21 Social Media Marketing Templates You Can Get for Free

Technology and social media have become a significant part of the modern consumer’s daily life, and the average social media user spends hours scrolling through various networks, so why not utilize this to the advantage of your business? 

As a local business, you already know that social media marketing can significantly expand your company’s brand awareness, increase traffic towards your landing page, and improve search engine optimization. It can satisfy your customers and enhance loyalty regarding your brand. But with all of the different platforms available, getting started with social media marketing can be intimidating. 

That’s why we created this article. Social media marketing is much easier if you’re using the right tools (like templates, scheduling tools, etc.). Below, we’ll go through what social media templates are and share some useful social media templates that you can use to build your brand’s social media presence. 

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to promote a product, service, or business. It involves using social media platforms to connect with your audience, drive traffic, and increase brand awareness. Effective social media marketing involves figuring out which platforms your audience spends time on and then showing up there. Some of the most popular social media marketing platforms include Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook.

If you want to take advantage of paid social media advertising, you’ll need some dedicated budget. Organic social media marketing, on the other hand, is completely free.

Using pre-made templates makes social media marketing a breeze. Social media templates can be used on various platforms to increase your company’s reach regarding the posts made to the account. These templates can also lead to increased traffic towards your website or landing page in return. In tern, this will help you turn prospects into future clients through the success of your online presence and the information you share about your product/service on various platforms. 

How Social Media Marketing Drives Real Business Outcomes

Social media marketing is not just about posting consistently or growing follower counts. For small and local businesses, its real value lies in driving enquiries, building trust, and supporting long-term customer relationships.

When used correctly, social media helps potential customers discover your business, validate your credibility through comments and reviews, and decide whether to reach out. A strong social presence reinforces what people see elsewhere online, including your website, Google Business Profile, and review platforms.

Social media also supports local SEO indirectly. Branded searches, profile visits, engagement, and review requests often start with a social post. Over time, this activity strengthens brand recognition and trust, which influences conversion behaviour across channels.

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy

If you want to be successful in your social media marketing efforts, it’s a good idea to come up with a social media marketing plan. Here are some steps to follow to help you get started.

• Define your goals. First, figure out what you want to achieve from your social media marketing efforts. Are you trying to drive more traffic to your website? Increase brand awareness? Strengthen relationships with your audience? Maybe you want to do all of those things. In any case, your goals will help dictate what kind of content you should create.
• Figure out where your audience spends time. There’s no use putting together a robust Twitter content strategy if your audience spends most of their time on TikTok. Different types of content perform better on different platforms. So, before you start creating content, figure out which platform(s) you want to show up on.
• Do a social media audit. If you already have active social media channels, do an audit to see where you’re doing well and where there’s room for improvement. The key to success in social media marketing is doing more of what’s working.
• Scope out the competition. After you audit your own accounts, take a look at what your competitors are doing. Maybe you’ll find that there’s a certain kind of content that you’ve never tried that works really well for your competition. This can help you brainstorm ideas for future campaigns.
• Create a content calendar. Organization is important, especially if you’ll be creating social media marketing content for multiple social channels. Make sure to create a content calendar to keep track of everything you’re doing. You can even use tools like Later or Buffer to schedule your social content in advance.
• Measure the results. Once you’ve got your plan in place, make sure to measure the results and make adjustments as needed. It’s okay to pivot and try something new if your original plan didn’t get you the results you’d hoped for.

Why Social Media is Important for Small Businesses

Utilizing social media to your business’s advantage can be the stepping stone to finding new clients, receiving more interest in your company, and creating an increase in sales that will continue to benefit your company. You can create a platform to advertise and provide information regarding your brand, which will entice potential clients and gain loyal customers in the future. 

These tools can be vital to building a foundation for your business to stand on, to create and develop new marketing tactics that benefit your team and ultimately provide a future of success for your entire company. 

What Happens After Someone Engages With Your Post

Engagement is not the end goal. It is the starting point.

When someone likes, comments, or views a post, they often expect a response if they ask a question or send a message. Slow or inconsistent replies break trust quickly.

Strong social media strategies plan for what happens next. This includes replying to comments, responding to messages, and guiding interested users toward a conversation, booking, or enquiry.

Templates should support this flow. Posts should invite action. Teams should be ready to respond. Social media works best when it feeds directly into customer communication, not when it operates in isolation.

Social Media Marketing for Australian Small Businesses

Social media behaviour in Australia is shaped by trust, responsiveness, and local relevance.

