Last week, I wrote about two limiting beliefs that hold so many small business owners back from using social media to grow their businesses.

One of them was the belief that you have to spend hours and hours a day on social media in order to be successful. 

Which — thankfully — just isn’t true. 

In fact, it’s possible to create a successful social media presence for your business in way less time than you might think.

All you need is the right perspective and a few simple tips. Ready to put the sanity back in your social media? Let’s do this. 

Step 1: Start with the right mindset. 

There’s so much conflicting advice out there about what it actually takes to build a successful social media presence. 

Post to Instagram twice a day. Make sure one of them is a Reel. Post no more or less than six stories a day. Go live at least once a week. And if you want to grow on TikTok, post at least 3-5 times a day.

How is this doable for anyone, let alone a small business owner?!!

But here’s the thing: you are not a full-time content creator or social media influencer. You are a small business owner. Those are two very different things! 

Social media isn’t supposed to be your top priority or full-time job. You have so many other things on your plate!

Know that it’s OK to set boundaries for yourself around social media. You’re not an influencer and you don’t have to act like one in order to succeed.

It’s OK to let go of all those unrealistic expectations about what your social media should be.

Which brings us to our next step…

Step 2: Decide how much time you want to commit to social media each week — and stick to it.

As a small business owner, your time is precious, and you absolutely CAN and SHOULD be setting boundaries around your use of social media. 

Think about how many hours a week you can realistically spend on social media and see a benefit from it. Is it 3 hours a week? 5 hours a week? 8 hours a week?

Whatever you choose is OK — you can always revisit it later, but the point is to set a boundary around what you are and aren’t able to do, and let go of the rest. 

Step 3: Decide how you want to spend that time on social media.

Now that you’ve recognized your social media time is limited, let’s do what we can to make it count! 

Here are some recommendations for you to consider — generally, these are the minimum levels of social media posting required for growth:

  • Instagram: 3 posts per week (ideally, one of them is a Reel)
  • Facebook: Same as Instagram (more if you have time*)
  • LinkedIn: 1 post per week
  • TikTok: 3 videos per week 

Important note: You don’t need to be on ALL of these platforms!

Choose the one or ones that are going to be most beneficial for your business growth — the one(s) where your target audience is most active and where you know you can consistently show up.

*Facebook is notorious for having the lowest organic reach of any social media platform. Translation: Unless you pay (i.e., boost your posts or run ads), they’re generally not going to be seen by many of your followers, let alone people who don’t already know you exist.

For this reason, it’s very difficult to grow on Facebook unless you pay for ads and/or post more frequently (i.e., at least once a day). This is a big topic — I’ll definitely post more about it soon, so stay tuned… 

4. Start each week with a plan.

When I’m doing social media planning for my clients, I generally look at least a month ahead to get our plans and posts in order. But for a small business owner, trying to plan a month in advance can be really overwhelming. 

Instead, planning a week of posts at a time is a much more bite-size way to do it — and the best way to ensure it keeps getting done week after week!

Not sure what kinds of posts to plan? Then you need to check out my super-simple, super-efficient method for planning an entire week’s worth of social media posts in under 20 minutes. 

And not just any posts — posts that help build that crucial know-like-trust factor with your audience and deliver REAL results. Click here to get your FREE copy now.

5. Make time to be social.

Social media isn’t meant to be a one-way conversation — it’s meant to be social! 

Which means that, no matter how busy you are, don’t just “post and ghost”: it’s critical to dedicate time to engaging with other people on social media and their content as well.

The minimum time I recommend doing this is 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Here are some ideas for how to spend that time:

  • Acknowledge/respond to comments and messages that people have sent to you
  • Acknowledge/respond to posts, stories, etc. where people have tagged or mentioned you
  • “Like” and leave thoughtful, sincere comments on others’ posts and stories (you can do this in your own feed or search popular hashtags and go through recent posts there)
  • Join and participate in Facebook Groups that are relevant to your target audience
  • Send a DM to one of your followers to just say hello, comment about something they’ve posted and let them know you’re here to help

Believe me, THIS is where the magic happens on social media!

This is where casual followers can turn into actual customers. Never underestimate the power of the personal touch.

A final note…

I hope you found these tips helpful and that you feel inspired to approach your social media marketing with a new, more realistic outlook on what you do and, most importantly, don’t need to do!

Your social media is whatever YOU decide to make it. You don’t need to be everywhere doing all the things in order to be successful!

Start simple. Be consistent. And the rest will fall into place.

Psst…Want More Good Stuff Like This?

Then you need to sign up for my email list to get FREE social media tips and strategies for small business owners delivered straight to your inbox every week. Click here to get on the list now!