How Much Time should you Spend on Social Media?

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I get asked this question a lot from dietitians and business owners looking to do their marketing on their own.

From doing this kind of support work for clients the past 13 years in business, I have it down to a science on how much time social media marketing should take someone.

And it is for this very reason that I say to people – Social Media is NOT free. Your time is money – whether you are doing it or paying someone. The avenues may be free – for the most part – but the investment really is in the cost of the time spent on it.

So to give you an idea of the amount of time needed to do some basic social media marketing for a business… here is my list!

#Marketingtip To be effective you need to invest time into your marketing

Of course this assumes you have the 4 critical elements in place that help you spend LESS time on your marketing.

  1. Foundations Optimized
  2. Messaging Clear
  3. Marketing Plan
  4. System to Make it all Work

(And if this is not done, you need to do that before any of the other stuff in this list!)

This time suggestion is also geared to folks who might publish a blog twice a month and send one newsletter a month. It is also geared to someone who might do a couple of marketing videos each month as well.

How much time to spend on social media tasks?

Content Creation and Organization – 2 – 3 hours a month

  • This is time to look at the category of content you require and create new content to use. So this is writing your main Anchor Content and then content for your social media channels.
  • Time is 3 to 5 hours initially to get an overall plan in place and then 2-3 hours a month after.
Images & Video Creation and Organization – 1 – 2 hours a month
  • Based on needing 2 new images per week = 8 per month, you should take 3 minutes maximum per image.
  • USE Templates! When you have templates to use, you are not spending time looking for ideas each time. (You can learn to be more efficient creating images in my Canva Training Course.)
  • Assuming you will make 2 short marketing videos a month and maybe a Reel Video each week.
  • Image time is 30 minutes per month to create and store in a folder for use.
  • Video time depends on how many videos you make, as you practice you get more efficient. 4 Reels = 10 minutes each and 2 Videos = 20 minutes each.
Content Distribution – 2 hours a month
  • This is scheduling your content to get posted online – one week at a time.
  • Assuming you can post one update every 2 minutes, because it is prepped and ready to get posted and that you have 15 posts to be scheduled each week.
  • Time is 30 minutes per week on average to give login time, planning time and brain time to know what you are posting and where.

Community Building and Networking – 2-3 hours a month

  • This is spending time on your social media channels – aim for one channel per day – and checking for people talking to you, reposting other content, sharing info, DM-ing to IG Stories, Likes, Comments, Retweets etc. etc.
  • Finding new connections and sending requests to connect or accepting them. Networking with other people online. NOT posting your preplanned content but talking to people.
  • Aim for 15 minutes each time and a minimum 2 times a week. Plan to be online around the time your content goes live – especially in Instagram – that helps more people find and connect with you.
  • Someone like me probably spends 30 min a day doing this. I will go on more than one channel per day but for clients starting out we aim for one a day to build the habit and ease into doing this.
  • Time is 2 to 5 times a week at 15 min intervals = 2-3 hours a month.

Tracking and Review – 1 hour a month

  • Review results, adjust tactics and plan out new ideas and strategies. You can use our Free Marketing Stats Template to get started.
  • Update your Content Marketing Planner with changes to your schedule or content.
  • You will want to spend time monthly getting updates on your main metrics. This keeps it current so you can follow the changes and see on a more regular basis the numbers. The review and planning can happen every quarter.
  • Time is 1 hour a month

Overall you are looking at average numbers like this to spend each month on your social media.

  • Content Creation and Organization: 2-3 hours a month
  • Marketing Images & Video Creation and Organization: 1-2 hours a month
  • Content Distribution: 2 hours a month
  • Community Building and Networking: 2-3 hours a month
  • Tracking and Review: 1 hour a month

It all adds up to a total of 8 to 10 hours a month. This is why we work on a 20 hour a month minimum with most clients. The reality is … to be effective and see results, you need to invest some time into your marketing.

Like I said earlier, social media is free, but it really is NOT. Be prepared to invest time to be consistent and see results.

marketing foundations checklist

Download our FREE Marketing Foundations Checklist we have to learn more about WHAT Foundations you need in place to make this all work for your business.

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