Is social media dead? Yes and no.

Social media can bring leads, but it isn't everything

There's a lot of confident advice about social media. Post every day and you'll grow. Post at the right time and you'll go viral. Get the algorithm on side and the leads will follow. Most of it oversells what social media actually does.

Here's what is true. Social media can generate leads. When people are on a platform, they may see you, they may notice your brand, they may like what you say, and some of them will get in touch. That's real, and for some businesses it's a big deal.

What isn't true is that it should be the be all and end all of your marketing. Free reach has dropped a long way on most platforms, and people mostly scroll social media to be entertained, not to hire someone. It works best as one part of a bigger plan.

Where social media fits in your marketing

Think of your marketing as a mix. Your website and SEO, Google Ads, AI search, reviews and word of mouth, and social media all play a part. Social is one slice. An important one, but a slice.

The exact split depends on your business, your area and your customers. A restaurant or salon might lean much harder on Instagram. A heating engineer might get almost nothing from it. The point is to give social media a place in the plan, not to hand it the whole plan.

The platforms we use

We work across four main platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X. Each one does a different job.

You don't need to be on all four. Pick the one or two where your customers actually spend time, and do those properly. It's far better than being half present everywhere.

Who it works best for

We know, and have worked with, several businesses for which Facebook drives a large amount of their traffic. Usually it's down to the area they're in and the kind of customer they serve. Local, visual, community minded businesses tend to do well: think cafés, gyms, trades with great before and after photos, shops and event businesses.

There are other types of business where it simply doesn't pull its weight, however good the content is. That's not a failure. It just means your time and budget are better spent elsewhere. We're not against social media at all. We manage social media for a small number of clients, and for the right business it works very well.

Keep a steady tempo

We do recommend keeping a social media tempo going. Not every day, and not in bursts of ten posts followed by two months of silence. A steady, realistic rhythm you can keep up, such as two or three good posts a week, does more than an exhausting schedule you abandon in a month.

Consistency matters more than volume. People who follow you should see you regularly enough to remember you, and anyone who checks your page before getting in touch should see a business that's active and real. We wrote more about this in our post on consistency in social media for busy businesses.

Automation and being genuine

A lot of business owners are wary of automation. "I don't want to automate. I want to be genuine." It's a fair instinct, but the two aren't opposites. Scheduling posts in advance just means the good content you've made actually goes out on time. Being genuine is about what you say, and about turning up personally for the comments and messages.

You don't have to spend every single day on social media. Set aside an hour or two a week, plan and schedule your posts, then check in for replies. These are the tools we see used most:

Think in campaigns, not posts

The businesses that get the most from social media treat it as a campaign rather than a stream of random posts. A good campaign has a few things in common:

• Good visuals that stop the scroll
• Authentic content: real work, real people
• A clear brand message people remember
• A consistent voice that sounds like you
• A steady schedule you can keep up
• A link back to the right page on your site

Finding your voice online is the part most businesses struggle with. Once you know how you sound and what you stand for, the posts get much easier to write.

Where people are gravitating

If you're deciding where to put your time and money, look at where people go when they're ready to buy. More and more, that's search: Google, and increasingly AI tools like ChatGPT. AI search is closely linked to SEO, because AI tools draw on the same well structured, useful websites that rank well on Google.

That's why we'd always put lead generation, Google Ads and AI search alongside social media rather than behind it. Our guides on where website leads come from and making Google Ads pay cover those in detail.

A simple social media plan

1. Pick one or two platformsChoose where your customers actually spend time, not where you feel you should be.
2. Find your voiceDecide how you sound and what you want people to remember about you.
3. Set a realistic tempoTwo or three good posts a week is plenty for most businesses.
4. Batch and schedulePlan a few weeks at a time and use a scheduling tool to post them.
5. Show up for the conversationReply to comments and messages yourself, promptly.
6. Link back to your websitePoint people to the page that matches the post, with a clear next step.
7. Review every monthSee which posts bring visits and enquiries, and do more of those.

Part of your marketing, not all of it

So, is social media dead? No. It still connects you with people, builds your brand and brings in work for plenty of businesses. But the days of free, easy reach are gone, and it works best when it supports the rest of your marketing rather than replacing it.

Give it a steady, realistic slot in your week, keep it genuine, and make sure your website, search and ads are pulling their weight alongside it.