Social media can feel like a mystery when you're running a small business. You post a photo, write a caption, throw in some hashtags, maybe some trending audio—and then...crickets. Or maybe some likes, a comment here and there from your friends, but nothing that really moves the needle.

That’s because without a social media strategy, your content is just floating around without direction. You’re reacting instead of planning, and guessing instead of targeting. And that’s not just frustrating—it’s a waste of your valuable time.

Here’s the good news: You don’t need to go viral to have a profitable social media strategy. You also don’t need to be on every platform. You don’t even need to post every day. (Yep, go ahead and breathe a sigh of relief!)

What you do need is to learn how to create a social media strategy that’s clear and realistic, helps you stay consistent, connects with your ideal customers, and supports your business goals.

In this post, we’re going to talk about:

• Why you need a social media strategy
• 6 steps to create a social media strategy that’s realistic for you
• How to actually execute your social media strategy

Why You Need a Social Media Strategy

First, if you’re posting without a plan, you’ll get inconsistent results—period.

One week you’re active, the next you forget to post. Some posts get engagement, some don’t. You’re not sure why anything is or isn’t working, and your audience isn’t really sure what message you’re trying to say, either. 

Did we just call you out?

A social media strategy fixes that. It gives you the clarity to know what to post and why, the consistency to stick with your plan over time (even when you’re busy), and the confidence to know your efforts are tied to real business goals. 

Ultimately, you don’t need to be everywhere. A simpler, streamlined social media strategy is actually the best way to reach your audience. Especially as a small business owner!

1. Set Your Social Media Goals

Social media can help grow your business—but only if you know what you're aiming for.

The first step to create a social media strategy is picking one or two clear goals. Not ten. Not fifty. Just one or two. These should support what you want to accomplish overall in your business. Here are a few ideas:

• Brand Awareness: You want more people to know you exist. Metrics to watch: reach, impressions, and new followers.
• Engagement: You want to build a relationship with your audience. Metrics to watch: comments, shares, saves.
• Leads and Sales: You want more inquiries, bookings, signups, or sales. Metrics to watch: clicks, DMs, conversions.

Avoid trying to do everything at once. Trust us, we all want all of the things. But you don’t need to overload yourself, and focused goals will lead to more focused content. And more focused content? Will get you better results (that you can actually measure).

2. Know Who You’re Talking To

Next, you can’t create great content if you don’t know who you’re speaking to. That’s why one part of a great social media strategy is knowing your audience. 

For this step, you’re going to want to define your ideal customer using a simple profile. This will become your ideal customer persona, which you (and your team!) can reference as you’re creating content for your audience. 

Think about:

• Age, location, and lifestyle
• Challenges they’re facing or problems they’re having
• What they want from a business like yours (read: the solution)
• Where do they spend their time online?
• What platforms are they actually using?
• What kind of content do they consume and share?
• What would be genuinely helpful or entertaining to them?

All of this information makes it so much easier to create social media content–by visualizing that person, it’s almost like you’re having a conversation with them. 

If you’re still not sure where your audience is hanging out, Enji’s new marketing strategy generator will analyze your goals and suggest the best platforms to focus on!

3. Pick Your Content Pillars

Content pillars are core themes you’ll come back to again and again. They keep your messaging consistent and help you plan posts without starting from scratch each week. They really do the most.

Here are six solid pillars you can choose from:

1. Community – Show behind-the-scenes moments, your team, customers, or local partnerships.
2. Education – Teach something useful. Think tips, how-tos, or industry insights. 
3. Engagement – Ask questions, start conversations, or post something that invites feedback.
4. Entertainment – Share something light-hearted, funny, or relatable.
5. Inspiration – Post something that motivates or connects emotionally.
6. Promotional – Talk about your product, service, offers, or events.

A good mix of these keeps your content fresh while building trust and connection.

Need help coming up with ideas? Use Enji’s idea generator to brainstorm post ideas instantly, all sorted by goal and content type.

Enji's social media strategy and AI idea generator

4. Choose a Posting Schedule You Can Stick To

Make this your mantra: You don’t need to post every day. You just need to post consistently.

Most small business owners have 1–2 hours per week to spend on marketing. It might not seem like a ton, but that’s plenty, especially if you’re using the right tools. 

Here’s how to make it work:

• Pick one or two social media platforms to start with based on your audience—that way, you’ll show up where it counts and make a bigger impact
• Commit to 1–3 posts per week
• Batch your content in one sitting and schedule it ahead of time (a week or two in advance, for example)

Enji’s marketing strategy generator will even recommend how often to post based on your time and goals. Just answer a few questions, and get a solid plan in minutes! 

Keep in mind that it’s okay to start small, since you can always scale up later. Just starting and showing up consistently already puts you ahead of a lot of your competition. 

5. Use Tools to Save Time

Even when you streamline your social media strategy, it can still be a ton of work. But it really doesn’t have to be. 

Enji’s marketing tools are designed to make your strategy, ideation, content creation, scheduling, and reporting faster and easier (yeah, we really do have all of that in one marketing platform!). 

Here’s a quick overview of the social media tools we have at Enji that are literally designed to save you time and money: 

• Marketing strategy generator: Answer a few heavy-hitting questions, and we’ll help you get started with a strategy that’s aligned with your business goals and capacity. 
• AI copywriter: Generate on-brand captions, hooks, and even hashtags in seconds. It’s like having a writing assistant on call 24/7 (and we even pull in your unique brand voice to do it).
• Social media scheduler: Plan, write, and schedule your content in one place (no endless tab switching). This helps you avoid last-minute stress and keeps you consistent.
• KPI dashboard: Track all of your analytics in one simple, visual dashboard so it’s easy to see your progress. Which brings us to the final step when you create a social media strategy…

6. Track What’s Working (and What Isn’t)

A strategy only works if you’re willing to adjust. The good news? You don’t need to track everything.

Just track what’s tied to your goals. Depending on your focus areas, here’s what that might look like: 

• Awareness → Watch reach, impressions, and follower growth
• Engagement → Track likes, comments, shares, saves
• Leads/Sales → Pay attention to link clicks, profile visits, conversions

Check in every month on what we call “KPI Day” (the first of the month, your new favorite day!). What’s performing best? What flopped? What content sparked the most interaction?

Use this info to adjust your approach. Double down on what works, and ditch what doesn’t. After a while, measuring your progress will become an easy and even exciting part of your routine. 

Keep Your Social Media Strategy Simple and Focused

You don’t need to be a full-time content creator to grow your business with social media. You just need a strategy that works for you.

With the right tools—like Enji—you can turn social media from a chore into a smart, streamlined part of your marketing. Start your free trial now.