5 Tips to Make the Most of Social Media on a Budget

April 29th 2025

Marketing is often the tool that can make or break small businesses. The more marketing you do, effectively, the more traffic you can drive to your company and the more word of mouth you can foster. Conversely, if you don’t invest in promotional activities, it’s often harder to make your audience aware that your business even exists.

Marketing is critical.

Of course, there are myriad different types of marketing you can invest in.

Some are expensive, such as advertising (a.k.a. paid media), events, telemarketing, or sponsorships. Others are inexpensive but no less effective.

Social media falls into the less expensive category, at least at the start. You can certainly pour thousands of dollars into social media campaigns, but I’d recommend building up to that — figuring out what works for your product or service on a small scale before you go all-in.

If you’re just getting started or dipping your toe in the social media waters, here are some strategies to use that won’t break the bank but that can help generate results for less money:

Focus on one platform

You’ve probably heard this before, but do not spread yourself thin trying to be on every social media platform out there. It’s hard to get noticed if you’re only posting monthly on six different platforms, for example. A better approach is to be visible daily on one platform.

Choose that one social media site based on where your target market spends its time or is most active. If your business has a visual element, such as interior design or fine art, and your target client is a woman, Pinterest or Instagram would likely be a smart choice. Similarly, if you run a tech company or your target clients are other businesses, LinkedIn is probably your best option. You can also explore Facebook, TikTok, or Threads, to name other options.

Investing your time and resources on one social media platform allows you to build traction, boost your content more quickly, and get noticed faster.

Build a community

By attracting like-minded buyers and clients to your social media account, you can start to build a tribe, a community. With that community of fans and advocates in place, you can then encourage them to help you generate content and engage with each other. They can ask questions, offer advice, and make recommendations to others in the community.

User-generated content is less expensive for you because you don’t have to create it, and it’s more credible since it comes from people who like your products and services or have done business with you. It’s more believable than your own posts, which can be viewed as advertisements.

Although creating a Facebook group is the quickest and easiest way to build an online community, you can also build a following on other platforms.

Content batch

Save yourself time and money by spending a block of time crafting multiple social media posts that you can then schedule and drip out over time. For example, you could take short videos of various clients or of your work and then share them over the next few days or weeks. Or you could write up 5-10 blog posts in one fell swoop and schedule them to be posted weekly.

Using a scheduling app like Buffer or Later helps you plan ahead and stay on top of content creation without it having to take up time every day; that can be distracting and time-consuming. 

Posting regularly helps boost your visibility because social media algorithms prefer accounts that are posting consistently. Just don’t let it run your schedule.

Shoot more video content

Right now, videos seem to be what most platforms want to see, because that’s what users prefer. So, consider doing more video recording than writing.

Fortunately, you don’t need to invest in pricey equipment or set up elaborate photo shoots. Videos that are working the best are more casual, day-in-the-life scenarios that don’t require lots of planning and set-up. Use your cell phone to record and upload it to be edited or straight to social media.

In fact, some of the most popular types of videos are behind-the-scenes looks at your business or your work process, tutorials related to the product or service you sell, or even tips and advice to help your audience do something better. It doesn’t have to be high impact or deep, but help your audience get to know you and see a snippet of your work life.

Pay attention to your data

This holds true for all types of marketing, but whenever possible, look at your analytics to learn what’s working and what’s not before you spend more time or money to potentially give your community what it’s not interested in. Look for clues as to what your audience wants more of, to keep them coming back for more and engaging longer.

Most platforms offer free analytics that track metrics like followers and engagement. You can also see what topics seem to be resonating the most with your audience, so you can give them more of that type of content.

Today, social media is where people of all ages are spending much of their time online, so take advantage of that fact and make sure your company is findable online and that what you have on social media is of interest to your target audience. It doesn’t have to cost much but social media posts can generate significant sales for your business.