The Power of Social Media for Small Businesses: How to Turn Posts Into Business Growth

Social media is one of the most powerful ways for small businesses to build awareness, connect with customers, and stay visible online. But successful social media marketing is about more than posting whenever you have time or sharing the occasional promotion.

Today, customers use social media to discover local businesses, learn about products and services, read customer feedback, and decide who they want to work with. A consistent social presence can help your business stay top of mind, while paid social advertising can help you reach new customers who may not know your business yet.

The challenge is finding the time and expertise to create content, keep up with trends, run ads, and measure results while also managing the day-to-day demands of your business.

That is where the right social media strategy and support can make a meaningful difference.

Social media can support business growth in several ways. The most effective strategies often combine relationship-building content with campaigns designed to reach new audiences.

Build Brand Awareness

Customers are more likely to remember a business they see regularly. Sharing consistent content can help your business become more familiar to people in your community.

Your social content should reflect your brand and show customers what makes your business different. This could include your expertise, customer experience, team, values, or the quality of your work.

Over time, that familiarity can help build recognition and trust.

Connect With Current Customers

Social media gives businesses an opportunity to maintain relationships after a customer has made a purchase or completed a service.

You can use your social channels to answer questions, respond to comments, share updates, and provide useful information. These ongoing interactions can help customers stay connected to your business and encourage repeat business.

Demonstrate Your Expertise

Helpful content can show customers that your business understands their needs.

For example, a home services business might share seasonal maintenance tips. A salon could provide advice about caring for a new hairstyle. A legal practice might answer common questions about its services.

Educational content does more than fill your social calendar. It can help establish credibility and give potential customers a reason to learn more about your business.

Reach New Customers

Organic posts primarily help you stay connected with your existing audience, but paid social media advertising can expand your reach.

Social ads allow businesses to promote content to specific audiences based on factors such as location, interests, and other targeting options available through the platform.

This can help your business reach people who may be interested in your services but have not yet followed your page or discovered your business.

Organic social media and paid social advertising serve different purposes. A strong strategy may include both.

Organic Social Media

Organic social media includes the content you publish directly to your business profiles without paying to distribute it.

Organic content can help you:

• Maintain relationships with followers
• Share your business personality
• Provide useful information
• Highlight customer experiences
• Build credibility over time
• Keep your business active and visible

Organic social media is valuable for long-term relationship-building, but the reach of individual posts can vary.

Paid Social Media Ads

Paid social ads are promoted campaigns designed to reach a broader or more targeted audience.

Social ads can help businesses:

• Increase awareness in a local market
• Promote a specific service or offer
• Reach new potential customers
• Drive traffic to a website or landing page
• Generate calls, messages, or other customer actions

Paid advertising can provide more control over who sees your content and how much you spend. However, successful campaigns still require strong creative, clear messaging, thoughtful targeting, and ongoing performance monitoring.

The most effective approach depends on your goals. If you want to strengthen customer relationships and maintain visibility, consistent organic content may be the priority. If you want to reach new audiences or promote a time-sensitive offer, paid advertising may be a better fit.

Social media can create meaningful opportunities, but it also requires time and attention.

Many small business owners struggle with questions like:

• What should I post?
• How often should I post?
• Which social media platforms should I use?
• How do I create content that reflects my business?
• Should I invest in social media ads?
• How do I know whether my social media efforts are working?

These challenges can make social media feel like another full-time responsibility.

Creating quality content takes planning. Running paid campaigns requires audience research, compelling visuals, effective copy, budget management, and performance tracking. Even when business owners understand the value of social media, they may not have the time to manage every detail consistently.

That is why having the right tools, resources, or marketing support can be valuable.

You do not need to be active on every platform or publish new content every day. Start with a focused strategy that supports your business goals.

Define Your Goal

Decide what you want social media to help your business accomplish.

Your goal may be to:

• Build local awareness
• Attract new customers
• Increase website traffic
• Promote a new service
• Generate more calls or inquiries
• Encourage repeat business
• Stay connected with existing customers

A clear goal can help you determine what content to create and how to measure success.

Focus on the Platforms Your Customers Use

You do not need to maintain a profile on every social media platform.

Consider where your target customers spend their time and which platforms fit your business. Visual businesses may benefit from image- and video-focused platforms, while professional service providers may prioritize platforms that support educational or industry-related content.

It is usually better to maintain a consistent presence on a few relevant channels than to spread your efforts too thin.

Create Content That Is Useful and Relevant

Your content should provide value to your audience rather than focus only on selling.

Consider creating a mix of:

• Helpful tips
• Frequently asked questions
• Customer reviews
• Before-and-after photos
• Team introductions
• Seasonal reminders
• Business updates
• Promotions and special offers
• Educational videos

This variety can keep your content useful while giving customers multiple ways to connect with your business.

Use Clear Calls to Action

Tell customers what to do next.

Depending on your goal, your call to action may encourage people to:

• Visit your website
• Request an estimate
• Book an appointment
• Call your business
• Send a message
• Learn more about a service

A clear next step can help turn attention and engagement into meaningful business activity.

5. Review Your Results

Social media performance is about more than likes and follower counts.

Review metrics that align with your goals, such as:

• Website visits
• Calls and messages
• Clicks
• Leads or inquiries
• Engagement
• Reach and impressions
• Customer actions

Use those insights to understand which topics and campaigns connect with your audience.

Consistent social media marketing can be difficult when you are already focused on serving customers and running your business.

Thryv Social Boosts provides done-for-you marketing support that helps small businesses stay active, engaging, and visible on social media without taking on the daily work themselves.

Thryv Social Boosts includes solutions designed to support different social media goals:

Thryv Social Posts

Thryv Social Posts helps businesses maintain a consistent social presence with professionally created content designed to reflect their brand.

Instead of trying to plan, write, and create every post yourself, you can work with marketing professionals who help create content that sounds like your business and supports your goals.

This can help you stay present in customers’ social feeds while freeing up more time to focus on your business.

Thryv Social Ads

Thryv Social Ads provides professionally managed social advertising designed to help businesses reach the right audiences and support customer growth.

Marketing experts handle key parts of the campaign process, including ad creative, messaging, targeting, and campaign management. This gives businesses access to professional social advertising support without having to manage every platform, dashboard, or campaign detail on their own.

Whether your goal is to build awareness, promote a service, or reach more potential customers, professionally managed social ads can help make your marketing efforts more focused and efficient.

Social Media Support That Fits Your Business

Every business has different marketing needs. Some may need help staying consistent with organic content. Others may want to expand their reach through paid advertising.

With Thryv Boosts, businesses can start with the marketing support that addresses their biggest need and add additional services as they grow. Thryv Boosts are designed to help businesses improve their online presence and reach more customers while keeping the marketing work manageable.

Social media does not have to become another overwhelming task on your to-do list.

With a clear strategy, relevant content, and consistent activity, social media can help your business build awareness, strengthen customer relationships, and create more opportunities to connect with potential customers.

If you need more support, done-for-you services can help you stay visible without requiring you to become a social media expert.

Ready to spend less time managing social media and more time running your business? Explore Thryv Boosts to find the right combination of social media, advertising, search, and brand support for your business.