90% of people I meet in business say that social media is a full-time job.
It is … and that’s why so many outsource their social media once they have the budget.
But what if you have a full-time job 9-5, your business is a side hustle in the 5-9 and you still need to fit in the full-time job that is social media.
What do you do then?
In this week’s blog we look at How To Manage Social Media When Your Business Is A Side Hustle.
Schedule Once A Week (and batch produce your side hustle content)
As well as managing our own business social media, at any one time we manage the social media for up to 6 businesses.
Where possible we schedule a week or two’s worth of updates in advance.
It’s the only way to post consistently and it also saves time by doing it in one chunk.
Social media is much quicker when you do it in one focused block rather than constantly stopping and starting.
Extra Tip: If you have one idea for social media – try rewriting it 4 different ways and schedule the posts 4 weeks apart so you build up a content bank around the same themes.
Use Your Commute To Grow Your Side Hustle
Every day you’re travelling an hour for work.
If you’re travelling by train, tram or bus, this is the perfect time to fit in a bite-sized piece of work.
On the way to work, spend 15 minutes proactively engaging on each of your 2 respective social media channels.
On the way back from work, give yourself time off to listen to music, a podcast, read a book or scroll through social media rather than business social media.
Now, if that sounds like a lot, something is better than nothing. 5 minutes is better than zero.
And for those who are driving to work and can’t access their phone – find a suitable 15-minute chunk elsewhere in the day, be it lunchtime or in the evening whilst you’re prepping dinner.
Extra Tip: Set yourself a 15-minute challenge where you have to leave genuinely useful comments on as many relevant posts as possible.
Use The Day Job As Inspiration For Your Side Hustle
If you’re doing a side hustle that is similar to your day job, use the day job as inspiration.
We’re not saying use the time on the job to work on your business because before long you’ll be found out and be out of a job.
But if your day job doesn’t require you to be on social media as part of the role, start writing down FAQs and scenarios in your notes.
Use them as inspiration for social media posts in the future.
Don’t get this confused with spilling company secrets because it’s not about going into the details – it’s more that if one person has a specific question or scenario, there’s probably 1,000’s more that have the same question.
Extra Tip: At the end of each day – ask yourself what is the most interesting thing that happened that day. That is your post idea.
Don’t Try To Be Everywhere – it’s a side hustle
Don’t feel you need to be everywhere on social media.
Out of LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest, which are the 2 most relevant channels for your business?
For most side hustles, trying to consistently manage more than two channels is a recipe for spreading yourself too thin.
Any business you see posting consistently on more than 2 marketing channels either works in marketing or has a full marketing team behind them.
Extra Tip: Grab the handles on the social media channels you’re not using. So that when the side hustle becomes your main business, you have the right names.
Don’t Chase Perfection
Start now. Perfect later.
Your side hustle might become the biggest business in the UK in years to come.
But right now you don’t have to pay for a personal branding shoot, content creator or full-service marketing agency.
7/10 quality content consistently will always outperform 10/10 content done sporadically.
Take a look at early videos from the likes of Steve Bartlett, Gary Vaynerchuk or any creator. You’ll understand then that getting out there and doing is the important thing.
Your personality, your passion and your craft will kickstart your sales.
Extra Tip: Either pay for a TikTok mic, tripod and low-cost accessories or ask a family member to help you produce content in your spare time.
CONCLUSION: JUST START
We’ve said it twice now because it’s important.
Start. Not perfect later.
You don’t need hours every day to make social media work for your side hustle. Even 15-30 minutes a day, done consistently, can build your visibility, your audience and ultimately your sales.
And who knows where that can lead.
The work you put in now could eventually mean cutting your hours to a four-day week, then a three-day week, before eventually taking the leap and making your side hustle your full-time business.
Marketing matters, but social media is one of the easiest forms of marketing to fit around a full-time job.
So don’t wait until you have more time.
Start with the time you’ve got.
NEED HELP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Looking for authentic ways to grow your social media
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation
We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services
We offer Social Media Training on
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Facebook
* TikTok
* Blogging
We can do this
* 121
* Corporate Workshops
* Group Workshops
* Face to Face or Via Zoom
Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
