Social media trends

Are you thinking of expanding your business to Spain? 

Social media can be your best ally—but only if you understand how it really works in this market. 

This guide will walk you through the essentials of Social Media Marketing (SMM) in Spain and why partnering with Smartbrand, a local agency, can make all the difference.

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What is Social Media Marketing 

Social Media Marketing (SMM) refers to using social platforms to build brand awareness, drive traffic, engage customers, and ultimately boost sales. But each country has its own rules—cultural, linguistic, and platform-based.

In Spain, the most relevant platforms for brands are:

• Instagram: Popular among younger users, great for lifestyle content and influencer collaborations.
• Facebook: Still widely used by a more mature audience. Excellent for precise ad segmentation.
• TikTok: Huge potential for virality, especially with younger audiences.
• LinkedIn: Key for B2B strategies and professional networking.
• YouTube: A powerful video marketing platform with massive reach.
• X (formerly Twitter) and Pinterest also have niche appeal.
  
  

Why go local? A Spanish-speaking agency can help you adapt your message to the tone, humor, and timing your audience expects—and make the most of each platform's nuances.

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Social Media Marketing strategy - Phases to follow 

‍1. Define clear objectives

Start with SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.

Example: Instead of saying "Increase brand awareness", aim for "Increase Spanish website traffic by 20% in 6 months through Instagram and Facebook campaigns."

Also, define what success looks like: Is it brand recognition? Community growth? Sales?

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2. Identify opportunities – Initial analysis

• Audience
  To succeed on social media in Spain, you need to understand who you’re talking to and why they’re on each platform in the first place. What do they expect from a brand? What drives their behaviour?
  Short surveys, interviews or market research can help uncover valuable insights about user preferences, motivations and expectations.
  These insights should be turned into audience archetypes or personas, which help guide strategy and content planning.
  
  

• Unique Value Proposition
  What makes your brand stand out? What need are you solving, and how do you do it better—or differently—than competitors?
  Running a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) can help clarify your positioning and uncover areas to strengthen before launching a campaign.

• Market
  Each market comes with its own cultural codes, language, and platform penetration. It's not the same to launch a brand from scratch in Spain as it is to expand an existing one into this market.
  A market analysis means looking beyond demographics. It also involves understanding consumer behaviour, and identifying macroeconomic, political and social factors that influence how your message is received.
  
  ‍Local insight is key: Working with a native agency gives you a real advantage. They know how things work, what resonates with the audience, and how to avoid cultural missteps that can hurt your brand image.
  
  

• Competitor Benchmarking
  Studying your competitors is crucial—especially when entering a new, unfamiliar market like Spain.
  Look at how your main competitors use social media: what platforms they’re active on, the quality of their content, their engagement levels, and the tone they use.
  But don’t stop there. Check out adjacent sectors too—some of the most innovative strategies come from unexpected places.
  
  Why it matters even more when going international: Observing what works (or doesn’t) locally can help you avoid beginner mistakes and accelerate your entry into the market.
  
  

• Brand Presence & Social Listening
  Assess your current position on each platform. What are your strengths? Where are the gaps?
  Monitor how users talk about your brand online—the tone, the recurring themes, the sentiment behind mentions. These insights can guide content creation and community engagement strategies.

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• Resources
  Understand what you have—and what you need.
  This includes budget, team capacity, time, and tools. Do you have in-house expertise, or do you need training or external support?
  It’s also important to clarify which platforms and tools you’ll use for content scheduling, performance tracking, and social listening.

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3.Building a Social Media Strategy

Once you’ve defined your audience, analysed the market, and spotted the gaps, it’s time to craft a strategy that connects the dots between goals and execution.

Your social media strategy should outline:

• What content you’ll create
• How and where it will be delivered
• Which voices (influencers, partners) will amplify it
• The business objectives behind each message
• And most importantly, how it all reflects your brand’s voice and identity
  
  

Take a look at our work with PlanetadeLibros, Jané, or Fanhome.

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Content Strategy

Content is at the heart of any social media plan. It’s how your brand earns visibility, builds trust, and starts meaningful conversations.

We recommend developing strategic content pillars, aligned with business goals and audience segments. These pillars provide structure and help unify your brand narrative across all platforms.

Then, break these down into platform-specific themes—adapting your voice, visuals, and formats to suit the audience and algorithms of each channel.

