Business programme
Start-Up, Scale-Up by Lloyds Bank Academy
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Learn for yourself
Money, digital, career skills
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Money skills
Learn for yourself
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Learn for business
To help start up and grow
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Strategy and operations
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Marketing, website and digital
Learn for your business
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Help others learn
Money and digital skills
Help others learn
Get started with social media
Learn the benefits social media can bring to your business and how to get started.
Introduction to 'Get started with social media'
Using the right social media channel could help you to expand your business, grow your audience and build brand loyalty.
A recent survey asked businesses what they felt the benefits of social media were.
Their top three were:
Reach more people
83% said an increase in exposure was a benefit.
Build loyalty
62% felt it created loyal fans.
Sell more
52% thought it improved sales.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use social media to help with all of these – and more!
What you'll learn
- How social media can help your business.
- What platforms there are, plus how to pick the right one for you.
- Tips to keep users returning to your social pages.
- How to stay safe when using social media.
How long it takes
8 minutes
How social media can help
Chapter 1
How long it takes
1 minute
What can social media do for you?
Turn visitors into brand followers
Social channels give you the chance to talk to people in real time. Over time, you could really get to know their needs. These simple, personal and effective connections may help turn them into brand followers.
Improve your customer service
You can use social media to reply to complaints and questions in a quick and open way. When you do this well, it helps build your brand’s reputation. It can also help you grow a loyal fan base. Social media chats may also ease the strain on other ways people contact you, like phone or email.
Increase sales
Social media’s a great way to promote your products and services. But remember, it’s a social setting. A ‘hard sell’ will put off potential customers. Social channels work best when people naturally decide to contact you. This happens when they’ve built up a positive image of you. They start to trust your brand, products and services.
Offer cost-effective marketing
Most social media platforms are free to use. This makes them a more cost-effective way to reach the types of people you want to and boost your brand.
Choosing the right app
Chapter 2
How long it takes
3 minutes
What's the right platform for you?
With so many apps out there, you need to pick the right ones for you. In this chapter, we ask: What do you want to get out of social media?
We’ll look at some of the most popular apps. As you read through each one, ask yourself ‘Does this look like it would work for me?’
Not all of these apps might suit your needs or reach the type of people you are trying to talk to. Look at the different apps before you decide which ones are right for you.
Select each one to find out more
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The most popular social networking app, with over 3 billion active users. People share updates, photos and links with their 'friends'. They get updates from friends and any brands they 'like'.
You can create a Facebook Business Page for free. This lets you connect with customers and share details about your products, services and upcoming events. Want to reach more people? You can use paid services like targeted Facebook Ads. -
Over 1.1 billion people use LinkedIn for professional networking. Users connect with contacts, search for roles and advertise jobs. LinkedIn also has groups, where members with similar interests can take part in discussions and get support.
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X has over 580 million users worldwide. Users share short (280 character) messages with their followers. They see a stream of messages from the people and organisations they follow. Hashtags (#) mark key words or phrases in popular or 'trending' conversations.
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Instagram has over 2 billion active users. This means it can be a great way to connect with new and existing customers. Instagram’s all about photo and video sharing. So if you want to build your brand and showcase your products through images, it may be worth a look.
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This video sharing app has over 1.5 billion active users. People use TikTok to watch, share and create short, fun videos. This may be for you if you like the idea of using videos to promote your services and products.
Before you decide
Think about your brand, your service or product and how you could use the social media’s strengths to your benefit.
Look at other organisations’ social media pages:
What's their style?
What content do they share?
How often do they post?
How professional do they look?
Looking at sites in this way can help you work out which apps you want to use. You might decide to use different apps for different things. For instance, you may want to talk to your customers through Facebook Messenger and use Instagram or TikTok to showcase your products.
Whichever app you pick, here are a few tips:
Post regularly.
Keep your posts consistent.
Make the most of their built-in features.
No matter where your users connect with you, you want them to see the best version of your business, your brand and your customer service.
Top tip: Get the latest features
Social media apps have updates that often add more features. So it's a good idea to keep all your apps updated to make the most of these.
Test your knowledge
Try again - that's not quite right!
Hint: While you can share images on all of these sites, there is one that focuses in this type of content.
That's right!
People use Instagram to see and share photos and other images.
Tips for posts and content
Chapter 3
How long it takes
2 minutes
What do I post?
Start the conversation!
Share content that is useful, entertaining, informative and newsworthy. Think about your core aims and values, and make sure your posts and content include these.
You could share:
Photos and videos of your products and services.
Blog posts and other content from your website.
Details of companies and people you work with.
Posts from your partners that relate to your users.
News items about your business or sector.
Videos of events like awards and charities you support.
Photos of the people who work with you.
How quickly do I need to reply?
Your customers may reach out to you with questions or complaints. So you need to work out what your response time will be. This might be different on each app. Within 24 hours is a good aim. You may need to think about how much traffic you get. It’s good to set expectations early on. These apps often let you set up automatic messages. So, your customers know how long they are likely to wait for a response.
Find a way of talking that’s right for social media
Stay clear of unprofessional comments or sharing content that may be divisive. You’ll likely get a better response from your users if you keep things friendly and avoid being too promotional. Avoid sales pitches. Instead, focus on connecting with your followers. Not sure how to use social media personally? We’ve got links at the end of this lesson that you can read.
Tools to help
Keeping your social media up to date is important but you might end up spending a lot of time on it. Luckily, there are some great tools to help you. You can use tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite and SproutSocial, to schedule social media updates so you can always stay on top of your socials.
They'll help you to:
- Set alerts when someone comments or sends you a direct message.
- Schedule and text social media updates during the best times to post.
Use social media safely
Chapter 4
How long it takes
1 minute
Security policies
Think about adding social media to your IT security policy. This will help your team to use it safely. Making sure your team are on top of this can reduce the chances of someone hacking into your accounts or stealing valuable information. You might want to include an acceptable use policy in employment contracts or a colleague handbook.
Your policies should include things like:
Keeping passwords safe.
Device safety.
Use of unsecured networks such as public Wi-Fi.
Avoiding fraud
Want to learn more about online fraud? There are some useful lessons on our website. These include the online risks that you may face using social media.
Check out the following lesson on our website:
Stay safe online
Next steps
Chapter 5
How long it takes
1 minute
Some next steps to get you started
Next steps:
Research the social media platforms and select which one/s you want to set up.
Try it out with your team - get used to it in a safe space first.
Plan regular content uploads and get your customers involved.
See what works well for other companies.
If you want to find out more, here are a few useful links:
X for business
Pinterest for business
LinkedIn for business
Instagram for business
TikTok for business
Facebook also provides more information for businesses and organisations:
Facebook for business
Facebook marketing
Facebook education
Want to learn more?
Marketing and branding
Related learning links
Create content
Use social media
Lloyds Bank Academy is committed to providing information in a way that is accessible and useful for our users. This information, however, is not in any way intended to amount to authority or advice on which reliance should be placed. You should seek professional advice as appropriate and required. Any sites, products or services named in this module are just examples of what's available. Lloyds Bank does not endorse the services they provide. The information in this module was last updated on 9th July 2025.