As of July 2024, there are an estimated 5 billion social media users worldwide, making up approximately 63% of the global population.
Regardless of the size of your business, social media must be part of your marketing strategy. Small businesses shouldn’t look at social networks as luxury marketing tools. They’ve got to see their potential and use it to their advantage.
For the most part, time is the biggest obstacle for small businesses. Therefore, scheduling is usually the most effective solution. It allows businesses to plan ahead of time and create quality content that genuinely impacts the bottom line.
In this article, we discuss social media scheduling and provide you with practical advice on how to use tools for social media management for small business.
High-performing social media accounts tend to post multiple times per day across various platforms.
Of course, there’s no perfect number when it comes to your social media schedule. However, you can check out our insider data from our 2025 social media management report to see the most popular days to publish posts:
While you don’t have to commit to a strict schedule, you can clearly see how much time and effort goes into social media management. Even if you use two to three core networks, maintaining a consistent schedule of engaging content is difficult.
Today, many small businesses rely on social media management tools to optimise their digital performance and compete with industry rivals. A scheduler is among the most useful features of a quality tool.
It might not seem like much, but having a calendar and platform to schedule posts on multiple networks ahead of time is hugely beneficial.
Below, we dig deeper into the benefits.
If you don’t have a scheduling tool, each post across all platforms must be created, written, and uploaded one at a time. If you haven’t had to do this before, you might be surprised at how long it takes.
The two biggest challenges small business owners face are owner dependence and fatigue. Adding social media management to an already stacked task list is a recipe for failure. When deciding to improve social media, you must utilise every tool at your disposal.
By using a scheduler like Sendible’s, it’s possible to build entire campaigns, including posts for multiple social media platforms, from one place. You can then schedule your content weeks or months in advance instead of investing time and resources into manual publishing.
Here’s a social media cycle many small businesses end up in.
They don’t have time to create good content but realise they need to post. So, they quickly put out a photo with a generic caption.
The post doesn’t take off, leaving management disappointed.
Next time, they put way more time into curating a great video with an engaging caption, which does much better.
But, management put too much time into this post and is now behind, resulting in no social media posts for a week.
By now, new followers may have left or become disengaged. Management realises they haven’t posted in a week, and the cycle restarts.
You can build campaigns how you want and ensure they’re scheduled at a time that best resonates with your target demographic. The best part is that some social media management tools also enable you to automatically schedule evergreen posts and even have 365+ events embedded in their calendar with actionable ideas on how to celebrate them on social media.
Yes, Sendible has both. Including an RSS feed that you can use to source high-quality content.
Consistency is an essential part of a successful social media strategy. That said, for a small business, it’s often the biggest challenge.
Depending on the industry, your competitors may post an average of 11 times per day across various platforms.
With more consistency, your audience gets to know you better. They get used to your posting frequency, helping build relationships and leading to a more trusting audience.
Social media networks, like TikTok and Instagram, tend to reward accounts that post frequently. For example, a consistent posting schedule may increase reach on standard posts, helping you grow your audience faster.
The more you post, the more you learn.
With a consistent schedule, small businesses can quickly determine what type of content performs best. You could even create templates or guidelines to maximise content performance over time.
Simply put, a scheduling tool makes consistency possible for many small businesses.
Task sharing is quite common in small businesses. Social media may be a joint responsibility. For example, a manager may have day-to-day access to social accounts but need sign-off from the owner for important posts.
Some social media management schedulers, like Sendible’s, feature collaborative workflows. This means multiple people have access to the schedule but are assigned different roles.
Collaborative workflows are also great for creating posts as a remote team. Members can work together as if they were in the same room, resulting in improved consistency and more efficient workflows.
When deciding what social media scheduler to sign up for, it’s best to go with one that has built-in analytics.
Gaining momentum, finding consistency, and creating content are just one side of the coin.
Analysing the performance of your campaigns is also important. Even small businesses should use analysis as a reference for social media performance and progress. Schedulers with built-in analytics tools make this process seamless.
Sendible allows you to generate in-depth reports for your social media accounts in seconds. You can gain instant insight into your combined social media performance across all platforms.
A scheduler is just one feature of a more comprehensive social media management tool.
Quality tools typically have other useful features, like design programs, video editing, and analytics, etc. These programs allow you to handle most of the heavy lifting from one place.
The first step in choosing the right social media management tool is to determine your goals and needs. These will help you identify the most important features.
