While social media can be a great boon for small business owners, it can also take us away from necessary jobs, such as sales, proposals, meetings, and taking out the garbage.

Yes. I take out the garbage at flyte.

I was wondering how you deal with social media distractions–and related distractions like email, phone calls, etc.–when you need to get in the zone.

Thanks!

Hi Rich,

Ugh, I hate taking out the garbage, but it’s a task that has to get done.  

Social Media for me is almost the same. It has become an influential business tool that if you don’t use it, you lose what it has to offer.  It is a task, but a fun one to do.  You can use Social Media for so much of what you probably do today, except take out the garbage.
As I am still exploring myself, I haven’t found all the cool tricks.  However, there are a few tips I could offer that could potentially give you more time to do the things that require more of your time. If anyone has other suggestions, please add.
If you use Facebook: There is no need to check it more than once a day. Your e-mail notification will tell you enough.  If you have a business page, You can check it once in the morning and once at night.  E-mail etiquette states you should at least respond within 24 hours.  I would think it’s ok to apply the same technique to Facebook.
If you use Twitter: There are the http://www.bufferapp.com that can send tweets throughout the day automatically.  Then there is http://timely.is  that allows you to place this little icon on your browser and so every time you are on a page that you want to tweet, you click on “Create a Timely” and it creates the tweet. Here is what happened when I clicked it while typing this reply to you.
Small Business | Forum « Shutting out social media distractions… « Social Media Examiner http://awe.sm/c2BHs 

This would have been a tweet if I chose to post it. 
If you send/receive e-mails: Create boundaries.  There is no need to spend so much time on e-mails.  If e-mails are directed to you then you have 24 hours to respond.  If you are being copied, there is a way to set up a feature that color codes those e-mails so you don’t have to worry about those e-mails right away.  I haven’t actually used this, but putting an automatic response to all e-mails coming in after a certain time, saying something like “Thank you for your e-mail. I will respond to you within 24 hours, ya da ya da ya…”  
If your phone rings a lot:  How about setting up your phone where certain callers go directly to voice mail.  That way, you can call them back when you have the time.  Your voice mail message must clearly state that you will call them back within a certain timeframe, but you must stick to it. Schedule time for your calls in the early morning (preferably not on Mondays and definitely not before 9:00 a.m.) but no later than 11:30 (people are starting to get hungry and are probably not going to think rationally at this time.  Afternoon, people are sleep after lunch.  There is always the calls you can make on your drive home in the evening.  It’s assumed you have all the right equipment in your car to handle calls without your hands.
That’s what I have to offer as far as tips go.  
Let me know if any of these helped or not. 

@rich-brooks I use social media as a distraction sometimes However when I’m busy, such as yesterday, I don’t even look at our sites that much. I screen phone calls as best I can via caller ID. Our VoIP software allows me to listen to VM easily as well as look up missed calls (w/o VM). Buffer, Hootsuite and Facebook’s scheduler are my weapons for holding back the social media tide.

Hi Rich, I block off my mornings from 8 to 11 to focus on priority projects. Until 11, I turn my phone face down and don’t have the ringer or vibrate on. Emails notices are never on anyway. Afternoons are then devoted to meetings, phone calls, emails, etc. I check Social Media once a day at this point.

I let clients know I won’t be available before 11 and the response has been very positive. Several have told me they wish they could be that disciplined. 

There are a few exceptions – one client needs to have a Monday morning status call at 8 AM – but other than that I get to focus when I’m at my best.