“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. Here's how they can do it.

1. The Solo Entrepreneur’s Guide
to Social Media Time Management

2. “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?”

3. 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.

4. 1. “I Have No Time.”

5. “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.

6. “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?

7. “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.

8. 2.
“How do you get to
10,000 followers
like some of these
people? I can’t do that.”

9. “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.

10. 3.
“OK, but how do I know
who to contact?
That takes time.”

11. “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

12. 4.
“How am I supposed to
stay up to speed on
what’s new with them?”

13. “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.

14. 5.
“Fine. But this blogging
stuff...what am I going to
write about?”

15. “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.

16. 6.
“I still hear the part
where I’m coming up with
ideas from scratch.”

17. “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.

18. 7.
“But putting content on
all these different
channels is going to be
such a pain.”

19. “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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. www.BuildTheBrandWithin.com
773.677.6043 / Dan@ChicagoBrander.com