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Small Businesses and Social Media Use
Good afternoon, everyone. I am very honored to have been asked to speak here on behalf of Mayborn. My name is Kimberly Keller (PAUSE) I am a senior public relations lecture here at U-N-T. I will be speaking to you all today about the relationship between social media and small businesses and why it matters.
Many people’s first thought of social media is photos, likes, comments and silly hashtags. First off, how many of you guys have a personal social media account? (PAUSE) Okay, good. Now, how many of you have a social media account for your business? (PAUSE) I see there is a significant difference in the answers to the two. Social media is good for both leisure and business. But how? How can it be used to further your business? (PAUSE)
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This is what I wanted to talk to you guys about today. This is a topic I am very passionate about. As a professional in the P-R industry, I have seen social media rise like never before. Rise in popularity, engagement, and overall business growth. (PAUSE) Now, like many of you in here, I am not in the same age category as most users. We don’t have to specify numbers. (LAUGH) Anyway, social media has grown as a marketing and P-R tool in the last several years. You may be thinking you are beyond the years of social media and that your business doesn’t need it. (SMALL PAUSE) But you do, your business does.
Working in the P-R industry for decades now, I never thought I would see the day where social media reaches people more than traditional media. (CHUCKLE) Social media outreach is more than a photo with a silly caption.
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Man, social media has taken this business and industry by storm. And I want you guys to know how to use it properly to only help your businesses. Let me tell you a small story about the impact of social media in the current world. Let’s talk IKEA. You may have seen the viral video of a small monkey named Punch. (PAUSE) This is a video of him cuddling and carrying around his stuffed orangutan toy. Shortly the original video went viral, it was discovered that IKEA was the original seller of the toy. Because of the reach of social media and how many people around the world had seen the adorable vide,. IKEA quickly ran out of the toy. If this doesn’t tell you about the power of a single video, I don’t know what will. (PAUSE FOR AUDIENCE LAUGH)
Social media can be a slow growth process and certainly one that takes time. But it’ll be worth it in the end. I am going to show you a couple of new ways you can use social media to grow your businesses.
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The first way to help your business’s social media is to create a regular posting schedule with matching content to boost posts. How many of you in here employ somebody in Gen Z? Maybe a college student? Chances are they are on social media and know how to help you grow your business. Utilize them; college kids want to be asked to help with these kinds of projects. I could give you a list of a few. (CHUCKLE) This would be my second tip; use who you already have to help you learn. My third tip would be to develop a specific social media brand or company identity. A brand is the colors, fonts, and anything else that makes people remember your business. (PAUSE) You most likely already have one for your business. (PAUSE) What I mean is having one specifically for social media. This is something you can run across all platforms and posts that allow for instant recognition. Which in turn will help bring more people to your sites and accounts. This helps share the word of your business. You have free publicity, and you don’t even know it. (CHUCKLE)
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Now, you don’t have to do all these things alone. Like I said earlier, use who you already have. You can also hire someone to come in and help develop social media and branding. I promise, this will increase your business’s reach. Your social media may be the first interaction someone has with your business. Ask yourself some questions: How does my business make the customer feel? Do they want to come back? So, make sure that they have something they can remember. Something they can look back on when they think of you. This will not be something you just get and boom ten times more customers. (CHUCKLE) But imagine if it was (CHUCKLE). This will take time, and that’s okay.
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I want to end my time with you all today by saying thank you. Thank you all for caring enough about your businesses to want to grow it. Thank you for coming out today (WAVE GOODBYE) I will be around for social hour if anyone has any questions. (EXIT STAGE)
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To: Kimberly Keller, Dr. Melody White, Dr. Marcus Wolfe, Michael Sexton, Dorothy Bland, Rebecca Poynter
From: Jordyn Machado
Date: Nov. 1, 2026
Subject: Agenda for the upcoming small business owner seminar at UNT
UNT’s Mayborn School of Journalism and College of Business are hosting a seminar for small business owners in Denton. The event will be held Saturday, Nov. 19. 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.
The seminar will be hosted in the Gateway Center at UNT. Presentations will be held in the theatre, and lunch and breakfast buffet will be held in the banquet halls. Rooms will be marked.
Please park off North Texas Boulevard on the west side of Gateway or in Lot 20.
Gateway Center: 801 N Texas Blvd, Denton, TX 76201
Lot 20 parking: 2300 North Texas Blvd, Denton, TX 76201
Nov. 19
10 a.m. -10:45 a.m.
Breakfast Buffet
10:50 a.m.-11 a.m.
Welcome
11 a.m. -11:05 a.m.
Tax laws speech
11:06 a.m.- 11:16 a.m.
Q&A
11:17 a.m.- 11:21 a.m.
Cloud storage speech
11:22 a.m.- 11:32 a.m.
Q&A
11:33 a.m.- 11:38 a.m.
Hiring speech
11:39 a.m.- 11:49 a.m.
Q&A
11:50 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Break
12:01 p.m. – 12:06 p.m.
Social media speech
12:07 p.m. – 12:17 p.m.
Q&A
12:16 p.m. – 12:21 p.m.
Chamber of Commerce benefits speech
12:22 p.m. – 12:32 p.m.
Q&A
12:31 p.m.
Dismiss
Please RSVP to the seminar by Nov. 10 to allow time to account for food and seating. Come and listen to other speakers and learn more about business running. Please prepare a 5-minute speech on the assigned topics and prepare for a 10-minute Q&A follow up.
