The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing: How to Grow Your Business with Strategic Social Media
Clayton Pantano • February 24, 2025
Introduction to Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is no longer optional—it's a necessity in 2025. With billions of people actively engaging across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok, businesses that harness the power of social media gain an undeniable advantage for small and medium businesses all around the world.
But here’s the truth: Posting content randomly won’t get you results. You have to have a strategy.
Successful social media marketing requires a clear strategy, a deep understanding of your audience, and the proper execution. That’s where we come in. As leaders in social media marketing and social media management, we’ve helped businesses like yours create impactful online presences that drive real business growth.
If you’re looking for expert guidance and a proven approach to social media success, keep reading. This guide will show you exactly how to build an effective strategy, choose the right platforms, and maximize engagement—all while ensuring your social media efforts lead to real revenue.
Take 5 minutes and read this and save yourself 5 years of struggling to figure it out on your own.
The Benefits of Social Media Marketing
A well-executed social media marketing strategy does more than generate likes. It drives tangible business results like increased lead flow and revenue. Here’s how:
1. Increased Brand Awareness
- Most of your potential customers spend hours per week (or day) on social media. By showing up consistently, you keep your brand top-of-mind as they regularly see your content while they’re scrolling.
- Platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn reward businesses that engage with their audiences. When it comes to platforms with a lot of growth opportunities, these are two of the market leaders for businesses.
2. Better Customer Engagement
- Social media fosters direct interaction with customers, helping businesses build trust and relationships. On social platforms, people are looking to be social. Take advantage of this by building relationships with your customers.
- Engaging content sparks conversations, making your brand feel authentic and approachable. This leads to incredible opportunities for your business.
3. Higher Conversion Rates
- A strong social media presence helps convert passive viewers into paying customers.
- Studies show that brands with active social profiles see higher conversion rates than those without. As people follow your business, they actively progress further through the funnel and your content can handle their sales objections without you having to close them. So, not only is your social media content increasing your exposure, it’s helping you close more deals!
4. Cost-Effective Marketing
- Unlike traditional advertising, social media marketing can be incredibly affordable. In fact, you can post on social media for free. There’s not a more cost-effective way to market your business. And when it comes to paid advertising, the CPM on social media is one of the lowest of any advertising channel.
- Organic growth strategies, combined with targeted paid campaigns, yield massive ROI.
Developing a Social Media Marketing Strategy
1. Set Clear Goals
What do you want from social media? Brand awareness? Leads? Direct sales?
If you can’t clearly define your goals, you will be aimlessly marketing your business. It’s a lot like driving to a destination. Unless you can define where it is you’re trying to get to, driving around in circles isn’t likely to help. Same with social media marketing. If you don’t know what your goal is, you’ll be posting at random hoping you end up somewhere you want to be.
Define KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure your success.
Once you’ve defined what your goals are, you need to define your metrics for success. Some examples of social media marketing KPIs could be:
- Grow following by 10% each month
- Generate 5 new leads this month
- Close 1 new deal this month
- Generate 50 new mailing list sign ups via social media
The KPIs should be unique to your business, but make sure that they are meaningful and measurable for your business goals.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
Who are your ideal customers? Where do they spend time online?
What problems do they have that your business can solve?
Much like driving without a destination is pointless, you have to clearly define the “Who” of your target audience.
When you know “Who” you’re marketing to, then you know which types of content you should be posting, which platforms you should be on, and what types of calls to action to include in your strategy.
We have an internal saying here at Entrust Marketing: “It all starts with ‘Who.’”
3. Choose the Right Platforms
- B2B businesses should focus on LinkedIn and Instagram.
- Retail & lifestyle brands thrive on Instagram and TikTok.
- Local businesses gain traction on Facebook and Google Business Profile.
Each platform has unique nuances that make it beneficial for different businesses.
Going one step back to #2 above, when you know “Who” you’re marketing to, choosing the platforms becomes very easy. You can research the demographics of each platform to find the platform that best fits your audience.
4. Plan Your Content Strategy
- Mix educational, entertaining, and promotional content.
- Use a variety of formats: videos, carousels, polls, stories, and infographics.
A strong social media content strategy is going to have a mix of different styles and types of content. It can become incredibly boring for an audience to see the same content time and time again.
When building your content strategy, come up with 3-4 content pillars that you can stick to consistently. A rather simple example is “Educate, entertain, engage.”
In this example, the “Educate” pillars can be any posts that help educate your customers in your services/products, your sales process, etc. Give them some new knowledge. In our case, the “educate” pillar of our strategy as an agency centers around giving out helpful marketing advice.
“Entertainment” posts can be industry-specific memes, bloopers, or funny videos that help to personalize your business in the eyes of your audience.
“Engagement” posts can be polls and other audience-centric posts where you invite them to take part in the fun and interact with your business.
5. Create a Posting Schedule
- Consistency matters more than frequency.
- Use scheduling tools to maintain a steady content flow.
The last thing you want when it comes to social media is to “Post and Ghost" your audience. Stay consistent and reap the rewards.
Overview of Major Social Media Platforms
1. Facebook
- Organic reach is declining. In 2024, Facebook’s organic reach dropped by 41%, making it less effective for unpaid growth.
- Best for paid advertising. Facebook Ads provide incredible targeting options for lead generation and sales.
- Community engagement is key. Facebook Groups offer businesses a way to foster communities and build brand loyalty.
- Pro Tip: Use retargeting ads to capture and convert website visitors who didn’t take action.
2. Instagram
- Balanced content is essential. While Reels still drive the most reach, carousels and static posts are gaining more traction for engagement.
- Reels aren’t everything. There was a 20% drop in Reels reach, meaning a diverse content strategy works best.