Australian consumers often use social platforms to validate businesses before making contact. They look for recent activity, clear information, and signs that a business responds quickly. Reviews, comments, and visible engagement matter more than follower count alone.

For service-based and local businesses, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and increasingly TikTok play a stronger role than global trends might suggest. Social media often acts as a bridge between discovery and direct contact, especially for local services.

Templates work best when they reflect local tone, real customers, and genuine interactions. Overly generic or heavily promotional content tends to underperform.

How to Choose the Right Social Media Template Based on Your Goal

Not every template serves the same purpose. Choosing the right one depends on what you are trying to achieve.

If your goal is promotion or sales, templates focused on offers, discounts, or product highlights work best. These should be used sparingly and paired with clear calls to action.

If your goal is engagement, interactive templates such as stories, polls, giveaways, or activity-based posts help spark conversation and increase reach.

If your goal is credibility and trust, milestone posts, testimonials, behind-the-scenes content, and educational templates are more effective. These are especially valuable for service-based businesses.

If your goal is events or announcements, use templates designed for webinars, launches, or local events. These perform best when posted consistently in the lead-up, not just once.

Track basic metrics tied to your goal. This could be clicks, messages, comments, profile visits, or enquiries. Templates are most effective when they are tested, refined, and reused intentionally.

21 Free Social Media Templates Free for Use

Once you know what you want to achieve out of your social media marketing and you have an idea of what kind of content you want to create, take advantage of the free tools at your disposal. Using templates can make your social media content planning much easier. Here are some free templates for you to try.

1. Social Media Marketing Plan Template

You can find these free templates for download here. These can be useful in planning out your company’s goals when tackling social media and making the best of using the different platforms to bring awareness to your company. 

2. Social Media Content Plan Template 

Available to download through this link onto your computer through Microsoft Excel, you can utilize this template to plan out your social media posts and gather your thoughts prior. This can keep you on schedule, which is important because, with social media posts, consistency is key to keep eyes on your company.  

3. Social Media Content Plan Template Bundle

This website offers an entire downloadable bundle with a social media marketing calendar that can keep you and your team on task and consistent with social media posts. This is a great tools for organization and discovering new marketing strategies for your team. 

4. Social Media Content Calendar Template

Using Sprout Social, you can download this calendar to assist your team in how you approach social media, figuring out what is important for you to include online and the beginning process of planning your posts. This is a 30-day calendar that can lead your business to success. 

5. Social Media Milestone Template 

Facebook: Company Milestones Facebook Post | Piktochart

Piktochart offers a plethora of options regarding making social media posts and the different platforms you may be a part of. It allows you to personalize your posts and tailor them to best fit your company while remaining visually appealing. 

6. Social Media Promotional Template 

Instagram: Sale Instagram Post | Piktochart

Using this template you can show a sale your company may be having and provide a source of advertisement for current and future customers to come across on social media. This will get the word out about your company and any sales you may have going on, providing potential customers with the resources to find your webpage and browse accordingly.  

7. Social Media Course/Webinar Template

Twitter: Webinar Invite Twitter Post | Piktochart 

This Twitter post can show off your company, bringing awareness to the types of things your company is doing and what is happening on your landing page. A post like this can bring people to your webpage and allow them to become a part of something more than just seeing your posts on social media. This brings communication and customer engagement into play, which are important when developing a presence on social media. 

8. Social Media Event Template 

Facebook: Social Media Templates | PicMonkey

On PicMonkey you can find multiple templates to elevate your company’s social media posts. This will bring in an audience who is interested in what your company is all about by finding more and more information through your social posts. 

9. Social Media Activity Template

Instagram Story: Free Social Distancing Bingo Template – Customize with PicMonkey

Utilizing tools to create an interesting and intriguing Instagram story will make it easier to connect with your followers by showing a more relatable side of your company. Posting an interactive story like this brings attention to your brand while also creating a fun activity for your follows to do. This can add to your customer engagement and bring awareness to your brand simultaneously. 

10. Social Media Promotional Template 

Facebook: Tech Startup Facebook Post Template [Free PDF] – PSD

Using this helpful website, you can create, personalize and download eye-catching posts to advertise and bring attention to your company and the social media networks you are utilizing. 

11. Social Media Offer Template 

Instagram: Travel Offer Instagram Post Template

This type of template can assist your business in advertising a deal or sale revolving around what your company provides. It will intrigue customers to check out your webpage and possibly look into the deal you are advertising.  

