Karen Adler is a small business owner, an award-winning cook, author, and a BBQ Queen. She also happens to be my aunt. Adler owns her own cookbook publishing company, Pig Out Publications, based in Kansas City, Missouri and she and partner Judith Fertig travel the country offering tips on grilling and outdoor cuisine. The crowned “BBQ Queens” have been in the limelight for the past decade. From book signings to TV spots, they are extremely busy.

During a weekend trip home to Kansas City, the “BBQ Capital of the World,” I sat down with my aunt and, in conversation, mentioned a few social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. “I know I need to have a presence on those sites, but I just don’t have the time or the know-how,” my aunt told me.  Then a light bulb went off. Why not have me help her with the Facebook and email marketing stuff? Of course I accepted. To me, putting my aunt on Facebook and helping her establish a social presence is fun. For her, it’s a chore.

To my surprise, Adler knows a lot about social networking. She gets the basic premise and pointed me to companies that she thinks do a nice job of marketing themselves on the Web. She said it’s something she’s thought about for the past year or so — but just hasn’t gotten around to. With a new cookbook out in bookstores and with BBQ season in full swing, it’s no wonder that she has gotten a little sidetracked. She’s busy putting out daily business fires — no pun intended. Adler also said she’s afraid of going about it the wrong way. She showed me her Facebook profile that she had set up one day, but hadn’t yet uploaded a photo or any profile information. She’s not sure where to start.

I said I would help my aunt under one condition: She learns Facebook, Twitter, and email marketing herself. I’m happy to get her up and running, but from here on out, she needs to be the one communicating with fans on Facebook and developing the content for her newsletters. She knows her business — not me. I’m excited to see firsthand how “getting social” will affect my aunt’s business. I already have grandiose dreams of her, in real time, walking Twitter followers through steps to marinading pork chops. I’m imagining her BBQ events circling Facebook with hundreds of attendees. Pig Out Publications could find fans and followers that it would have never reached had it not been for social networking. We’re going to smart small, but it doesn’t hurt to dream, right?

For all of you small business owners out there, do you share a similar mindset when it comes to social? You know it’s important, but how are you finding the time? What has helped you overcome fears and hesitations to eventually dive into the social landscape?