- Stories drive conversions. Customers use Stories to interact with brands through polls, Q&A, and links.
- Pro Tip: Combine Reels for visibility, carousels for engagement, and Stories for sales.
What does that mean for you? If you aren’t a video person, you can still grow! Reels play an important role in any effective social media strategy on Instagram, so still use them, but it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t.
3. LinkedIn
- Organic engagement is booming. A 99% increase in interactions combined with a 25% drop in posting frequency means less competition and more opportunity.
- Best for thought leadership. Personal brand posts perform better than company page updates.
- Pro Tip: Share original insights, industry trends, and behind-the-scenes content to build credibility and trust.
If you’re a business owner that is the face of your brand, then LinkedIn is a must. Go, get active, and start posting! There is a massive attention arbitrage on that platform right now.
4. TikTok
- One of the best platforms for discoverability. TikTok had a 70% increase in post reach in 2024, making it great for brand awareness.
- Engagement is everything. The algorithm favors brands that interact with comments and trends.
- Pro Tip: Post behind-the-scenes content, storytelling videos, and educational clips to engage audiences authentically.
Is it banned? Is it here? Is it gone? All normal questions you’ve had to ask yourself in 2025 when it comes to TikTok.
Good news: It’s here right now and is still a fantastic tool for growth on social media. In 2025, TikTok is a great option to include in your social media strategy.
A piece of advice: With the future of this platform up in the air, work to get people into a mailing list, to your Instagram, to your YouTube, etc. to make sure you don’t fully lose that audience in the future.
5. YouTube
- Still the king of long-term growth. YouTube content has the longest lifespan of any social platform, making it a smart investment.
- Best for in-depth content. Tutorials, reviews, and educational videos thrive here.
- Pro Tip: Optimize videos with SEO-friendly titles and descriptions to rank higher in YouTube searches.
YouTube is still one of the most powerful platforms in the world. Both from a social media perspective and a search engine perspective. This is a fantastic tool to incorporate into your strategy.
Measuring & Analyzing Social Media Performance
1. Track Key Metrics That Matter
- Engagement Rate: Measures how much your audience interacts with your content (likes, shares, comments). A high engagement rate indicates strong audience connection.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): Shows how many people take action from your post (clicking a link, visiting your website). Low CTR? Adjust your call-to-action and test different messaging.
- Conversion Rate: Tells you how many of those clicks turn into leads or sales. If this is low, your landing page or offer may need tweaking.
- Audience Growth: A steady increase in followers isn’t just vanity—it indicates that your content resonates with the right people.
2. Use Advanced Analytics Tools
- Facebook & Instagram Insights: Track post reach, engagement, and audience demographics.
- Google Analytics: See how social traffic contributes to website goals like lead form submissions.
- UTM Parameters: Tag URLs in social posts to track exact traffic sources and optimize accordingly.
3. Turn Data Into Action
- If a post performs well, analyze why and replicate that success.
- If engagement drops, test new formats, post times, or messaging.
- If conversions are low, refine landing pages, improve offers, and A/B test headlines.
Data without action is meaningless. The best social media marketing strategies use insights to continuously refine content, improve engagement, and drive business results.
Advanced Social Media Strategies
1. Paid Advertising & Retargeting
- Use Facebook & Instagram Ads to precisely target your ideal audience.
- Retargeting campaigns ensure that warm leads don’t slip away.
While some companies may stick to just organic social media, adding in paid advertising is a great way to supercharge your reach.
With strategic paid advertising, you can reach more of your ideal audience for a relatively low amount.
Strategic campaigns not only increase your reach, but also increase your lead flow. Looking to capitalize on your existing website traffic? Paid campaigns can retarget those visitors!
2. Influencer Collaborations
- Partnering with micro-influencers can drive authentic engagement and increase credibility.
- Look for influencers whose audience aligns with your target market.
Have a business that could benefit from extra word of mouth or additional promotion from someone with an audience of your ideal clients? Well, this is going to be a great way to do that!
Influencer campaigns are powerful when executed properly!
3. User-Generated Content
Encourage customers to share their experiences by creating branded hashtags.
Feature user-generated content on your own profiles to build community and trust.
Our clients see great success from UGC, or user-generated content. Encouraging your audience to become part of the conversation around your brand drives engagement, interaction, and even sales!
Make Friday a “Fan Friday” and share some UGC on your social media and watch your engagement start skyrocketing!
4. Leveraging Trends & Viral Content
- Stay updated on platform trends, trending audio, and viral challenges.
- Engaging in timely trends can help expand your reach and visibility.
Trends can become a bit played out over time, but when they’re hot, don’t be afraid to jump on!
Now, word of advice, studies have shown that people don’t care for irrelevant content from trends that don’t apply to them or your business. So, choose wisely when figuring out which trends to jump on.
5. Social Commerce & Selling Directly on Platforms
- Platforms like Instagram and Facebook now allow in-app purchases.
- Optimize product listings and drive sales directly through social media.
Instead of selling on your website or another platform, you can utilize social media platforms that allow for in-app shopping! This streamlines your customer experience and may potentially increase your conversion rate (Results may vary.)
Final Thoughts: Why You Need a Social Media Marketing Partner
Social media success isn’t about posting more—it’s about posting smarter.
With the right strategy, your business can generate leads, increase sales, and build long-term brand loyalty. But doing this effectively requires expertise, creativity, and constant adaptation.
That’s where we come in. At Entrust Marketing, we help businesses like yours craft data-driven social media strategies that generate real results.
🔹 Custom strategies tailored to your brand.
🔹 High-quality content that resonates with your audience.
🔹 Performance tracking & ongoing optimization.
Don’t waste time guessing—let’s make social media work for you.
📩 Contact us today to elevate your social media marketing strategy!
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