Like JK said, word of mouth is honestly the most effective if you're a new business, it's also the hardest.
If you're just starting out I highly advise against dumping everything you have into social media, start small, start in person, and focus on building a base from which to work with. Depending on what your business sells you're going to want to focus on friends and family, the biggest lesson I learned was to not expect them to be your cheerleaders to the level you would hope. What I mean by this is that you're going to be your biggest promoter, your friends and family will support you as much as they can but don't go into it expecting sales to be through the roof via word of mouth.
It takes time and a great product in order to build a customer base, at which point Square Marketing helps promote your products to your email list/loyalty program.
I'm not opposed to social media for marketing but I do believe it can be money down the drain given how Meta algorithms work, I believe google ads drive more analytic driven results.
Building a customer base is a slog, most people try to take shortcuts but shortcuts are typically very expensive and customer acquisition for an online only business is very fickle.
Depending on your products I recommend stuff like local farmers markets, partnering with local retail stores or restaurants, or even approaching shopping centers to set up a table to promote your products.
Best of luck and don't get discouraged! Square Marketing has greatly helped us but it really comes down to getting your name out there which is a LOT trickier! I've noticed some more integration with Social media and Square Marketing but I'm more skeptical of the META side of things. (I've been testing small ad spends and it typically just shows to my friends and family and any social activity ceases once you stop paying for it, leading to almost no organic traffic afterwards)
www.PartyManiaBethesda.com
Please Require Customers to pick time/date at checkout for Square online. Thanks!
