Essential Social Media Strategies for 2024

Reach Is No Longer the Metric

Organic reach on most platforms has been declining for a decade, and 2024 did not reverse that. Posting more frequently into a feed that throttles distribution is effort spent against the algorithm rather than with it.

The channels that still deliver for small businesses have shifted toward what the platforms actively promote: short video, replies and direct messages, and content that keeps people on-platform rather than linking away.

Stop measuring posts by reach. Measure them by conversations started.

This is uncomfortable if your strategy was built on driving traffic to a website. It requires treating social as the place where the relationship starts, not where the click happens.

A single reel that generates twelve genuine enquiries is worth more than a month of posts that reach thousands of people who will never buy anything.

What to Prioritise

If you only have a few hours a week for social media, spend them here rather than spreading thin across every platform.

• Short vertical video over static graphics
• Reply to every comment within 24 hours
• One platform done properly beats four done badly
• Show the work and the people, not just the product
• Track enquiries, not impressions