How much time small businesses spend on social media

Published 18 October 2026 · 4 minute read

Most founders spend between 12 and 40 hours a month on social media, according to a 2026 analysis by Glow Social reported by Startups.co.uk. That is the workload of a part-time employee, usually done in the evenings by the person who should be running the business.

Source: Startups.co.uk, updated 18 August 2026.

Where the hours go

Posting itself is quick. The time goes into everything around it: deciding what to say, finding or making images, resizing for each channel, writing captions, and doing it again the next day because nothing was planned. Each switch between running the business and creating content costs focus as well as minutes.

Five ways to get the time back

1. Plan a month at once. One planning session replaces thirty small decisions.
2. Fix your style. Set colours, fonts and a few templates once, so every post does not start from zero.
3. Make one idea work on several channels. A carousel can become a LinkedIn post, a Pin and a short video script.
4. Batch creation and scheduling. Create a week or a month in one block, then schedule it.
5. Hand it over and keep approval. If your hour is worth more than the cost of help, delegate the work and keep the final say.

Is delegating worth it?

A simple test: multiply the hours you spend each month by what an hour of your time is worth, and compare it with the cost of help. At 20 hours and €50 an hour, that is €1,000 of your time each month. Our savings calculator runs the numbers with your own inputs.