Is Small Business Social Media Marketing Worth Your Money in 2025?
Small business social media marketing sits at the heart of modern business strategy. Over 5 billion people use social media worldwide right now, and is set to climb past 6 billion by 2028. With this in mind, small business owners face a simple question: Does social media deserve a place in your marketing budget?
The numbers tell an interesting story.
Around 71% of small and medium-sized businesses post on social media daily to promote and sell their products. People aged 16 to 54 discover most new products and services through social platforms.
The Handy Marketing Company has supported countless small businesses in tackling this digital challenge through our cost-effective social media management packages. THMC knows the reality behind the statistics - while average social media marketing costs can hit £150,000 annually, most small businesses spend under £50,000. Many invest just £100 to £5,000 each month.
This article examines whether social media marketing deserves your investment in 2025. We'll look at which platforms work best for small businesses and show you how to maximise returns without emptying your bank account.
Why social media matters for small businesses in 2025
Social media isn’t ‘just another marketing channel’. Today, it is up front and central to how customers find, research, and buy from businesses. We see businesses that embrace social media pull ahead of those that don't. Here's why THMC thinks social media matters more than ever for your small business.
1. The shift in consumer behaviour
Customers now check social platforms before they buy anything. 54% of internet users research products and services on social platforms. Even more telling, 76% of people have bought something they first found on social media.
This change reaches every age group. Almost 33% of Gen X across Europe and the United States use TikTok now, while 35% of baby boomers have joined Instagram. People spend about 2.5 hours daily on social media - nearly 40% of their waking hours.
Social recommendations pack a serious punch. 90% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands they follow on social media. Small businesses can build relationships that turn into sales.
2. The rise of mobile-first discovery
Mobile devices changed everything about how people find businesses. 55% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices. Google reports that more searches now happen on mobile devices than on desktop computers.
Social media platforms have become mobile-first experiences. People access Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms mainly through smartphones. Mobile-optimised content isn't optional anymore - it's essential for small business marketing.
Customers can discover your business on social media and buy from you without ever leaving their phone. One in four social media users bought products directly through social apps in just the past three months. THMC's cost-effective social media management packages help small businesses make the most of this mobile-first world.
3. Expectations of digital presence
Customers expect businesses to have an active social media presence. No digital footprint means potential customers might question whether you're legitimate.
But just being there isn't enough. Customers want genuine engagement. They expect businesses to:
Reply quickly to questions (72% want responses within an hour)
Share real, behind-the-scenes content
Join conversations instead of just pushing promotions
Handle customer service through social channels (42% of UK businesses already do this)
Small businesses can compete with bigger brands through authentic connections. Traditional advertising feels impersonal. Social media lets you show your personality and build a community around your brand.
Businesses with an active social media presence see 32% more brand awareness than those without and we know that the small businesses THMC works with often have an edge in social media marketing because they can be more authentic and community-focused than big corporations.
Social media moved beyond optional marketing in 2025. It's now an essential business tool that directly affects how customers see, find, and buy from you.
What are the real benefits of social media marketing?
Social media marketing delivers measurable results that show up in your business accounts. The Handy Marketing Company has tracked these benefits across dozens of small business campaigns. Here's what social media does for your business in 2025.
1. Builds brand awareness and trust
Social media puts your business in front of potential customers who would never find you otherwise. Over 5 billion active users worldwide scroll through these platforms daily, creating massive opportunities for brand exposure.
Regular posting builds recognition over time. Businesses with an active social media presence experience 32% more brand awareness compared to those without. Even more telling: 90% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands they follow on social media.
Trust develops naturally through social engagement. THMC's cost-effective social media management packages help businesses create authentic connections that turn followers into paying customers.
2. Drives website traffic and leads
Social media acts as a traffic generator for your website. 81% of consumers use social media to research products before making purchasing decisions.
Sharing engaging content with links to your site creates multiple traffic pathways. This works best when you:
Share portions of blog content to hook readers
Use high-quality visuals to encourage click-throughs
Include compelling calls-to-action in your posts
The traffic comes pre-qualified. Social media reaches people already interested in your industry, boosting conversion potential significantly.
