For many businesses, the problem with social media isn’t a lack of activity. It’s that nobody has clearly defined what that activity is supposed to achieve.
Content gets created, approved and published every week. Someone in the business spends time managing it, or an external supplier is paid to do it. But there can still be very little connection between what’s being posted, who the business is trying to reach and its wider commercial priorities.
That’s an important distinction. Posting regularly means you’re active on social media. Having a strategy means understanding why you’re there in the first place.
And with Ofcom reporting that 89% of UK adult internet users use at least one social media platform, rising to 97% among 16–34-year-olds, there is clearly an audience to reach. The challenge is working out which part of that enormous audience actually matters to your business, and what you want them to do.
Andrew Miller
, Head of Marketing & Strategy
October 14, 2026
Start with the audience, not the platform
One of the first questions businesses often ask is which social media channels they should be using. A better place to start is with the people they’re trying to reach.
Who are your customers? What matters to them? How do they research businesses like yours? Which platforms do they use, and what are they doing when they’re there?
The differences can be significant. Ofcom’s 2025 research found considerable variation in the age profiles and usage patterns of the UK’s major social platforms. UK adults aged 18–34, for example, spend an average of 49 minutes per day on TikTok, compared with nine minutes among those aged 55 and over. Facebook and Messenger show a different pattern, with 35–54-year-olds spending considerably longer on the platforms than younger adults.
That doesn’t mean younger audience equals TikTok or older audience equals Facebook. It means assumptions aren’t enough.
A professional services firm looking to establish authority with senior decision-makers will have very different priorities from a consumer brand launching a product to a younger audience. The channel strategy should follow the audience and objective, not whichever platform happens to be getting the most attention.
Different platforms should have different jobs
Using several channels doesn’t mean creating an entirely separate marketing strategy for each one. Your overall positioning and key messages should remain consistent. How those messages are communicated should change.
A detailed piece of industry insight might work naturally on LinkedIn but require a much more visual treatment on Instagram. A customer story could be relevant across Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, but the format, language and reason for engaging with it may differ.
Ofcom’s research found that the average UK internet user uses 6.7 different online communication platforms. Among 16–24-year-olds, that rises to 9.4.
Your customers aren’t necessarily sitting on one channel waiting for your next post. They move between platforms, websites, search engines and other digital touchpoints as they discover and research businesses.
Social media strategy needs to account for that wider journey.
Give the activity a commercial purpose
Not every social media post needs to generate an enquiry. If it did, most business accounts would quickly become repetitive sales feeds. But the overall activity should contribute towards something.
A business might be using social media to increase awareness in a new market, establish credibility within a specialist sector, support lead generation, strengthen its employer brand or help launch a new service. Once that objective is clear, decisions around channels, audiences and content become much easier.
This matters because social media increasingly forms part of how customers research businesses. GWI found that 48% of Gen Z use social networks to research brands, compared with 21% of Baby Boomers.
Again, that doesn’t mean every business should suddenly start targeting Gen Z. It demonstrates why understanding your particular audience matters. The role social media plays in someone’s decision-making process can vary considerably depending on who you’re trying to reach.
Social media shouldn’t operate in isolation
Someone might first encounter your business through LinkedIn, search for you on Google a few days later, visit your website, read a case study and then return several weeks later before finally making an enquiry.
No single channel gets all the credit for that journey. That’s why the strongest social media strategies connect with the wider marketing plan. Your website, search activity, paid campaigns, content and social presence should reinforce the same positioning rather than operating as separate marketing exercises.
The same applies to paid and organic social. If the objective is to reach a specific new audience or generate demand beyond the people who already follow the business, organic posting alone may not be enough. Strategy helps determine where regular content, targeted paid activity and other digital channels each have a role to play.
Planning should make content easier, not more restrictive
A strategy doesn’t mean deciding every post six months in advance. It should give the business enough structure that creating content becomes easier.
Clear content pillars establish the subjects the business has a genuine reason to talk about. An accountancy firm might focus on expertise, regulatory developments, common client questions and its people. A property business could build its content around market insight, local knowledge, available properties and customer experience.
A content plan can then turn those themes into a sensible schedule while leaving room for company news, reactive content and timely opportunities.
Instead of sitting down every Monday and asking what can we post this week?, the business already knows what it wants to talk about, who it’s talking to and why.
Measure the result, not just the activity
The final piece is deciding what success actually looks like.
Reach and follower growth can be useful when the objective is awareness. Engagement, saves and shares can help identify which content is resonating. Website traffic, enquiries and conversions become more important when social media is expected to contribute directly to business development.
No single metric tells the whole story. What matters is whether you’re measuring something that relates to the original objective.
Posting eight times this month isn’t a result. Neither is gaining 100 followers if none of them resembles the audience your business actually wants to reach.
Some common questions, answered
How often should a business post on social media?
There’s no magic number. Consistency and quality matter more than posting every day.
Should we post the same content on every platform?
The message can stay consistent, but the copy and format should be adapted for each channel.
Which social media platform is best for my business?
The one your target audience actually uses. Audience research should drive the decision.
Does every social media post need to generate leads?
No. Content can build awareness, trust and credibility long before someone is ready to enquire.
How do I know if our social media is working?
Measure against the original objective. The right metric could be reach, engagement, website traffic or enquiries.
Is your social media working as part of your wider marketing strategy?
At Kee Digital Media, we don’t look at social media in isolation. We look at how your audiences, messaging, content, website, search presence and wider digital activity work together to support the goals of the business.
If you’re already investing time and money in social media but aren’t sure what that activity is contributing, we can review your current approach, identify where the gaps are and help build a clearer strategy around what you’re actually trying to achieve.
