The Solo Entrepreneur’s Guideto Social Media Time Management

“Look, I’d love to be involved more in social media, but the reality is that I don’t have enough time in the day and I don’t have enough people helping me.

So what am I supposed to do?”

Small business entrepreneurs are faced with this dilemma every day.

For some, the answer may be to outsource functions of telling their story online through content marketing. But for others, that may not be an option due to budget constraints or other factors.

That means it’s back on them to make it happen.

1. “I Have No Time.”

“I Have No Time.”

In fact, you probably do. It’s just that you’re just looking at the gigantic picture of how you’re going to pull all it together rather than breaking this challenge down into smaller chunks.

Let’s start with what’s important. Your vision.

“I Have No Time.”

It’s not about being on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or YouTube. Or anything else. Yet. Many businesses tend to think tactically before they think about the bigger picture strategically.

Namely, what’s the problem you’re trying to solve?

How are you planning on being helpful?

And how can you do it without resorting to blatantly selling your product or service?

“I Have No Time.”That’s right. You’re an expert who just happens to also have something to sell at your disposal. Lead with the sell and you’re in trouble from the get-go.

It’s not about your stuff.

It’s about how what you know can help them address their challenge right now.

Then and only then will you gain continued entry into their lives.

2. “How do you get to 10,000 followers like some of these people? I can’t do

that.”

“How do you get to 10,000 followers like some of these people? I can’t do that.”Who cares? Do you want to talk up a vanity stat or do you want to better your chances of getting in the door?

If the latter, think smaller - about your audience. If we drilled down to think about the 10-15 companies we really wanted to get into, we’d stand a better chance of understanding what makes them tick. We’d study them harder on a more 1-to-1 level rather than as a field to enter in an Excel spreadsheet.

3. “OK, but how do I

know who to contact?

That takes time.”

“OK, but how do I know who to contact? That takes time.”Think about the decision makers who traditionally sit at the table when making a final call about your product or service. There’s rarely just one.

Couldn’t we use the advanced version of LinkedIn (which won’t break the bank) to learn more about who these people are faster? We could create search criteria around characteristics such as:

The Groups they belong to

Keywords

Geographic location and radius

Titles of seniority

Function

Company Size

4. “How am I supposed to stay up to speed on what’s new with

them?”

“How am I supposed to stay up to speed on what’s new with them?”There are tools like Google Alerts that you can set up around their names and the company name that can tell you just that. Like when someone gets a promotion. Or leaves the company. Or the company buys another company. Or moves to bigger headquarters. Or releases a new product into the marketplace.

These are some of the examples of what author Jill Konrath of books such as Snap Selling refers to as “trigger events.” When you recognize that trigger event faster, you have to insert your proposition into that event faster. Impossible? Not when tools such as these are giving you a head start by cluing you into the news faster.

5. “Fine. But this

blogging stuff...what am I going to write

about?”

“Fine. But this blogging stuff...what am I going to write about?”You can start by using the Google Keyword Tool to discover the words and phrases used in association with your business or your competitors’ business.

I find this enlightening because unlike the marketing speak we’re often guilty of using within our own walls, people searching for us use Plain English. And that helps us craft better content around the way they talk.

6. “I still hear the part

where I’m coming up with ideas from

scratch.”

“I still hear the part where I’m coming up with ideas from scratch.”Do you read blogs that are relevant to your industry that you enjoy? Subscribe to them through RSS feeds or e-mail subscriptions.

Refer to sources like LinkedIn Today and Mashable (or local businesses sources - we in Chicago have Crain’s Chicago Business), which give you an array of “hot button” newsworthy topics you can potentially provide your own take on that’s different than the one provided.

Keeping them organized through a tool like Google Reader enables you to get a stream of information on popular conversations to inspire thought rather than you sitting in front of a blank screen, wondering what you should write about.

7. “But putting content on all these different channels is going to

be such a pain.”

“But putting content on all these channels is going to be such a pain.”Entrepreneurs often forget the power of repurposing content to “slice and dice” it in different ways.

Let’s say you write 1 blog post. That blog post can then fuel a variety of formats.

You can create a video based on it for YouTube.

You can take a portion of it, put it in an eNewsletter and have it jump to your blog for the rest of the article.

You can pull a provocative sentence out of it with a link back to the blog and put it on Twitter or LinkedIn.

You can post images from the post on Pinterest, which then links back to the full post.

And that’s just a sampling. 1 post can go a long way.

Train like a Marathoner.

These are far from the only ways to inject more time back into your day for social media, but they’re a healthy start. It may be cliche to say, but content creation is a matter of pacing - which means it’s more of a marathon than sprint. It’s a slow build to get consistently stronger, but before long, you may find it’s easier than you thought and even – yes – fun.

If you have other ideas, tools and tricks that have helped you stay on top of your social media execution as a solo entrepreneur, we’d love to hear them. Write to Dan@Chicagobrander.com or tweet us at @DanOnBranding.

Dan Gershenson is the CEO of Caliber Brand Strategy + Content Marketing, where he writes on behalf of entrepreneurs and agencies that have no time, support staff or both to create great online content, from blogs and eNewsletters to website pages and social media channel posts.

His Chicago-based firm helps brands tell better stories online and leverage their point of difference “so they can crush their competitors with it.” A veteran of the Advertising and Marketing industry for over 17 years, Gershenson is frequently asked to speak and teach content marketing concepts to businesses, non-profits and associations.

www.BuildTheBrandWithin.com773.677.6043 / Dan@ChicagoBrander.com