Social media experts share what every small business owner should know

Hundreds of small business owners and experts share their solutions with Yelp every year on how to overcome the biggest challenges in entrepreneurship—and social media is a hot topic. According to a2023 study, nearly half of American consumers have made a purchase through social media, making these platforms an importanttool for small business growth.

Whether you’re just getting started on social media or looking to enhance your content, business owners have a lot of questions: Which platforms make sense for my business? How do I balance content creation while managing a business? And how can I market myself online while staying true to who I am?

Read on for our favorite insights from social media strategists, agency experts, and small business owners who’ve found success on social media—plus, get more detailed advice in the articles linked below.

Getting started on social media

“You already have more content than you think you do, especially as a business owner on Yelp. You have the reviews. You can look and see what dishes are being recommended.You can see what content people want and create [more] content around that.”
—Anne Faire, Yelp’s San Diego community manager
How to boost your business’s social media with video

Your customer is wherever you feel most comfortable. A lot of times, business owners think we need to be in 30,000 places at once, instead of just choosing the platforms that you can be your most authentic self on. Choose where you feel most comfortable, and then go from there.

—Kristin Lawrence, customer success at Twitter
看我们,跟我们:什么视频nd Social Media Mean for Local Business

“The number one thing I hear from founders is, ‘I don’t have time.’ What I say is:Be smart about it. You don’t have to post every day.Start by creating two videos a week and spreading that across platforms and see where it goes.”
—Esther Lee, founder and CEO of Asian Founded

“Even if it’s a week at a time or two weeks at a time,I really suggest business owners sit down and see what content they can get outso that they can focus on other things during the week. If you’re not thinking about it, social media is one of those things that’s going to get easily written off the list.”
—Lara Betthauser, Yelp social media manager
How to create a social media calendar for your small business

Growing your following

“People like good, quality content that they can resonate with and can relate to. They want to be able to communicate with you. They want to know you.Social media is about building community.So start building a community with the platform that you’re on already.”
—Chelle Dockery, owner of Solo Creative
Business founders roundtable: what they’d tell their younger selves

You don’t need to make a TikTok to go viral. You need to go viral in your own community first. Build those relationships. Host [events] at your store and work with people in the community and have them try[your product]and talk about how great your business is. Working with people like that on a small scale will help your business grow tremendously.

—Grayson DiFonzo, founder, designer, and CEO of BuddyLove
How to Turn Your Social Presence into Dollars

“People like to be entertained. Half the time we’re trying to create videos that are so pretty and make sure we get our brand voice out—thinking we need our logos stamped on every single asset. But no, people just wanna have a good time. A lot of us are on social media to escape for a little bit and then go back into real life.That bit of joy we can provide in marketing [is essential].”
—Esther Lee, founder and CEO of Asian Founded

Showing up authentically

“关注出现像你,真实的,and being original, and people are gonna love you for that. It’s good to learn about new trends, but at the end of the day, I really want [business owners] to just be themselves and not worry about their follower [count].Manage the account you have now, manage the following you have now, and build that community.You are gonna grow from that.”
—Chelle Dockery, owner of Solo Creative
Business founders roundtable: what they’d tell their younger selves

You can definitely market yourself and your services without having to use methods that don’t sit right with your morals and your values as a human. If you can be open about [who you are] and open about your journey, it will resonate with people. People will feel more comfortable and safe to hire you and work with you and trust you in that manner.

—Miriam Fried, founder and head trainer at MF Strong

“Good content will resonate.A lot of people don’t like to be vulnerable on camera, but it’s showing that vulnerability as a business owner that people can resonate with.You don’t even have to share your face. Maybe it’s showing your warehouse—giving that little behind the scenes. People forget that there arepeoplebehind businesses, so [give them] that reminder of ‘Hey, we are a group of people who are working to get this to you as fast as we can.’”
—Esther Lee, founder and CEO of Asian Founded

“People don’t want perfect—perfect isn’t relatable.When you are sharing your stories and behind the scenes and what goes into running the store, [the audience is] starting to feel like: ‘This is my friend. I want to support them.’ When you are being your authentic self, the right people are going to connect with you.”
—Crystal Vilkaitis, owner of Crystal Media social media strategy agency
The ‘Daily 5:’ how to post on social media in 5 minutes or less

Evaluating your performance

“After you put content out there, you have to play detective. You need to go back and say, ‘When I posted this on Monday at 5:55 consistently, no one engaged with it, but when I posted every Tuesday at 3 p.m., I saw a spike.’You have to have some insights of what has worked for you in the past, what hasn’t, and how you can pivot.”
—Crystal Chase, digital marketing consultant at C. Chase Consulting
How to Turn Your Social Presence into Dollars

“Take some time—15 or 20 minutes—tolook at the backend of your social channels and see what type of content is performing well.Start to figure out: What story am I trying to tell? Which of those are actually working? And does this align with what I outwardly want my branding and my audience to receive from me? People try to do so many different things or try to tell so many stories, when really they can really narrow it down.”
—Ayanna Alleyne Grant, senior director of social media at Yelp

“At the end of the month or two weeks that you’ve scheduled content, go back and make sure you’re looking at that performance. Not only how many likes did it get, but did anybody comment? Did anybody share it with someone? Did anybody save it to their profile, especially on Instagram?You want to look to see what’s performing well and put themes together to see how you can incorporate that moving forward.”
—Lara Betthauser, Yelp social media manager
How to create a social media calendar for your small business

Did you know?

Yelp Community Managers (CMs) regularly feature small businesses on Yelp’s local, social media pages—see an example below from Yelp Portland. If you would like to connect with your local CM, pleasesubmit an inquiry, and check outwww.yelp.com/eventsto find local events happening in your area.