Somebody has told you it’s daily. Somebody else has said three times a day on one platform and twice on another, plus stories, plus reels.
That advice is written for brands with a content team. You have a business to run, and the reason your social media stops in March every year is that you set yourself a schedule nobody could keep.
So: a realistic answer, from someone who runs accounts for small businesses and has to make them work inside a couple of days a month.
The honest answer on frequency
Two to three posts a week, on one or two platforms, kept up for a year.
That’s it. That beats daily-for-six-weeks-then-nothing by an enormous margin, and it’s achievable alongside actually running a company.
Why it works:
- Consistency is the ranking factor that matters for you. Platforms favour accounts that post regularly. Regularly does not mean often — it means predictably.
- Nobody sees everything. Roughly a tenth of your followers see any given post. Three good posts a week reach far more people than the theoretical maths suggests, and repeating yourself across months is fine — it’s necessary, in fact.
- A dormant profile is worse than a quiet one. A business that last posted in 2024 signals a business winding down. That’s the real cost of an over-ambitious schedule: it doesn’t just fail, it leaves evidence.
If you can genuinely sustain five a week, do. But choose the number you can still hit in a busy November.
Which platforms are actually worth it
Pick one primary, one secondary. Not five.
- LinkedIn — B2B, professional services, recruitment, anything with a considered sale. Currently the most generous platform for reach if you post as a person rather than a company page.
- Facebook — local services, trades, community-facing businesses, over-35s. Still where local recommendation happens, largely inside groups. Undervalued by people who find it unfashionable.
- Instagram — anything visual: food, retail, interiors, construction, beauty, events. If your work photographs well, this is your platform.
- TikTok / YouTube — real reach, real work. Only worth it if you’ll actually make video regularly. Be honest with yourself.
- X, Threads, Pinterest, others — niche cases. For most small businesses, not where the customers are.
The test: where do your best five customers spend time? If you don’t know, ask them. That takes an afternoon and beats any amount of theory.
What to post when nothing has happened
This is the real problem. Frequency is easy once you have a supply of things to say, and “we haven’t done anything interesting” is the most common reason accounts go quiet.
Five categories, rotated, and you’ll never be stuck:
1. The work. Before, during, after. The unglamorous middle of a job is more interesting than the finished photo — people like seeing how something is done. Take pictures on your phone as you go, badly, and worry about it later.
2. The questions. Every question a customer asks you is a post. You have hundreds. “Why does X cost more than Y?” “How long does this actually take?” “What’s the difference between these two options?” These do double duty — they’re also your website FAQ and your blog. Content marketing →
3. The people. Who did the job. Who’s new. Who’s been there fourteen years. This is the single most reliably engaging category and the one businesses are shyest about, which tells you something.
4. The opinion. Something in your trade that’s done badly, and what you do instead. Mild disagreement outperforms agreement every time, and it makes you memorable in a feed of interchangeable niceness.
5. The proof. A result, a number, a review, a thank-you note. Screenshots of a happy customer’s message, with permission, are worth more than any designed graphic.
Batch it. One hour, once a fortnight, six posts written and scheduled. That’s the only way this survives contact with a busy month.
What actually gets engagement (and what doesn’t)
Consistent patterns across the accounts I run:
Works: faces, especially of the people who do the work · genuine before-and-afters · answers to real questions · anything local and specific — a landmark, a street, a reference only people nearby will get · honest opinions · behind-the-scenes mess · customer results with numbers
Doesn’t: stock photography with quotes on it · “Happy Friday everyone!” · reposted national awareness days with no connection to you · anything that reads as though it was written by a committee · links off the platform with no context (platforms suppress them, and people don’t click naked links)
Should you pay someone to do this?
Depends what’s scarce.
Do it yourself if you have the time and the interest, and your business is visual or personality-led. Nobody knows your work better than you do, and the slightly rough authentic version usually outperforms the polished agency version.
Get help if you keep stopping. The cost of a dormant account isn’t zero — it actively tells people you might have closed. Paying for consistency is a legitimate purchase.
Get training instead if you have someone keen but unsure. This is often the best value of the three: set the strategy, build the plan, teach them, then let them run it. It’s what plenty of my clients choose.
What it costs, published, because nobody else round here does: £350 a day. Setting up a social account properly — research, strategy, profiles, content plan — is typically a day. Ongoing management runs from around £200 a month for roughly eight posts, and scales up from there. As part of your monthly marketing, or standalone — whichever suits.
A word on measurement
Followers are the least useful number on the dashboard. Watch instead:
- Saves and shares — the strongest signal that a post was genuinely useful
- Profile visits and website clicks — people moving towards buying
- Messages and enquiries — the actual point
- Whether new customers mention it — ask everyone who enquires, and write it down
An account with 400 local followers who buy is worth ten with 4,000 who don’t.
Common questions
How often should a small business post on social media?
Two to three times a week on one or two platforms is realistic and effective for most small businesses. Consistency over a year matters far more than volume in any given week — daily posting that stops after six weeks performs worse than a steady twice-weekly rhythm, because a dormant profile suggests a business that may have stopped trading.
Which social media platform is best for a small business?
LinkedIn for B2B and professional services, Facebook for local services and community-facing businesses, Instagram for anything visual such as food, retail, construction or beauty. Choose one primary platform based on where your best existing customers actually spend time, and one secondary at most.
What should I post on social media for my business?
Rotate five things: the work you’re doing (including the messy middle), answers to questions customers actually ask, the people who do the work, an honest opinion about your trade, and proof such as results and reviews. Batch an hour a fortnight and schedule six posts at a time.
How much does social media management cost?
Agencies typically charge £500–£1,500 a month. Freelancers and consultants charge from around £200–£600 a month depending on volume. I charge £350 a day, with ongoing management from about £200 a month for roughly eight posts — and I’ll train your team to run it instead if that suits you better.
Is social media worth it for small businesses?
It’s worth it when your customers are on the platform and your work is visual, personality-led or locally recommended. It’s often not worth it if you sell something people search for at the moment they need it — a plumber, say — where local SEO and your Google Business Profile do far more. It’s fine to decide social isn’t your channel, as long as that’s a decision rather than a drift.
Not sure it’s worth your time?
Tell me what you sell and who buys it, and I’ll tell you honestly whether social media should be anywhere near your marketing plan — or whether your money is better spent elsewhere.
I say “elsewhere” fairly often.