For example, a wedding photography business will likely need visual integrations, like image editing. A remote marketing company may benefit more from collaboration tools. Priorities will change from business to business.
Regardless, there are certain features that set the benchmark for social media management tools. Below, we discuss the key tools to look out for to help you find the most suitable management tool for your small business.
As discussed scheduling is one of, if not the most important feature of a quality management tool. It’s the biggest time saver for most small businesses, which in turn, can lead to cost savings.
A good scheduler allows you to plan your content in advance. You can program it into the calendar in bulk, rather than one at a time. This eliminates the need to log into individual accounts and upload your content every single day.
Sendible’s scheduling tool enables bulk importation of content so you can create and program content for all social media platforms months ahead of time. Once uploaded to the calendar, team members can easily preview or edit the content if necessary.
Not only does this allow for seamless and transparent social media content creation, but it also affords your business valuable time. Rather than spending hours on tedious work, you’re free to focus on strategic tasks and improving other key areas of the business.
Not every piece of content has to be a home run. While filler or generic posts may not be worth your while, sometimes evergreen or information-based content is important. These types of posts need to be published at regular intervals.
Automation features enable the scheduling of evergreen content at your chosen frequency so you don’t have to manually upload the information every single time. Once you create the post the first time, you can set it and forget it.
Automation tools like this make consistency much easier to maintain. If this is an important focus area for your business, consider Sendible’s Smart Queues to ensure you maintain a steady flow of content.
Social media management tools help small businesses to perform tasks that they would not previously have thought possible.
Tools, like Sendible, allow you to customise the messaging of your content to hit precise demographics. You can use location-based targeting to make tailored posts for set regions. This makes it possible to hit trends that apply predominantly to specific areas.
As well as saving you time and helping with consistency, Sendible’s management tool improves the effectiveness and impact of your social media. This customisability can make all the difference if your business generates leads or sells directly from social platforms.
Today, all businesses need to be data-driven, regardless of size.
When it comes to social media, analytics simply cannot be ignored. Insights tell you what is working and, more importantly, what isn’t. This poses challenges for smaller organisations, particularly those that already struggle with their social media.
Quality social media management tools solve this problem. If you opt for a tool like Sendible, you get detailed reports with social media analytics and insights with a few clicks of your mouse.
Whether you want a snapshot of how your channels are performing or a more detailed look at ROI, the information is readily available.
Any insights gained should be used to create more effective and engaging content in the future. This is an extremely efficient way to enhance your social media strategy.
Sendible also integrates with Google Analytics. This gives your reports even more depth as you can combine insights from your website and social channels.
This leads us to the next point.
Modern social media tools should be judged on their integrations as well as their features. Many are compatible with other useful tools, making it even easier to manage multiple profiles and create a variety of content.
Sendible integrates with the most popular social networks for small businesses, including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google Business Profiles. It also integrates with other useful tools and apps that can enhance your social media performance, including:
Additionally, Sendible gives you your very own virtual sidekick, AI Assist. You can use it to generate content ideas, cutting down the time you spend brainstorming. Plus, AI Assist can be used to write captions, rephrase marketing messages, and craft copy that aligns with your brand and resonates with your audience.
Although AI is becoming more common in social media management, it’s by no means the standard. AI Assist may be the most useful integration for small businesses, given that it handles tedious tasks, helps with idea generation, and takes your content to new standards.
Small businesses are unlikely to have in-house graphic designers. And so, they have to outsource image and video design to expensive design companies or freelancers.
Some social media management tools have built-in image design software, allowing you to make images and edit videos with no prior experience. Sure, it may take you some time to get accustomed to the program, but in the long run, it can save you time and money.
As mentioned above, Sendible integrates with Canva, one of the most popular image editing tools in the world. One of the reasons for its popularity is that it’s easy to use and intuitive.
Regardless of how effective a social media tool is, you’re bound to run into issues. This could be a technical problem or something you need help with. In times of need, you’ll be glad that your social media tool has a support team available.
It’s beneficial to sign up for a social media management tool with reliable customer support. Sendible has a live support chat available daily so you can get in touch with a member of our team whenever you need to.
To boot, you’ll have access to a customer success manager that will assist you in creating the best possible social media strategy by leveraging our tools.
Small businesses must look for every opportunity to make marginal gains. Cutting unnecessary costs is an important responsibility.
