Small business 101: A social media guide for growing your business.

Updated March, 2026

Social media is a powerful promotional tool for growing your business. It allows small business owners to build relationships, get feedback on products or services, and even generate sales leads through targeted hashtags. Best of all, organic social media is free.

In this Small Business 101 guide, we’ll give you an overview of four popular social media platforms, explain how to choose the right one(s) for your business, and provide some tips so that you can leverage organic social media effectively.

LinkedIn.

Known as the “professional” social media platform, LinkedIn has evolved beyond being just a tool for finding jobs. Members use it to share information, give advice, and build their business networks. As a promotional tool, it works best for companies selling to other businesses, organizations, or governments, or that provide career solutions to individuals (e.g. education or training programs). Keeping with the platform's intent, the most effective posts include useful statistics, quotes or testimonials, or case studies.

Facebook.

Launched in 2024 as a student directory at Harvard, Facebook is considered one of the original social media platforms. It’s primarily used to stay in touch with friends and family and is popular with older audiences—Gen X is the largest user group, followed by Baby Boomers and Millennials (Source: Sprout Social). The platform is well-suited for businesses catering to consumers over 35, and best practice is to post in an informal, conversational tone. I

Instagram.

Now owned by Meta (which also owns Facebook), Instagram gained fame as the social media platform for sharing photos and videos. Its audience skews younger, with 16-34-year-olds reporting that it is their favorite platform (Source: Hootsuite). Since visuals are so important on Instagram, it works well for companies that sell products that can be attractively displayed or services that can be demonstrated (e.g. an interior decorating company that can show before and after pictures.)

TikTok.

Known for its viral videos, TikTok is a global platform that skews more female than male, and is popular with 25-34 year olds (Source: Designrush). Consumer businesses targeting this demographic should consider using this fast-growing platform to increase brand awareness and drive sales. Storytelling and how-to videos with targeted hashtags are especially popular techniques for attracting and engaging platform viewers.

Next steps.

Now that you have an overview of the social media platforms, you can decide which one(s) align with your target audience, develop a social media strategy, create content, and begin posting.

But if you don’t have the time or bandwidth to do so, we have a business hack that’s proven especially effective for small business owners.

Hire a social media intern. Onboarding a student intern is often more cost-effective than hiring a full-time employee or outsourcing the work to a marketing agency. Students can bring a fresh perspective to your business, especially in social media marketing. They are often digital natives who understand the nuances of different social media platforms, and they can offer new ideas and strategies for growing your brand.

Jonathan Neilson, Director, Nikkei Cultural Society of Lethbridge, hired social media interns through Level UP, a Riipen program partially funded by the Government of Canada's Innovative Work-Integrated Learning (I-WIL) Initiatives program. “The students we hired through Level UP completely revamped our branding, developed a social media marketing strategy, updated our websites and brainstormed possible events that would be easy to implement online,” he shared. ”Now, we have a consistent list of strategic posts that encourages engagement and promotes our online activities”.

Interns can also conduct research on relevant hashtags, analyze metrics such as post engagement, follower growth, and website traffic, and engage with followers to build relationships and community.  

Interns helped small business owner Fiona Wallace increase followers and sales for her company, Nutrition Opportunities Worldwide. She reported, “[The students] managed to grow my LinkedIn followers organically by almost 3,000 people in the space of a few months. This has benefited my business by increasing brand awareness with key stakeholders, which resulted in a new contract of $25K that I do not think I would have obtained without my social media presence.”

If you are a small business owner looking to grow your business through social media, Riipen can help. With access to student talent from various educational institutions and training providers, we can connect you with an intern who fits your business needs.

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About the author:

Carol Chin is a communications consultant specializing in content creation, storytelling, and thought leadership in the education and workforce development sectors. A passionate advocate for lifelong learning, she held senior leadership roles at global education and talent development companies including Pearson, Ellucian, and Stride before starting her own company to partner with mission-driven organizations. Her work informs, inspires, and empowers learners and professionals about key issues and trends in education, career readiness, and jobs of the future.

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