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Platform Mix & Format

Every platform has its own language, dynamics, and user behaviours. Your presence shouldn't be about copy-pasting across channels.

Instead, choose the platforms that make the most sense for your brand and goals in Spain, and tailor content formats accordingly: Reels for reach, carousels for storytelling, LinkedIn posts for thought leadership, etc.

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Reach: How to get seen

Posting is not enough. To reach your audience, you need visibility—and that means working with the platforms, not against them.

There are three key levers:

1. Organic reach: Plan content that taps into platform trends and user behaviours to maximise visibility without paid media.
2. Social ads: With declining organic reach, targeted paid ads ensure message delivery with precision, speed, and flexibility.
3. Influencer marketing: Leverage local voices to give your brand credibility and reach. But focus on engagement, not just follower count.
   
   

A local agencie is essential here: We know what kind of content performs, how algorithms are shifting, and which voices move the needle in Spain.

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Conversions & Results

Ultimately, every strategy should lead to action: more traffic, leads, purchases, or brand advocates.

Your KPIs will depend on your goals—but whether you're tracking engagement, conversions, or ROI, you need a clear measurement plan from day one.

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‍4. Activating your strategy

Once your strategy is clear, it’s time to roll it out—efficiently and with the right resources.

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Brand Profile Setup

Start by optimising your profiles across platforms:

• Consistent naming: Use the same handle on all platforms to improve discoverability and brand recognition.
• Profile visuals: Use your logo as your profile picture and a cover image that reflects your values or current campaigns.
• Bio and description: Write a short, impactful bio with relevant keywords.
• Website link: Add a link to your site—consider using a link-in-bio tool to showcase multiple destinations.
• Contact info: Make it easy to get in touch—email, phone, physical address.
• CTAs: Platforms like Facebook allow custom buttons (e.g. “Shop Now”, “Contact Us”).
• Brand consistency: Ensure your tone and visuals reflect your brand identity across every platform.

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Management Tools & Workflows

Managing multiple profiles and campaigns requires the right setup:

• Scheduling tools: Essential for consistent publishing and team coordination.
• Content Hub: At Smartbrand, we use a centralised workspace to plan, tag and coordinate all content—across platforms and regions.
• Social Design System: A system we developed to align a brand’s visual identity with its social media presence, keeping everything cohesive over time.

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Monitoring Tools

Use analytics tools to track your key performance indicators (KPIs) and measure impact. From reach to engagement to conversions, real data will guide your next move.

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Ongoing Content Planning

A solid content calendar ensures consistency and relevance. Plan around:

• Strategic content pillars
• Brand-specific campaigns
• Seasonal trends and “dayketing” moments
• Required production timelines
• Learnings from previous posts

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Content Creation

Quality matters. Poor production or generic formats won’t drive results.

Focus on versatile assets— especially video — and plan so you can repurpose content across platforms. Make sure your messaging fits each platform’s tone, and your captions encourage interaction when needed.

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Community Management

Building a community takes more than publishing good content. It’s about being present, listening, and engaging meaningfully.

Timely responses to comments, questions and even complaints are part of the job. That’s why it’s important to establish clear customer care protocols for social — especially when managing a growing presence in a new market.

Why it matters who’s behind the screen: When expanding into Spain (or any local market), your community manager shouldn’t just speak the language — they should think in it. A native Spanish-speaking CM understands the cultural nuances, humour, tone, and expectations that shape conversations. That local empathy is what builds real connection and trust.

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Campaign Execution

From influencer partnerships to paid ads, campaigns should launch in sync with your strategy — and evolve through real-time optimisation based on performance.

Local insight counts here too: Knowing which influencers are genuinely influential in Spain, or how ads perform in local regions, is something only a native partner can truly master.

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5. Optimising the Strategy

Social media moves fast, and your strategy needs to evolve with it.

That’s why optimisation should be an ongoing, circular process — one that learns from performance and is ready to pivot when needed. Every assumption can (and should) be questioned if the data suggests a better path.

A simple yet effective optimisation loop might include:

• Performance analysis
• Opportunity brainstorming
• Prioritising ideas by impact vs effort
• Testing and implementation

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Growing your brand through social media in a new market like Spain takes time, consistency and local insight.

Results won’t come overnight. But with a well-defined strategy and a partner who understands the market, each action will be pushing your brand closer to its goals.