Social Media Marketing for Small Business: The Strategies Nobody Else Is Using (Updated for 2026)

In November 2012, my colleagues and I started a Facebook page called Punnky. It stood for Positive Uplifting News Network.

We had no idea if it would work. We just wanted to put some positive energy into the world, one story and one quote a day.

Within two months it passed 100,000 fans and reached 6 million people.

Then, on 16 September 2013, we posted a screenshot of a personal note written in the iPhone Notes app. In a few days it had more than 100,000 likes and 22,000 shares.

We didn't get lucky. Angela Yeow, who ran the page, had tested fifteen different content styles and themes and tracked which ones people shared. And the winning post ticked two boxes that researchers had just identified.

That's the thing about social media. It changes constantly, but the psychology underneath barely moves.

When I wrote Chapter 7 of Feed a Starving Crowd, I said: "Social sells." I still believe it. But two of the platforms in that chapter no longer exist in the same form, so here's the updated version.

Does social media marketing still work for small businesses?

Yes. But not the way most people do it.

Most small businesses post when they remember, about whatever's on their mind, and measure likes. Then they decide social "doesn't work."

The businesses that make money from social do three things differently:

1. They go where their starving crowd already is, not where everyone says they should be.
2. They post things people want to share or save.
3. They give every post a job: a lead, a sale, a member kept.

If you're not sure who your crowd is yet, start with the starving crowd principle. Picking a platform before you know your customer is like choosing a shop location before you know what you sell.

What makes a post go viral?

In 2012, Jonah Berger and Katherine Milkman at Wharton published a study of about 7,000 New York Times articles to see which ones readers emailed to each other most.

They found two things:

• Emotion. Content that triggers a strong emotion, like awe, amusement or anger, gets shared more than calm content.
• Positivity. All else equal, positive content beats negative content.

Our Punnky post had both. It looked like a private message (curiosity), it was moving (emotion), and it was uplifting (positive). Angela's testing also found a winning caption format: one line of description, then "Share if you agree," then a reason to follow the page.

The 2026 lesson: emotion and positivity still travel, but each platform now rewards different signals. Saves and shares matter more than likes on most platforms, and how long people watch matters most on video.

What changed since 2013 (and what replaced it)?

Here's the honest scorecard for Chapter 7:

Pinterest and Reddit made it through. StumbleUpon and SlideShare didn't. The principles did.

How do you use LinkedIn to reach people who won't take your call?

This one hasn't aged at all.

When I was writing Feed a Starving Crowd, I had to reach dozens of people I'd never met to interview them. I went through LinkedIn for every one. Most were happy to help.

Here's how:

1. Fix your profile first. When someone gets your request, the first thing they do is read your profile. Make it complete, with recommendations and proof.
2. Write a custom note for every person. Mine was two sentences: I'm writing a book about creative marketing campaigns and I'd like to include a case study from your company. Does this interest you?
3. Move fast. Once connected, book a call straight away. Get 'em while they're hot.
4. Do it yourself. I never delegated this to an assistant. People can tell.

It works whether you're selling, recruiting a joint venture partner, or asking an expert for advice.

In 2026 add one thing: post before you pitch. If your last ten posts are useful to the person you're contacting, your request lands as a familiar name, not a stranger.

Is Reddit worth it for a small business?

For the right niche, very much so. I'll admit I didn't love Reddit's design when I wrote the book (and I said so, knowing I'd be eaten alive if I posted that on Reddit itself). But the audience is huge, curious and switched on. Reddit went public in March 2024 and reports well over 100 million daily active users.

The examples from the book still teach the right lessons:

• DuckDuckGo ran a simple Reddit ad for thirteen days. It cost $650 and brought 20,700 clicks, about 3 cents each. Founder Gabriel Weinberg said the key was that Redditors actually tried the product, and their 656 comments told him what to fix.
• A Hebrew teacher posted a free coupon for his Udemy course and got 500 enrollments in under two days. Free students made the course look popular, which helped paid sales.
• A beef jerky store spotted a thread complaining about the price of jerky and offered a Reddit-only discount code.

Two things are different in 2026. First, Reddit threads now rank prominently in Google, and Reddit licenses its data to AI companies including OpenAI. A helpful answer in the right subreddit can keep sending customers for years. Second, Redditors are even quicker to spot marketing dressed up as a "genuine" post. Be open about who you are, follow each subreddit's rules, and add more than you take.

How do you make short video work without a production budget?

The wikiHow story from Chapter 7 is the best guide I know to short video, even though it was about Pinterest.

wikiHow went from zero to about 46,000 Pinterest followers by doing three things: visually appealing posts, topics that fit its audience, and high-quality content to click through to. It also leaned into seasonal topics and cross-promoted Pinterest everywhere else.

That's exactly how how-to content works on TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts today. People type questions into those apps the way they used to type them into Google.

So:

• Answer one real question per video. "How much does a dental membership cost?" beats "Meet the team."
• Hook in the first two seconds. Show the result first, then how.
• Plan around seasons. Tax time, back to school, the new year, Christmas.
• Give one next step. Your free guide, your trial, your booking page.

How do subscription businesses use social media differently?

A one-off seller needs social to find new buyers. A subscription business needs it to keep the ones it has.

I made this point in The Subscription Playbook with LiveAgent and Airbase, which both run communities (on Facebook and Slack) that keep members engaged and bring in new ones. I go through those in growing subscribers on a shoestring budget.

A few ways to use social for retention:

• Members-only content. A private group, broadcast channel or live session that only subscribers can join.
• Members as the content. Share member wins (with permission). Sephora built its most-followed Pinterest boards from staff "It Lists" of favorite products, which is exactly what a subscription box curator should be posting.
• Listening for churn. Complaints and "how do I cancel" questions on social are early warnings. My customer retention strategies cover what to do next.

What are the rules for Australian businesses?

Three to know, as at October 2026:

1. You're responsible for your page. The ACCC says businesses are responsible for false or misleading comments and posts others make on their social media pages. Set posting rules, block people who break them, and remove misleading posts.
2. Paid posts are ads. The ACCC applies the same advertising rules to posts you pay or incentivize influencers to make.
3. Under-16s are off most platforms. Australia's social media minimum age took effect on 10 December 2025. Platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Reddit must take reasonable steps to stop under-16s holding accounts. If you sell to teenagers, your social strategy now has to reach parents.

This is general information, not legal advice.

When is social media the wrong channel?

When your customers aren't there in a buying frame of mind. A commercial cleaning company might get more from LinkedIn outreach and Google than from TikTok.

When you can't commit. Three months of posting followed by silence looks worse than never starting.

And when you're using it to avoid harder work. If your offer, pricing or landing page is weak, more posts won't fix it. There are 101 other low-budget marketing ideas to try first.

What to do next

1. Pick one main platform where your customers ask questions about your problem.
2. List twenty questions your customers ask you. Each one is a post or a video.
3. Test at least three content styles for a month, like Angela did, and keep the winner.
4. Give every post a single next step, ideally onto your email list.
5. Send ten personal LinkedIn notes a week to partners, prospects or experts.

Then, when a post starts working, put a small budget behind it. My guide to Facebook and Instagram ads on a small budget shows you how.

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Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and Feed a Starving Crowd and a Director at BPAG Accountants in Sydney. More about Robert.