3. Enables direct customer communication
Social media opens immediate two-way communication with your audience. Studies show 90% of consumers now communicate with brands through social media, making it essential for customer service.
Direct interaction builds personal relationships and creates an intimate brand voice. 64% of consumers spend more when their issues are resolved in the same channels they originally used to reach out.
You can respond to comments, answer questions, and address concerns in real-time. This shows customers you're attentive and responsive. THMC helps businesses manage these interactions efficiently.
4. Helps small businesses compete with larger brands
Small companies often outperform larger competitors on social media despite smaller budgets. Your advantage lies in authenticity and agility.
Small businesses connect more genuinely with audiences, telling stories that large corporations struggle to convey authentically. Research shows 78% of consumers say a brand's social media presence significantly impacts whether they trust that brand.
Small businesses can act swiftly on trends and respond more personally to customers. You can showcase your unique personality, build a community around your brand, and create niche-focused content that resonates deeply with specific audiences.
5. Supports SEO and online visibility
Social media indirectly boosts your search engine rankings. Though Google doesn't directly count social signals as ranking factors, social media helps SEO in several crucial ways:
Social sharing increases website traffic, which improves metrics like time-on-page and reduces bounce rates. Quality social content often earns backlinks from other websites—a critical SEO ranking factor.
Active social profiles enhance your brand's digital footprint, increasing the likelihood of appearing in both branded and local searches. THMC's approach ensures your social media strategy works in harmony with your overall online visibility goals.
How much does social media marketing cost in 2025?
Small businesses need real numbers when planning their 2025 social media budgets. The Handy Marketing Company walks business owners through these cost considerations daily to ensure maximum return on investment.
1. Cost of social media advertising vs. organic content
Global social media ad spend will hit £219.76 billion in 2025, showing its growing importance. Yet organic content still delivers value. Social media managers split their budgets - 27% goes to organic content creation and 22% to paid advertising. Both approaches work better together.
Paid advertising gives immediate visibility but stops the moment your campaign ends. Organic content keeps working over time. THMC recommends blending both approaches, using paid ads to boost your best-performing organic content—sometimes the most effective ad is simply a great post with £10 behind it.
2. Average monthly spend for small businesses
Small businesses typically invest between £79.42 and £3,970.80 per month on social media marketing. Most stick to the lower end:
Most small businesses spend £595.62-£2,500 monthly
Businesses just beginning often allocate £238.25 to £397.08 per month for social media advertising
48% of businesses spend anywhere from £79.42 to £25,000 per year
3. Breakdown of social media marketing prices
Platform costs differ dramatically. Average cost-per-click varies:
Facebook: £0.97
Instagram: £3.56
LinkedIn: £5.26
X (formerly Twitter): £0.38
TikTok: £0.79
THMC suggests small businesses start with modest daily budgets of £5 to £10 to test different audiences, creatives, and formats. This approach reveals what works before scaling up.
4. Tools and software costs
Social media management tools span from free options to premium services:
Basic plans: £0 to £79.42 monthly
Mid-tier options: £23.82 to £238.25 monthly
Enterprise solutions: £476.50+ monthly
Popular tools include Hootsuite (free-£29/month), Buffer (free-£15/month), and Sprout Social (£89-£149/month). THMC's cost-effective social media management packages provide access to premium tools without the hefty price tag.
5. In-house vs. outsourcing costs
Hiring an in-house social media manager costs roughly £35,737.21 to £55,591.21 annually. This excludes additional expenses like training, equipment, and office space.
Outsourcing options include:
Freelancers: £11.91-£75 hourly or £397.08-£7,941.60 monthly
Agencies: £397.08-£15,883.20 monthly depending on services
Your costs will vary based on specific needs and goals. THMC specialises in providing affordable social media solutions tailored specifically to small business requirements and budgets.
Which platforms are best for small business marketing?
Platform selection can determine whether your social media efforts succeed or fail. The Handy Marketing Company has guided numerous small businesses through this decision process, helping them focus their efforts where they'll generate the best returns.
