Struggling to carve out time for marketing your business amidst a hectic summer schedule? Read on for tips for time-poor small business owners!

Social media is an eternal challenge that gets pushed down the priority list. Especially during the school hols, when the (hopefully) good weather and kids’ activity schedule fight for your attention.
I get it! I may not be a parent, but busy family life is not a stranger. “Time-suck” looks different for every small business owner but is no less applicable, and can be a big sap on the positivity reserves.

I’m unlocking a few marketing ideas that work for me (and busting some myths along the way, too) to manage your time on social media productively. So you can spend time purposefully, with less overwhelm.

⏰ Tip 1: Prioritize Your Marketing Goals

Posting on social media for the sake of posting, because ‘you know you should’ and you’ve heard all that chatter about being consistent… especially when the personal stuff tends to get more traction anyways… This is all a NOPE.
You’re heading down the track of doing more harm than good, even if it did only take you a few minutes.

INSTEAD, identify your most critical marketing objectives and create a weekly/monthly action plan for the summer. Follow it to stay focused on high-impact activities that drive results.
Rather than a post which you could file under “it’ll do for now”… spend that 5minutes to optimise your Facebook ‘About’ page, say.

Think: It’s the difference between posting that might help make a sale today vs marketing that supports you to make future sales PLURAL.

⏰ Tip 2: Time-Blocking for Social Media Efficiency

This one is a lifesaver for me!
Multi-tasking only translates to lesser-quality outcomes. Often, much lesser. (And that’s true, even when you’re not super-busy.)

Picture it, you’ve got enough time to do a post… start with an idea, you try to stretch it, into a better idea, now creating the Canva visual or finding the right photo, writing the post, now editing that for those dodgy typos, quick, focus on some hashtags… phew…

Each. Needs. Different. Brain. Skills.
Switching, re-focusing, interrupting the flow.

Productive marketing is a task that takes different kinds of brain power and different task focus. Segment your time into more manageable chunks for specific tasks.

Like this:
Batch each task component. Allocate separate slots for each.
One for the ideas.
Another day, writing the content.
Later, prep 5 sets of suitable hashtags at once – get them in the bank.

Diarise each batch – I don’t know about you, but if it’s not in my diary, it’s *very* easy to ignore!
The more disciplined you can be with the flow, the more productive and the better quality the results.
Oh, and it prevents spill-over into your family time.

⏰ Tip 3: Leverage Simplicity

End the time-drag that’s caused by perfection overthinking. Let’s simplify your workload.

Here’s a social media example:
Those batchable moments you want to devote to engagement, both inbound and outbound… a key part of brand awareness growth.
But, easy to spend a TON of time on, am I right?
This is a low-brain-power task and therefore one that’s best squeezed into ‘dead time’. Easily done in 15mins while waiting for the kids at the softplay centre. Or a handful of daily DMs done, whilst in the Post Office queue.

The fastest, simplest way is with the tool in your hand.

⏰  Tip 4: Get Smart With Outsourcing

You don’t have to do it all alone. Many of us small business owners have scarce resources to outsource or delegate. I know, me too.
Certain non-core tasks will still consume your precious time, though, so it’s a case of recognising the true value of expertise.

The payoff from having a freelance writer create a blog for you once a month? It balances out the hours you’d spend procrastinating over, and the actual doing, of highly beneficial tasks that just aren’t your forté.

Likewise, ChatGPT is a fantastic AI writing tool (and it’s free!) that’s been cutting the time I spend on my marketing and other business tasks, hugely.
Such as coming up with video scripts, and product listings. Even 10minutes saved is 10minutes more with my loved ones.
And I’ve seen my clients finding it super-useful too, to claw back those hours. (Look out for my next online workshop on how to use ChatGPT; smart!)

Think, teamwork makes the dream work. Paid-for human skills, and robots alike.

⏰  Tip 5: Continuous Learning for Social Media Growth

It’s never wasted time to stay updated with trends and marketing methods through podcasts, webinars, or online courses. (I would say that, wouldn’t I?!)
Seriously though, that’s because it’s true.

Add up how long might you spend bumbling along on content that’s not leading to sales. Posts still not getting engagement?
Doing the same-old-thing that you once read in a Facebook group about repurposing videos from TikTok or YouTube… hang on, were they really a marketing pro, with the tailored advice that’s right for YOUR business and YOUR specific aims, and tips that aren’t obsolete?
(Did you know Instagram will deliberately hold back that content if it’s watermarked or not the right format?! Wasted. Effort. Wasted. Time.)

Ongoing learning and picking up *genuine* social media nuggets help you streamline your efforts and stay ahead of competitors. Unlock your full potential.
(See my workshop schedule here for fast-fix learnings. Or contact me to ask if a 121 short course would be right for you.)

Summarising, 5 social media time-savers:

• Start prioritising more purposefully, not just what you can cross off the list.
• Batch smaller task chunks.
• Done is what matters. Not perfection. So, simplify.
• Outside help comes in many different forms. Embrace it.
• Invest in yourself, as your business’ biggest asset.

Remember, finding time for valuable marketing is about working smarter, not harder.
I’m here to help, Ruth