How to Stay Relevant on Social Media (Even When You’re Too Busy Running Your Business)
I spent the better part of my career working with enterprise clients at Adobe: brands with deep pockets, large teams, and every resource you could imagine. And yet, one of the most common challenges they faced was this: how to stay visible and relevant online without burning their teams out. If multi-million-dollar companies struggle with content consistency, it’s no wonder entrepreneurs and small business owners feel overwhelmed trying to do it all themselves.
Let’s be honest, if you're running a business, managing your team, closing deals, and actually doing the work... the last thing on your mind is filming Reels or writing Instagram captions.
But here’s the catch: your audience is spending hours a day on social. If your business isn’t showing up, someone else’s is.
So how do you stay relevant without becoming a full-time content creator?
Let me walk you through it.
What’s the Real Cost of Not Changing?
Before we get into strategy, let’s look at what this is really costing you. This part might sting a little. What’s the cost of not finding a faster, smarter way to manage your content?
Let’s say you run a lawn care business charging $65 an hour. If you spend just one hour a day writing, editing, uploading, and posting to social media, that’s 7 hours a week or $455. Multiply that by 52 weeks, and you're looking at $23,660 a year.
Even if you reclaim just half of that time for actual client work or growth-focused tasks, you’re leaking $11,830 in opportunity cost every year.
That’s a marketing salary. That’s new equipment. That’s a vacation with your family, you keep saying you don’t have time for.
Unless your content is directly generating revenue, that’s lost profit. Plain and simple.
And more often than not, the ROI of social only kicks in once your strategy is sustainable.
1. Shift Your Mindset: Visibility Is the Work
Marketing isn’t a “nice to have,” it’s part of the job. If no one knows you exist, you can’t help them. Social media is just the modern-day storefront window. Don’t overthink it. Start showing up as you.
You’re not just selling a product; you’re building trust. Trust is built by being present, not perfect.
2. Create Once, Repurpose Often
You don’t need to create from scratch every day. A single idea can fuel a month of content if you’re strategic:
Turn a blog post into five quote graphics
Pull a behind-the-scenes clip into a short reel
Repackage an old testimonial into a story
Repost top-performing content, your audience isn’t scrolling your archives
3. Batch and Automate Like a CEO
Block two hours a week to plan your posts. Use tools like Later, Buffer, or Metricool to auto-schedule. Think of it like meal-prepping, but for your brand.
Personally, I pre-plan my social content a week in advance. Every reel, every post, it’s all scheduled out, so I’m not scrambling last minute to throw something together. That simple shift took me from reactive to intentional. It lets me focus on running my business while still showing up consistently online.
Right now, I track everything in a simple Google Sheet. It’s not perfect, but it works until I find a smarter way.
4. Lead with Value, Not Virality
You don’t need to go viral. You need to connect. Offer insights. Answer FAQs. Share a win or a lesson. Speak like you’re talking to your dream client over coffee.
Connection beats clicks. The real win is becoming the brand people remember when they’re ready to buy.
5. Use AI to Save Time (Not Cut Corners)
AI won’t replace your voice, but it can speed things up. I use a trained ChatGPT thread to help me write captions, idea prompts, and even carousel outlines. It’s a game changer.
Think of it like having a creative assistant on call 24/7. You’re still the strategist, AI just helps you move faster.
Final Word:
You don’t need to do everything. You just need to show up consistently, in a way that aligns with your brand and bandwidth.
If you're a business owner juggling 100 things, remember, your social media should work for you, not wear you out.
Build a system now, so you’re not still stuck in the same loop a year from today.
Need help building a strategy that fits your schedule? I’ve got something in the works. Stay tuned.
