I did an NHS mortgage TikTok in my car and it went viral - the phones at my small business were smoking hot

Small business owners need to shout loud and proud about what they are offering in today's market.

Making the most of social media is an essential part of attracting new customers and ensuring people are thinking and talking about your small business.

There is both an art and a science to social media posts and not every update will hit the mark.

However, when the stars align and a small business social media post goes viral, the impact can be seismic and, in the best case scenario, have a long-lasting positive impact on the bottom line.

'When mastered, the effects of social media can be explosive for small businesses', Bob Singh, founder of Chess Mortgages told This is Money.

Singh knows all too well about the effect a well-placed social media post.

In 2023, Singh posted a one-minute long mortgage TikTok video from his car highlighting how NHS staff could get a mortgage five times the level of their income, which is higher than the norm.

'My NHS staff mortgages post on TikTok went viral, reaching almost 500,000 views in a few days. The phones were smoking by the end of the day', Singh said.

He added: 'A series of posts begin to build a brand and instill trust among your followers.

'The public are very discerning and may not reach out at that particular time but they will reach out when they have a need for your services.'

Another small business social media post which went viral was by Kate Allen, owner of Finest Stays, a luxury holiday lettings business in Devon.

Recognising how humour could help get her business noticed, Allen posted an April Fools' joke on Instagram with a photo of a rundown wooden cabin on stilts overlooking a beach.

She said: 'Our most viral post was an April Fools' joke. As a luxury holiday home company in Salcombe, we announced a new listing: "The Treehouse from just £1,000 per night, complete with compost heap, luxury ladder access and panoramic views - if you're not afraid of heights."'

Kate adds: 'The tongue-in-cheek tone and the contrast with our usual high-end listings really landed.

'Reach: Over 12,000 views, 150+ shares, and comments from followers who genuinely wanted to book it – or at least visit the en-suite compost heap.'

She added: 'It worked because it was unexpected, on-brand in style but off-brand in substance, and it played to Salcombe’s glossy image with a wink.'

Sarah Kenny, director at budget travel platform, Build a Break, created a post on Instagram that was viewed more than 50million times and was liked by well-known celebrities.

Kenny flagged the importance of re-posting social media content that does well.

She said: 'One of our most viral pieces of content is a nine-second video of the Bernina Express train journey, shared across our social media platforms.

'It was filmed on a family holiday before the business even existed — resulting in a lower video quality than we'd usually put out.

'Despite that, the video has now reached well over 50million views and has been liked by celebrities including Sharon Stone, Nicole Scherzinger, and Eamonn Holmes.

'We believe its success lies in using varied hooks and not being afraid to repeat content that works well.

'I think we've posted this video at least 10 times now and each time it pops off, the highest having 30million views!'

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Danni Perkins, director at children's book subscription platform, ZaZa’s Storybox, had an Instagram post go viral after she shared a summer hack to get your kid a Blue Peter badge.

She said: 'One million views! Over 2,000 new followers with a parenting hack for the summer. It took just minutes to film, edit and upload the post relating to my niche. It was popular due to the nostalgia of Blue Peter badges and the fact you can use it to get kids into places for free.'

Chris Barry, a director at conveyancing firm, Thomas Legal, uses Linkedin to connect with his audience.

One of Barry's Linkedin posts threw a spotlight on flexibility in the workplace.

Barry said: 'One of my posts on LinkedIn received 80,000 views. It highlighted the importance of flexibility for an employed role and how employers offering flexible working can attract better quality employees.'

While social media posts can go viral, do not always assume that the most popular posts will always lead to the strongest impact for your small business.

Craig Fish, a director at London-based mortgage broker, Lodestone, said a video about mortgage rates dropping 'always flies', with one of his videos from his Lodestonemp TikTok account bagging half a million views.

He said: 'My most popular post was a simple TikTok about lenders cutting mortgage rates.

'It racked up 571,000 views, 3,706 likes, 3,116 shares, and 350 comments. Rate-drop content always flies because the public’s obsessed with getting the cheapest mortgage deal.'

He added: 'But for an SME, going viral can be a double-edged sword. The flood of enquiries often leads nowhere, it’s exhausting and rarely converts.

'Truth is, the posts that quietly generate real business are the ones with barely 1,000 views and a couple of likes. I consistently pick up three to four quality enquiries a week this way.'

For small businesses, social media is a useful and cost-effective way of reaching a new and bigger audience.

Louise Laird, who runs The Little Social Company, told This is Money: 'Different channels draw in different people, so it's important for each business to have a clear idea of who they are targeting so they can pick the right channel before they start posting.

'Gone are the days of us using The Yellow Pages to find a local window cleaner. Now you just head to your local Facebook group and everything you need is there.'

Laird said video content had become central to small businesses using social media.

She said: 'Producing visuals and video content can be daunting for small businesses, but there are some great creators out there that can do this for them.'

Authenticity is also key, Laird added.

She said: 'Show who you are, what you do and why people should buy from you. This will make you stand out and give you great brand awareness.'

Not every post will get millions of views or translate into sales, but this is not something to be gravely concerned about.

Laird said: 'If you don't get it right, don't panic. Use the test, measure, reflect and refine method. Keep tweaking things as you go.

'Algorithms for each platform change all the time so you're not going to get it spot on every single time and that is fine.'

On the importance of social media for small businesses, Laird said: 'If a business doesn't use social media at all, it doesn't mean it is going to fail, but they will be missing out on the possibility of reaching potential customers.

Charlotte Sheridan, director of The Small Biz Expert, says: 'Social media is now really a must have for small businesses as the reality is - that if you don’t provide somewhere for your customers to feed back to you, they will still do so on social media but you’ll lose your ability to join the conversation.

'The key is to choose a social media channel that your audience is likely to be using and that you can commit to.

'There’s no point thinking “I’ll go all in on TikTok” if you’re not comfortable in video creation.

'Being consistent is important - it’s better to commit to posting once a week than to having short burst of lots of posts and then neglecting your social platforms for months.

'Always remember you want to give people a reason to follow and connect with you - so don’t get stuck in a rut of posting sales posts - ask questions, provide offers or content that isn’t available anywhere else and make it entertaining if you can.'