Social media has experienced rapid growth over the last decade, and along with it, the role of social media manager has grown. Even though it looks glamorous from the outside, the job can be exhausting. Social media managers are often alone in their role according to the company and are expected to wear many hats. Along with the pressures, it’s not healthy to be constantly connected as social media managers usually are.
Burnout is a growing phenomenon among social media managers, with people in the role of pointing out the platforms they manage as key contributors. If you are or want to become a social media manager, it is important to understand how to manage your relationship with your work and the platforms you work with to avoid exhaustion. And rather than telling you myself, we’ve included tips from our own social media manager, Mitra Mehvar on what to do to avoid exhaustion.
Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion caused by prolonged and repeated stress. People experience exhaustion in their usual daily chores all the time. In fact, depletion rates are at an all-time high. And the usual work-related exhaustion only gets worse when you come across the exhaustion that could result from anyone spending too much time on social media.
Frequent changes to platforms can be difficult to keep up to date and can also contribute to exhaustion. We asked Mitra if any specific platform worsens the stress and he said, “Instagram is a platform right now that is constantly changing. The moment you feel in control of things, things change for you.”
In 2022 alone, Instagram has made at least four major updates, all of which change the way users experience the platform. Mitra adds that “You feel like you’re devoting so much time and effort to your posts and then you realize that everything you’ve done is no longer what the platform is focused on. It can be a lot to keep up to date. “
A study from Harvard University, suggests that as long as people are conscious users of social media, strong social media is associated with positive mental health and well-being. However, disconnection and full attention are very difficult to do when it is your job.
So how do you tell if you or a partner are starting to feel tired? In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared burnout a workplace phenomenon “the result of chronic work stress that has not been successfully managed.” Burnout was characterized by the WHO in three dimensions, which include:
- Feelings of exhaustion or energy exhaustion
- Increased mental distance from work or work-related feelings of negativity or cynicism.
- Reduction of professional efficiency
Basically, if you don’t feel like you can sign out at the end of the day or on the weekends, or you’re hesitant to drop out or leave your phone for fear of missing important moments, you could be exhausted or at risk. to burn.
4 Ways to Avoid Exhaustion
Just as social media managers can take personal steps to prevent exhaustion, companies also have a responsibility to their employees to mitigate the effects on their employees. Here are some tips to help prevent social media managers (and their organizations) from running out.
- Mitra recommends allowing it set boundaries and disconnect completely. She says, “Something always happens on social media, so it can feel like you need to be ‘activated’ all the time, so I try to remind myself that it’s okay to take a step back and if I miss a trend, it’s OK!” It also takes time to remember they are just social media. Nothing horrible will happen if you miss a post for a day.
They are just social media
2. As the account grows, companies should hire different people for different roles or outsource certain responsibilities. Some things that can be outsourced include strategy, copywriting, graphic design, and community management. In this note, Mitra recommended understanding that “being a social media manager is not just about posting, we do a lot more: graphic design, video editing, copywriting, customer service, and strategy just to name a few. It’s a lot!”
3. When your business can afford it, you can do the same consider hiring more social media managers and rotating them as you would with a customer service team. If your team can’t afford to hire someone to manage every aspect of social media management, focus on creating a support system for your existing social media manager. Can another employee take care of responding to comments for a few hours each week? Are custom images required for each post? Working with
4. Companies should too create safe spaces i psychological security for employees to convey their stressors and grievances. Social media managers shouldn’t feel bad because they can’t keep creating perfect posts and a rigorous posting schedule, and that’s okay. Create a culture where you feel good if you miss the #TacoTuesday post.
Mitra also supports corporate responsibility for mitigating exhaustion by saying, “Let your social media managers disconnect completely. Something always happens on social media, so it can be easy to feel that you need to always check things out. To make sure you don’t miss out, it’s a good idea to step away and let your social media managers take a real break from their work: keep up to date with everything on social media. it can be exhausting “.
When regular social media users can take time off from their accounts every two years, social media managers should consider doing so more often. Manage your relationship with different platforms by detoxifying yourself from time to time, as well as moving away from the accounts you are most often in charge of.
One last word from Mitra: “Social media is such a big space that it’s incredibly easy to run out when it’s your job. It is important to set clear boundaries with your customers [or company] from the beginning so make sure you take your time and recharge. “
📌It’s easier to disconnect when you have posts in the queue to post them, so take advantage of Buffer’s programming capabilities to help you manage your social media. Start here.