Introduction If you run a small business or work as a freelancer or are a professional services provider, you’ve probably thought about using social media marketing to grow your business. However, using social media for marketing purposes needs a focused approach. This is where you can implement high-performance social media marketing funnels to grow your brand. You just need the right strategy to implement such funnels. Proper strategies can help your business grow and make your social media efforts pay off. This article will guide you through the steps to create social media marketing funnels that help your business grow. Using these strategies can help your business stand out. Why Social Media Marketing is Important? As of 2025, 65.7% of the global population is active on social media. (Source) 90% of consumers use social media to follow trends and cultural events. (Source) 78% of people prefer learning about new products or services through short videos. (Source) Eighty-three percent of marketers report that social media is now their main channel for acquiring customers. (Source) 4 Stages of Creating High-Performance Social Media Marketing Funnels for Small Businesses Want to grow viral on social media? Want to get quality leads from social media pages? Or want to increase your brand awareness by using social media’s immense power? But not sure how to begin? This article will help you! You just need an effective social media marketing funnel and a sound content strategy. What is a Social Media Marketing Funnel? In marketing, a funnel illustrates the steps a customer takes before making a purchase. With the rise of new marketing technology, funnels now reach across more customer touchpoints than ever before, including websites, social media platforms, and ad networks. Usually, the steps are Awareness, Consideration, Decision, and Advocacy. Funnels help you guide your customers from their first contact with your business to the final sale, thereby increasing your revenue and growing your loyal customer base. In the social media context, a social media marketing funnel is a marketing funnel that works through your business’s social media channels. It usually has four stages: Awareness Consideration Decision Advocacy At each funnel stage, you are required to create relevant social media content (posts, reels, stories, ads, etc.). To get the best results, small businesses should build, improve, and fine-tune each stage. Let’s look at each stage and what it includes: Stage 1: Awareness At this stage, your customers are exploring their options and might not even know your brand exists yet. This is your golden opportunity to introduce yourself by sharing content that solves their problems. So, you have to create social media content that helps spread awareness about your brand, business, products, services, and solutions by providing content that solves customers’ pain points. The best types of social media content for this stage include: #1 Educational posts Educational and informational posts/reels help your audience learn about a topic and find solutions to their problems. Sharing these videos on your social channels keeps leads interested, shows your expertise, and keeps your customers informed. Brands that focus on teaching their audience with helpful videos can reach more people. When you share useful information, people are more likely to find you. This method, called inbound marketing, builds awareness and trust in your brand. Share simple tips, how-tos, or explainers related to your industry. Example: A bakery sharing “5 signs your bread is actually fresh.” #pro tip: Post the video on YouTube and share the links on your social media channels. #2 Humor and Satire Posts Adding humor to your marketing is a great way to share your message. For example, meme marketing grabs attention and lets you highlight your products or services. Humor helps build trust and a stronger connection with your audience, which leads to more engagement. Light humor, trends, or memes (when relevant) help humanize your brand. Example: A playful post like “When you realize marketing is more than just posting once a week.” #3 Inspirational Posts Inspirational videos work well at the awareness stage because they motivate customers and can influence their buying decisions. These videos can also increase website traffic, as people may come back to watch them again. Sharing inspirational quotes on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest can help you reach even more people. For example, brands selling protein products often create gym motivation videos. These campaigns inspire fitness enthusiasts to stay active or motivate newcomers to start working out. When it comes time to buy protein powder, these brands are top of mind. #4 Problem-focused Posts In your social media posts, talk about common pain points your audience faces—without pitching your product yet. Example: A freelance content writer can create posts on the benefits of quality content for small businesses, 5 mistakes companies should avoid before hiring content writers, etc. #5 Short-form Videos & Reels Quick, engaging videos grab attention fast and are heavily favored by algorithms. Create short videos that explain a concept about your brand, product, or industry, or that provide a solution to an issue customers face. For instance, a company compliance provider can create a short reel on mandatory compliance for private limited companies and share it on Instagram and YouTube. #6 Infographics & carousels Posts Easy-to-scan visuals work great for first-time viewers who are just scrolling. A survey found that on Instagram, carousel posts have an average engagement of 1.92%, outperforming both images (1.74%) and videos (1.45%). For instance, if you are a digital marketing company, you can share a step-by-step process of creating and implementing Google Ads for Small Business and post it as an Instagram carousel. #7 Behind-the-scenes Posts Show the people, process, or passion behind your business. This builds early trust. Such glimpses of office life, staff interaction, playful videos, etc., get more engagement due to their organic nature. Creating such videos in the first stage (awareness) is good for building brand identity and awareness. Go for Paid Ads Besides organic content, you can use Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and other paid options