hours
• Boosted Post: similar to Instagram, using an existing post
• Link ad: a clickable image with the goal to drive web traffic

Whilst organic reach is limited, you still need to ensure you have a base audience before you start spending money on paid advertisements. To do this, you can transfer users from other platforms by promoting your Facebook page, or if you’re starting from scratch, you can engage in local communities and relevant posts to your niche and industry.

TikTok

TikTok has experienced exponential growth over the years, now reaching almost 1.6 billion monthly active users. Daily time spent on the app grew from 27 minutes in 2019 to 1 hour and 37 minutes in 2025, signalling its huge cultural influence.

TikTok is commonly the most authentic platform, with many users recording and uploading videos with no editing and basic music. Despite this, it is also a very trend-driven platform. You should use this to your advantage.

The core demographic of TikTok is younger users, with over 60% in the 18-34 age range. Like on Instagram, users favour authentic content, but that doesn’t mean you can’t promote your products and services more explicitly. In order to do this strategically, you must ensure you are using trending sounds, and if you are going to partake in a trend, check that people haven’t already moved on – it can happen a lot more easily than you think.

Each video should:

• Get to the point
• Use minimal, effective hashtags
• Use trending sounds
• Use text where necessary

Whilst not always necessary, a brand should still prioritise high-quality content. Using your mobile phone is perfectly acceptable here, and can also help you come across as more authentic and trustworthy. Just ensure your videos are entertaining, because it takes less than a second for a user to scroll on to the next video. Scary, right?

In late 2023, TikTok introduced TikTok Shop. Since its release, it has seen a 108% year-on-year increase, with U.S. sales alone hitting $15.82 billion in 2025. If you sell products, it may be in your interest to explore this option. Live streams can be a great way to promote products in your store and boost sales in a contained, relatively short period. Not only does this boost sales, but it also helps you to engage with your community.

YouTube

As of early 2026, YouTube has approximately 2.7 billion monthly active users. Daily engagement remains high, with over 122 million users logging in daily. YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, and is where many go to find answers to their questions.

Since its creation in 2006, YouTube has always been a platform for long-form content. Videos can range from 10 minutes to 3 hours, and there is seemingly always somebody who will watch every minute. Despite this, there is growing competition for attention and growth, with a greater focus on creating engaging thumbnails and titles (like Mr Beast) to maximise viewership. That said, you don’t need to replicate Squid Game in real life to drive engagement for your business.

With the trend of authenticity, YouTube is the perfect platform to do that. Long-form videos are a great way for your audience to get to know you and your products/services. When people feel they’re gaining insights into your business, they’re more likely to trust you, which can boost engagement and drive sales.

In early 2021, YouTube released YouTube Shorts, which has since skyrocketed to over 200 billion watch hours per day. This tremendous success has provided yet another platform for you to reach your audience on a grand scale. The benefit is that users can directly move from a short-form video to a long-form video, allowing you to create a user journey that promotes both types of content.

There are strong ties between SEO and YouTube, so having a strong presence on the platform helps you to rank higher in search engines and, therefore, be discovered organically across the internet. With YouTube being a Google product, leveraging SEO tools on the platform can also help you rank higher on search engines.

YouTube is the most trusted social media platform for finding and purchasing products, meaning you can easily build credibility for your brand through highlighting why people should buy your product and what problem it solves. Utilise visual storytelling to strengthen your identity on the platform, and you’re sure to see benefits from it.

YouTube can also perform as an additional revenue stream. If your channel meets the YouTube Partner Program’s eligibility criteria, you can earn money from views and engagement. Let that be another reason to use YouTube to promote your brand.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn was created as a B2B platform and has over 1.3 billion members, with a primary demographic of 25-34 year-olds.

Because of its nature, LinkedIn allows you to be more explicit in promoting your brand, building authority, and generating leads or sales for your business. You can target a more professional audience and target based on job titles, industries and company sizes, a feature that other social media platforms lack.

On LinkedIn, you should prioritise sharing valuable insights, industry news, and original content, rather than just promoting your business. In doing this, you establish yourself as credible and knowledgeable in your field, which is valued more than popularity across the platform.

LinkedIn also offers a more direct connection to your relevant audience, with powerful networking capabilities to connect with peers, potential clients, or recruiters. This can increase visibility and provide fruitful opportunities for you and your business. Often, the knowledge you gain on LinkedIn can help you with your strategies elsewhere, making it a great hub for your social media marketing.

Moreover, LinkedIn offers paid features such as Sales Navigator, which helps you find businesses, engage with high-quality prospects, and gain real-time insights for your direct outreach. You can use up to 50 filters to find specific people, overcoming limitations that other platforms may pose. More recently, you can leverage AI tools to gather insights more efficiently for customised messaging, thereby increasing response rates.

If you’re looking for more professional outreach and engagement with your audience, LinkedIn is a good place to start.

Final Thoughts

Social media is better utilised when used in conjunction with one another. It is not best practice to focus solely on one platform, as this limits your ability to reach a wider audience and engage with them in different ways. That said, it is important that you don’t post the same generic content across all 5 platforms, as this is unlikely to achieve any desired effects, given that users on each platform require and expect different content formats and styles.

Having a strong social media marketing strategy is vital to using it to the best of your ability. Whilst the odd random post on TikTok may benefit your brand image, having an overarching goal for your use of social media can help you maintain a strong direction and create a presence that is cohesive and works well together and achieves your main goal, whether that be leads, web traffic or sales.

If you’d like to learn more about creating an effective, personalised social media marketing strategy, please get in touch.