What To Do When You Are Overwhelmed by Social Media Marketing
I’d wager a bet that of the 83% of marketers who are actively managing social media accounts, a fair amount have at one point or another experienced burn out due to their workload. The online marketing industry moves so fast and at times can feel a tad overwhelming. Chief marketing officer’s know that social media is important but don’t know how to use it to their advantage. Couple that with the massive amounts of data that is available to them (not to mention a lack of a consistent strategy) and you’re left with a group of people feeling overwhelmed and overworked by the demands of social media marketing.
Five Ways to Avoid Social Media Marketing Burnout
Re-evaluate the platforms you are active on
You do not need to be on every single social platform! When a new social network rolls out, don’t just jump on the bandwagon from fear of missing out. It’s simply not practical (unless you happen to be a huge corporation with lots of manpower) to be active on all available platforms. You can afford to be choosy, and should be so that you aren’t spread too thin. You want to be able to give the right platforms the proper attention in order to maximize ROI.
If you decide a few of your current social accounts aren’t necessary and you want to let them go, there is no need to completely shut them down. Instead, set up static accounts that direct your followers to the platforms where you are active. Alternatively you can send them to your website.
The key point of this is that you ought to focus your attention on the social platforms where your target audiences are. This will require a bit of research and a splash of experimentation.
Check out our piece on the steps to take before downloading the latest social app.
Get an effective strategy in place
A good social marketer has a thorough, written out strategy. In all honesty, your results will likely suffer unless you have your goals spelled out and a plan in place. A few of the components of a social strategy that will inevitably make your activity easier to manage: determine which platforms you want to be active on, what kind of content you want to share, how frequently you want to publish messages/content, who is responsible for what, and how to handle customer service.
Need more? Take a look at this marketing strategy resource:
Find the right tools
How are you currently handling social activity? Which tools are you using? Are you using multiple when you could find one that does it all? You can help prevent social media burnout by streamlining your activity in one place. It’s well worth your time to find a service that can schedule posts, optimize your content, and help measure your results.
I primarily use Sprout Social but Hootsuite and Buffer are also great scheduling and monitoring tools. (I’ll dissect these three management tools in a future blog!)
Seek help
If you are beginning to feel overwhelmed and overworked, maybe it’s time to bring in a little assistance. You could hire a qualified social media person as an intern or part/full-time employee. You could even employ your current coworkers. Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you are feeling overwhelmed!
Remember, sharing the work and collaborating doesn’t mean micromanaging. The point of sharing the workload is to take things of your plate so find people who you trust and who’s work you respect.
Take a break
Are your eyes hurting? Step away from the screen. It only takes two hours in front of a screen to start suffering from digital eye strain. Yes, that’s a real thing.
Oh and your brain needs a break as well. Social media managing is a creative and strategic endeavor requiring a fair amount fo your brainpower at one time. So let your mind wonder. Take a brain break. Go running, if you’re into that kind of thing. Or just leave the office to get a cup of coffee.
Once you’re done for the day, commit to not logging in again! Avoiding social media for an extended period of time with help you reset and clear your mind. One way to do this is by scheduling posts in advance (see above section on finding the right tool) so you can sleep and not worry that your accounts are not active.
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Having a strategy and content calendar will help you stay organized. Take it one step further but structuring your time. Instead of logging on and aimlessly clicking around, assign certain parts of your day to specific activities. perhaps you need an hour in the morning to review new social mentions, posts, and to answer questions or customer service inquires. Another hour can be spent finding and sharing relevant content on each platform. And one more hour can be dedicated to scheduling upcoming posts (in your social media management program). Hurray for efficiency and working with a purpose!
The above techniques will help you find some relief if you get overwhelmed once in awhile. Staying organized and focused will help keep that burnout at bay. If none of these tips seem to do the trick, my final advice is to take a vacation. At the very least, unplug for a weekend and give yourself a few well-deserved days off!