1. Facebook: local reach and community building
Facebook remains a powerhouse for local businesses in 2025. Remarkably, more than 1.6 billion people on the platform are connected to a small business. Among local businesses surveyed, 57% identify Facebook as a top service for strengthening connections with their local community.
Personal connections play a crucial role in discovery—52% of consumers surveyed said that their connections on Facebook and Instagram help them discover interesting businesses or events. Through THMC's social media management packages, we help businesses harness these community connections effectively.
2. Instagram: visual storytelling and product discovery
Instagram has evolved from a simple photo-sharing app into a product discovery engine. A recent study found that 89% of shoppers have purchased something they first discovered on Instagram, making it invaluable for product-based businesses.
With over 2 billion active monthly users, the platform excels at visual storytelling. Additionally, 56% of people surveyed said seeing Instagram photos of a product increases their chances of buying it. Short-form videos, particularly Reels, now drive the highest engagement rates on the platform.
3. LinkedIn: B2B and professional services
Professional services businesses thrive on LinkedIn with its 1 billion members worldwide. The platform attracts decision-makers—over 50% of CEOs globally use LinkedIn, rising to over 60% of CTOs, CHROs, and CMOs.
LinkedIn's primary audience consists of professionals aged 25-34 (60%), making it ideal for B2B marketing and professional services. THMC helps businesses use LinkedIn's thought leadership opportunities to establish authority in their industries.
4. TikTok: fast growth and younger audiences
TikTok offers unprecedented growth potential, having reached 1 billion users just four years after its worldwide launch. The platform particularly appeals to younger demographics—41% of users are aged between 16 and 24.
Its influence on purchasing decisions is substantial. The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has accumulated 7.2 million posts, demonstrating its power in driving consumer behaviour. For small businesses targeting younger audiences, TikTok presents enormous opportunities.
5. Google Business: underrated but powerful
Often overlooked in social media discussions, Google Business provides free yet powerful tools for local businesses. Creating a profile costs nothing yet allows you to personalise with hours, photos, posts, and more.
This platform enables small businesses to stand out in local searches, connect with customers directly, and gain valuable insights about how people find your business. THMC always recommends setting up this underutilised resource.
6. Platform selection for your audience
When selecting platforms, consider these factors:
Target audience location: Research where your specific audience spends their time online
Content type alignment: Match your content strengths with platform characteristics
Resource availability: Start with 1-2 platforms instead of spreading too thin
At THMC, we recommend focusing on platforms where your audience already exists rather than trying to be everywhere at once. Our cost-effective social media management packages help small businesses maximise their impact on the platforms that matter most.
How to maximise ROI from your social media efforts
Social media presence means nothing without business results. The Handy Marketing Company has helped hundreds of small businesses turn their social media efforts into real returns. Here's how you can do the same.
1. Set clear goals and KPIs
Social media ROI starts with well-defined goals that match your broader business objectives. Without clear targets, your social media efforts scatter, making it challenging to measure what works. Your social media KPIs should always be SMART:
Specific: Include clear targets like increasing Instagram followers by 500
Measurable: Use metrics to quantify progress
Attainable: Set achievable goals based on industry benchmarks
Relevant: Connect each KPI to larger business goals
Timely: Establish clear timeframes for achievement
2. Use analytics to track performance
Social media analytics give you the insights needed to create better content and understand your audience. Through THMC's cost-effective social media management packages, we help businesses track crucial metrics across all platforms. Focus primarily on:
Conversion tracking connects specific posts to business results, referral traffic from social media shows visitors directly coming from these platforms, and engagement rates reveal audience interaction with your content.
Please get in touch with us today if you would like to discuss how we can support your small business's social media presence.
3. Repurpose content across platforms
Content repurposing extends your reach without extra creative effort. Repurposing content helps you expand reach, avoid burnout, and boost SEO efforts all at once. This approach lets you:
Create multiple posts from each piece of long-form content, adapt content to suit different platform requirements, and turn blog posts into carousel slides, videos, or live broadcasts.
4. Engage with your audience consistently
Consistency forms the foundation of social media success. Recent research shows highly consistent posters receive 5x more engagement per post than those posting sporadically. Regular engagement builds trust and strengthens relationships with your audience.
