Guide

Social media marketing: a practical guide

Organic content, communities, creators and paid social across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube and more.

Social media sits at the crossroads of the map: it is a digital channel, a customer-service desk, a PR outlet and a stage for your brand all at once. That is why it is an interchange on so many lines — and why it works best when it has a clear job rather than trying to do everything.

Choosing platforms

Go where your audience already spends time, and do a few platforms well rather than many badly. LinkedIn dominates B2B; Instagram and TikTok suit visual, younger-skewing consumer brands; Facebook still has the broadest UK reach and strong local groups; YouTube is the place for longer video and how-to content; Pinterest works for planning-led categories such as home, food and weddings.

Content that works

Organic reach rewards content people stop for, watch to the end and share. Short video, behind-the-scenes, useful tips and genuine personality outperform polished adverts. Plan regular formats so you are not starting from a blank page every day, and repurpose longer content into clips and posts.

Community and customer care

People expect replies on social. Answer questions and complaints quickly, move private issues to private messages, and treat comments as research into what customers think. A well-run community — a group, a hashtag, a regular live session — turns followers into advocates.

Influencers and creators

Working with creators borrows their audience's trust. Choose creators for audience fit and engagement rather than follower count; smaller specialist creators often deliver better results. If you pay, gift or otherwise reward a creator, the post is an ad and must be clearly labelled — the ASA and CMA expect a prominent "#ad" or "Ad" label up front, not buried in hashtags.

Paid social

Paying to promote posts or run campaigns gives reach and targeting that organic content no longer guarantees. See the paid social section of the PPC guide.

Measuring social

Match the metric to the job: reach and video views for awareness, engagement and saves for content, clicks and conversions for traffic and sales, response times and sentiment for customer care. Follower count on its own tells you very little.