In a small business’ social media infancy, managing one or two accounts might be possible. However, to optimise digital marketing and maintain engagement, social media can get out of hand quite quickly.
When you get to the point where posting on socials, engaging with your audience, and taking advantage of each platform becomes impossible, it’s time to consider getting help. Whether you hire in-house or outsource the role, working with a social media manager is the obvious solution.
While there are clear benefits to hiring one, it’s not always a necessity. Before making your decision, consider the pros and cons.
As mentioned, hiring a social media manager doesn’t guarantee results and it’s by no means cheap. That said, if you find the right person, the benefits are clear and social media could be a platform to propel your small business.
Unfortunately, there’s no secret place from which you can pluck the best social media managers. Hiring one is a process that you should take seriously. It’s imperative that you prioritise getting the right person on board rather than settling for a quick hire.
You’ll need to put together a job advertisement and post it on relevant platforms, which will depend on your business and location. Once you have your shortlist, you can save time and money by putting together a list of quality questions.
Pro tip: if you’re ready to start interviewing candidates, download Sendible’s free template of interview questions for your next social media manager.
Whether you successfully hire a social media manager or decide to proceed with social media management with your in-house team, it’s important to transition smoothly.
Below, we’ve outlined the key responsibilities for handling social media responsibilities and optimising your online presence.
Earlier, we mentioned the unfortunate social media cycle that small businesses get wrapped up in.
It may seem like a good idea to dedicate an hour per day to come up with a post and upload it, but this approach is often unsustainable. Furthermore, it lacks strategy and is unlikely to bear much fruit in the long run.
Avoid a sporadic and random posting approach by setting clear goals that align with the overall objectives of your business.
Pro tip: if you need help on the topic of social media goal setting, check out our comprehensive guide.
If there’s one tip to follow on our list, it’s this one.
Plan your content in advance, whether it’s a week ahead, a month ahead, or more. This will allow you to fully realise your strategy and execute it without unnecessary stress.
When you plan your social media in advance, you can add depth to your marketing strategy by incorporating blogs, podcasts, guides, and other elements.
Getting your hands on a quality scheduling tool makes this step a breeze. With Sendible, you can customise several elements of your calendar. For example, you can label the type of content, the network you’re posting to, assign it to a specific campaign, and more.
Various team members may be awarded access to the schedule to review, preview, and even edit posts. Collaborative workflows make communication and team-based projects easy to complete.
Use your management tools to your advantage and ensure you are consistent.
It’s important to be strategic with timing, but this doesn’t mean you only post on busy days, like weekends. When you post consistently, most social media platform algorithms will start working in your favour.
With small business social media, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. In fact, you’re usually better off keeping the status quo.
Research competitors and analyse what successful businesses are doing in your industry (and outside). Don’t be afraid to use other accounts as influences. While there’s no need to jump on every trend, keep an eye out for opportunistic moments.
If you sign up for Sendible, you can use AI Assist to come up with ideas too.
Community management plays a role in successful social media practice. It’s the process of interacting and engaging with followers and other accounts. The idea is to give your brand personality and create relationships with customers.
Good community management is a form of lead generation. It’s similar to word-of-mouth marketing and is essentially an extended branch of your customer service.
The main issue with community management is that it takes time. What’s more, without a social media management tool, you’ll have to log in and out of each social network to reply to comments and engage with other accounts.
With Sendible, you have a dashboard that allows you to access feeds, messages, and comments from multiple platforms in a single place.
Analytics are the present and future of social media marketing. As a small business, you can gain a significant advantage over your peers if you focus on data.
At a basic level, monitor post performance and get an idea of what content resonates best with our audience. If you sell via social media, take note of what posts lead to the most conversions. Remember the importance of community management and see what drums up engagement, such as comments, shares, and likes.
The data can also inform you on what social networks work best for you. This lets you know where to invest your time.
Sendible provides you with in-depth analytics in a matter of minutes, making social media insights easily accessible. Don’t worry about downloading reports from individual platforms. Sendible makes comparisons seamless.
Social media can be daunting for small businesses. Today, companies are expected to be active on multiple platforms. To boot, content standards have never been higher.
Using a social media management tool helps small businesses overcome these difficulties. Single dashboards, schedulers, interactive workflows, AI, and other features essentially allow one person to do the work of many.
If you want to step up your business’s social media but don’t know where to start, consider using a tool, like Sendible. Put any doubts at ease by signing up for our free trial.