5. Test and optimise campaigns
A/B testing eliminates guesswork and optimises your social media marketing efforts. Testing different elements of your campaigns gives you real insights into audience behaviour. Test various components including:
Post layouts and headlines to identify what grabs attention, different CTAs to determine what drives conversion, and ad copy variations to maximise advertising budget effectiveness.
Conclusion
Social media marketing moved from optional to essential for small businesses in 2025. Your customers expect to find you on social platforms - they research products there, discover new services, and often make purchases directly through these channels. The Handy Marketing Company sees small business owners struggle with social media complexity daily. THMC helps businesses like yours succeed online without spending a fortune.
The benefits reach far beyond brand awareness. You get direct customer communication, more website traffic, and the ability to compete with bigger companies despite smaller budgets. Costs stay reasonable for most small businesses, particularly when you balance organic content with targeted paid promotion.
Platform choice shapes your success. Facebook works best for local businesses to build community connections. Instagram excels at product discovery through visual content. LinkedIn delivers B2B opportunities, while TikTok offers rapid growth with younger audiences. Please get in touch with us today if you would like to discuss how we can support your small business's social media presence.
Social media marketing demands investment - both money and time - but the returns justify the effort for most small businesses in 2025. Your customers spend hours daily on these platforms, actively looking for businesses like yours. Clear goals, regular engagement, and smart content planning can make social media your most cost-effective marketing channel. THMC's social media management packages give you the expertise to build meaningful connections that drive real business growth.
Key Takeaways
Social media marketing has evolved from optional to essential for small businesses in 2025, with clear benefits that justify the investment when approached strategically.
Consumer behaviour has shifted decisively online - 54% of users research products via social platforms, with 76% purchasing items they discovered on social media.
Small businesses can compete effectively with modest budgets - Most spend £595-£2,500 monthly, far less than the £150,000 average, yet achieve significant results.
Platform selection matters more than presence everywhere - Focus on 1-2 platforms where your audience exists rather than spreading resources thin across all channels.
ROI maximisation requires clear goals and consistent testing - Set SMART KPIs, track analytics religiously, and A/B test content to optimise performance continuously.
Organic content combined with strategic paid promotion delivers best value - Balance 27% budget on organic content with 22% on targeted advertising for optimal results.
The key to success lies not in massive spending but in strategic focus, consistent engagement, and understanding where your specific audience spends their time online. With over 5 billion active users worldwide, social media remains the most cost-effective way for small businesses to build brand awareness, drive traffic, and compete with larger competitors.
FAQs
Q1. Is social media marketing still effective for small businesses in 2025?
Yes, social media marketing remains highly effective for small businesses in 2025. With over 5 billion active users worldwide, it provides unparalleled opportunities for brand exposure, customer engagement, and sales growth. Most consumers now use social platforms to research products before purchasing, making it an essential channel for business growth.
Q2. How much should a small business spend on social media marketing in 2025?
Most small businesses spend between £595 and £2,500 per month on social media marketing. However, many businesses starting out allocate £238 to £397 per month for social media advertising. It's advisable to begin with modest daily budgets of £5 to £10 to test different strategies before scaling up.
Q3. Which social media platforms are best for small businesses in 2025?
The best platforms depend on your target audience and business type. Facebook remains excellent for local businesses and community building. Instagram is ideal for visual storytelling and product discovery. LinkedIn is crucial for B2B and professional services, while TikTok offers fast growth potential with younger audiences. Google Business, though often overlooked, provides powerful free tools for local visibility.
Q4. How can small businesses maximise their return on investment from social media?
To maximise ROI, set clear goals and KPIs, use analytics to track performance, repurpose content across platforms, engage consistently with your audience, and continuously test and optimise your campaigns. Focus on creating quality content that resonates with your target audience rather than trying to be present on every platform.
Q5. What are the main benefits of social media marketing for small businesses?
Social media marketing offers numerous benefits, including increased brand awareness and trust, driving website traffic and leads, enabling direct customer communication, helping small businesses compete with larger brands, and supporting SEO efforts. It also provides a cost-effective way to reach and engage with your target audience, often delivering better results than traditional advertising methods.