12. Social Media Content Template 

Facebook: Blue and White Real Estate Video Facebook Post – Canva

On Canva you can select a template from a wide variety of themes, choosing what best fits your company and your needs. These can be great for posting on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

13. Social Media Giveaway Template 

Instagram: Orange International Children’s Book Day Commercial Instagram Post – Canva 

With bright colors and bold lettering, you can show your audience what events are going on within your company. This one shows a book giveaway but it can be anything that your company is doing that can be a rewarding experience for potential customers to be a part of. 

This can be a giveaway, a sale, or an event that is happening but regardless it will get the attention of future customers and give them the means to check out what your company is all about. 

14. Social Media Twitter Templates

Twitter: Canva Twitter Templates 

Canva’s twitter post templates enable you create eye-catching posts that bring awareness to your company and the types of products you offer on your website. This will entice customers to check out your landing page and generate more traffic towards your business.  

15. Social Media DIY/Instructional Template 

Pinterest: Violet with Cupcakes Photo Birthday Pinterest Graphic – Canva

Pinterest can be a useful resource when dealing with more DIY or at home types of products your company may offer. By providing advertising and posts to your Pinterest you can build interest within a new audience, finding potential customers through your posts and information regarding your company. 

16. Social Media Channel Art Template 

YouTube:Pink and Blue Nostalgia Artists and Illustrators YouTube Channel Art – Canva

In many cases, a YouTube channel can be beneficial to ensure that you build interest towards your brand and showcase what you do as a company. Many art, make-up or fashion companies can benefit from delving into the world of YouTube and will find they can build their audience by utilizing this platform. 

This gives a form of creative freedom and allows you to engage with an audience and elaborate on what your business is all about while remaining authentic in what you do. 

17. Social Media Content Plan Template

Twitter: Light Colors Cooking Website Twitter Header – Canva

Utilizing a Twitter header like this, you can ensure that anyone who clicks on your page is greeted with the title of your company and a blurb about what you do. This provides potential customers with the means to know who you are and what products/services you offer in the beginning, allowing them to be interested in checking out more of what you do and creating a better sense of engagement amongst your future clients. 

18. Social Media Sale Promotion Template 

Instagram: Cosmetics Ad Skincare Products Bottle Instagram Post 1080x1080px template — Design Online — Crello

Including many unique styles and designs, Crello has a variety of options to find the perfect post for your company’s social media accounts at no cost to you. This can be helpful for posting to all networks but unique because it offers templates for Snapchat and can assist in creating filters for your audience to use. 

19. Social Media Content Plan Template 

Create a Snapchat Geofilter: Stylish Woman with Vintage Travel Trailer Snapchat Geofilter 1080x2340px template — Design Online — Crello

By involving your company in creating a filter for Snapchat, you are enabling customers to post freely about your company and provide a form of advertisement in their own social posts regarding your company. 

This can bring awareness to your brand and influence an audience that you didn’t even know you could have. Snapchat is a very popular app, especially amongst a younger demographic, so if you think your target audience utilizes this app then creating a Snapchat filter for your company may be a key component in building success. 

20. Social Media Content Template Pack

Instagram: Instagram Highlight Cover Templates

Highlight covers can make your Instagram profile feel more cohesive, which can make or break someone’s perception of your brand. Use these templates to get started—just make sure to edit the fonts and colors so that they match your branding. 

21. Social Media Pinterest Templates

Pinterest: Free Pinterest Content Templates

Creating an eye-catching Pinterest page may be what allows your company to be seen by a new audience while creating more and more traffic to your landing page. This can be useful in creating an aesthetic for your account and showing off your products/services to future clients who might scroll past your page. In turn, this can boost your companies success rate and the number of loyal customers you gain. 

Choosing the Right Social Platform in 2025

Not every platform deserves equal attention. Facebook and Instagram remain strong for local businesses, service providers, and community engagement. TikTok works well for education, personality-driven content, and visibility, but requires consistency and authenticity.

Twitter is less effective for most small businesses unless they operate in media, tech, or thought leadership spaces. Pinterest suits visual industries and long-term discovery but is not ideal for fast conversations. Snapchat can work for younger audiences but is rarely a priority for most SMBs.

Templates are most effective when paired with the right platform. Focus where your customers already are.

Get Started With Social Media Marketing

Whether you’re a brand new business or you’ve been around for a while, social media marketing will help you connect with your customers and grow your business. Using the templates above, getting started will be a breeze.