Rock Your Social Media

Social media can be overwhelming, with new platforms emerging, algorithms constantly shifting, trends evolving, and the pressure for business owners to post frequently to get seen. It’s enough to make business owners want to give up altogether!

So many of the questions we get here at EBA are about social media. Questions like:

“How do you find so much content to share on social media? I barely have time to focus on my business, let alone read and share other people’s content!”

“When it comes to sharing my own posts on social media, how much is too much?”

“I have more than one blog, and I’m really struggling to manage all the platforms — X, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok — for both. How do I find the time to manage all of my social media profiles?”

“Which social media platforms are the best bet for online business entrepreneurs?”

And so on and so forth.

Social media can be totally overwhelming, especially when you are just getting started. It’s easy to feel like there are a million places we need to be at once, and that is a LOT to take in.

But if you’re feeling overwhelmed by social media, take a deep breath and listen up: you don’t need to be in a million places at once.

Let me say that one more time: when it comes to social media, you don’t need to be everywhere. You truly don’t need to be in a million places at once.

Liberating, isn’t it?

The reality is that social media can be a huge time suck for small business owners. We can get so caught up in trying to be on every platform, posting every day, promoting our content, promoting other people’s content, finding new things to talk about… that all of a sudden, we’re spending all our time working on our social media profiles and none of our time working on our actual business.

It’s easy to get sucked into social media (and I have definitely been guilty of it myself!), but we need to be strategic with how we spend our time, and that includes time spent on social media. We definitely need to have a presence on social media, but it doesn’t need to take over our entire business.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by social media, here are a few tips to get you back on track:

Put Your Focus in the Right Place

Social media can be GREAT at attracting new leads, building brand awareness, making connections, and building trust directly with your ideal customers. After all, it’s called “social” media for a reason! But social media is only one part of a bigger game plan, and this is super critical to remember.

Repeat after me: Social media isn’t a business strategy. It’s a tactic. And tactics change over time. If you’re just starting out, focus on the foundational things that really matter and use social media strategically to build your email list, get to know your audience better, and deliver a great product. You’ll get a much better return on your time and effort when social media is part of your overall plan and not the entirety of it. Because when TikTok gets banned or Instagram starts the “pay to play” game, you’ll still have a great product, an email list, and people who want to buy from you.

Focus on One Platform at a Time

Social media really gets overwhelming when we try to spread ourselves too thin. Start a Facebook Group! Have a YouTube channel! Livestream on SnapChat! Do a reel a day!

As mentioned earlier, social media can be a solid strategy for driving traffic and engagement. But if we try to be everywhere at once, we’ll spread ourselves too thin. We won’t give each platform the time or attention it needs to be successful, and our social media efforts will fall flat.

Talk about a bummer.

If we really want to find success with social media (and not be completely frazzled and overwhelmed in the process), we need to focus on ONE thing at a time. Want to drive traffic through Pinterest? Great. Focus on driving traffic through Pinterest. Don’t get distracted by Facebook, Instagram, and the other million and one platforms out there. Focus on doing one thing — and doing it well.

Once we’ve tested, measured, and found success focusing on ONE thing, then we can move on to something else. But if we try to do everything on every platform all at the same time, we’ll end up burned out, overwhelmed, and disappointed with the results.

Strategically Choose Where To Show Up

Each platform is a little different, so spend some time scrolling to see which one feels more aligned with your style and preferences. Once you’ve found the platform that resonates with you, dive deeper into learning how to post strategically. Understand the best times to post, the types of content that perform well, and how to engage with your audience effectively. By focusing on one platform and mastering it, you’ll be able to create a strong, engaging presence that drives results for your business.

We’ve chosen Instagram, specifically Reels, as our go-to platform for building a presence. If you’re interested in leveraging Instagram Reels to grow your audience and make meaningful connections, opt in to grab our free guide HERE. It’s packed with tips and strategies to help you get started and will give you 50 ready-made hooks to gain traction fast.

Don’t Spend Too Much Time on Social Media

No matter what we’re doing on social media — whether it’s connecting with other creators and business owners, building our communities, or promoting a new product — there’s one rule of thumb that always applies. And that is, be careful.

Social media is one of the biggest time sucks on the planet. We plan to spend five minutes checking our Facebook messages, and then all of a sudden, it’s two hours later, and we’re scrolling through comments from a year ago.

It’s an easy trap to fall into, and it’s one that we’ll all fall into at one time or another.

When we’re on social media, we need to be super careful about a) how we spend our time, and b) how much time we’re spending. Have a plan of attack and commit to a certain amount of time per day on social media. Set a timer, and once that timer goes off, it’s time to sign off and get back to other work.

Do you have any other questions on social media or Instagram Reels that we can answer? Leave your questions in the comments below!