When marketing feels like too much. Part Two: I don't have time!

I hear this from small business owners and nonprofit leaders all the time: I know I should be more active on social media, but it seems like so much work - and I can't ever seem to find the time!

Though digital marketing effort is certainly worth it, it's easy to get overwhelmed. I get it, trust me.

Honestly, in the first few months of starting my own business, I was 'too busy' doing other stuff - mostly client work - to focus on my own marketing consistently. Even though I was actively creating content for my clients, I barely posted on LinkedIn for myself. Even this website you're looking at right now was published more than 6 months later than I originally intended. I've been lucky with a great referral network, but as any good business owner knows, growing your pipeline and diversifying your income streams is important, so marketing has to be a priority.

Consuming vs. Engaging vs. Creating

It's important to differentiate your time online. Most of us are consuming social media - many far more than we'd like. We're doing this passively though - scrolling without actually doing anything. And because we're not doing putting any effort out there, it's giving us nothing back.

Occasionally, we may engage. We'll like something now and then, and if it really moves us, we may even comment. That's engagement. And it matters. It helps us show up. It's the beginning of visibility.

But to be truly effective on social media, we need to also create content. Think about it this way. Even if you show up to a hundred meetings, if you never say or contribute anything, people will probably stop talking to you, they'll stop asking you questions, they may even stop noticing you are there.

Most of us want to use social media to connect with others - some for pleasure, some for business - but for social media to be truly effective at achieving this, we need to move from consuming to engaging to creating.

And I'm here to suggest, you can do this in just 15 minutes a day.

Fifteen minutes isn't a lot of time, even for the busiest of people, and chances are you are actually on these platforms for at least this amount of time each day any way. All we want to do is turn you from someone who passively consumes into someone who actively engages and ideally, someone who also creates.

Here's a strategy:

• If you are someone who scrolls social media, skimming content without engaging or reacting (with likes, loves, celebrates, supports, etc.) → I want you to slow down, actually read the content before your eyes, and react. Leave a thumbs up. A heart. Whatever feels right.

• If you're someone who reads the content and reacts but only rarely engages → I'd like to invite you to start commenting on the posts that really inspire you. If it makes you feel something, you must have something to say about it. Act like you're in the room with the person who said what you just read, how would you respond?

• If you're consuming, reacting and engaging through comments → Now's the scary part. I want you to try putting your own voice out there. Create some content. Publish a post. Say what's on your mind. Don't worry about fancy graphics or highly-produced videos. Do what you can.

I promise you that showing up online in greater ways - even in just 15 minutes a day - will help your business, your nonprofit or your personal network.

Quantity vs. Consistency

If you're already on social media, maybe just following and reading and occasionally liking, you'll know that there are a lot of people out there producing a LOT of content. And it seems to be working for them - they're getting a lot of engagement. So it's easy to fall in to the trap of thinking that you have to produce a lot of content online to gain followers and engagement. It's not true.

On LinkedIn, for example, it's easy to think that everyone you see online is constantly active, producing high volumes of new content all the time. But that's just what the algorithm is showing you. In reality, only a very small percentage of LinkedIn users actively post content - less than 5%. There are far more people consuming content than creating it, which means there's an opportunity for even a modest creator to reach a lot of people.

On other platforms, like Instagram or TikTok, where more users are actively posting, micro-influencers are the perfect examples that showcase the high impact you can have, even with fewer resources and smaller audiences.

But you should also know this - the people creating unbelievable amounts of content have a system. In some cases, that system might be ghost writers, or it might be tech or AI, or it might be their full time job and they have someone else taking care of the rest of the business. Whatever it is, it's the system that allows them to produce so much content.

Here's the more important bit: I'm not saying you need to produce insane amounts of content - you don't! Because there's a difference between being 'effectively active' and being 'unnecessarily overabundant'. The important thing - when it comes to posting content - is consistency, rather than quantity.

You don't need to produce a lot of content to get visibility. What you need is a system that works for you. Choose a cadence that suits your schedule right now and start there. Don't feel the pressure to post 7 days a week if that seems unrealistic for you. On LinkedIn, for example, you could start by posting 2 days a week (on weekdays) and engaging (reacting, commenting) for the other 3 days of the work week. If you only have the capacity to produce one video a week for more visual-based platforms like Instagram or TikTok - let that be enough for now. It's ok, I promise. Showing up consistently - even in small amounts - is what drives visibility. And visibility is what matters.

Remember, you define the runway. The whole point is to remain visible so that you can build genuine connections. If you want to get to your destination quicker, then maybe a higher cadence or some paid advertising budget might be helpful. But if your runway is longer, then you can go slower.

And there's no shame in starting slow. The best approach is actually to take baby steps, because it's more sustainable over the long term.