Social media strategy for micro entrepreneurs is an absolute game changer that can take your business from unknown to well-known. While your business may be small, your reach to potential customers doesn’t have to be. By plotting a clear social media strategy, micro entrepreneurs can generate big reach without a big advertising budget.

You don’t have to go it alone, either. Members of the Association for Entrepreneurship have a host of free tools, advice discounts and benefits at their fingertips to speed success. What are your top goals? Name and brand recognition? Sales? Driving website visits? Start there and make a plan utilizing the 5 C’s: Crowd, Content, Consistency, Collaboration, and Count.

Crowd

Who are your target customers? Which social media outlets do they use?Study platform demographics to find your target audience. In the U.S. alone, the Pew Research Center finds that about half of the country’s adults visit Instagram, TikTok and Facebook at least once per day and 37% of Facebook users make purchases directly in the app. For business to business or for reaching Gen X and Millenials, LinkedIn, which skews male, has 234 million U.S. members; more than half of them have an annual income northward of $100,000 Concentrate your efforts where your audience is and choose established outlets that offer free tools and analytics.

Content

Make your content count! Balance 80% high-quality fun, educational or inspirational short-form visuals or videos with 20% sales-focused, promotional content to build trust and connection. Try using an app like Canva for free design tools. Relatability and reliability leads to renown and revenue!

Consistency

Posting 3-5 times per week keeps you in the algorithm and will ensure you are seen regularly by the audience you want to reach. Be sure to engage with commenters. Asking questions encourages positive back-and-forth and builds audience relationships. You want your brand to be a “fixture” of their daily online diet. Schedule posts by creating a monthly content calendar with free online tools like Later or Hootsuite.

Collaborate

Are there other businesses or personalities you work with or have found on line that might pair up with you? Look for accounts who will collaborate on content, mutually comment on and share posts. You’ll expand your reach quickly and connect to more opportunities.

Count

Here’s where social media strategy for micro entrepreneurs really pays off. Measure your effectiveness! On each post and platform, track the growth of your follower count, your engagement rates and the number of click-throughs to your website. Decide what your audience connects with and where your time and efforts are best spent. You can even measure what time of day they’re online and most likely to see your posts.

Even as a micro entrepreneur, your social media strategy can get big results and create a community that grows with you through the years, relying on you for quality information they’ll turn to again and again, boosting your bottom line and building a business that lasts.