Posted by According to Statista, about 49 percent of the world’s population engaged in social media activities actively and frequently in January 2020. And the figure will increase to 4.46 billion by 2025.
With more than half of the world spending time online, it is becoming essential for businesses to prioritize digital marketing and strengthen their virtual social presence. Hence, increasing the demand for social media marketers and increasing the responsibilities of the existing social media managers and marketers.
The increasing burden is leading to the development of feelings of anxiety, fear, and stress amongst experienced social media marketers. And a constant company of these negative feelings is gradually contributing to the appreciating count of burnouts faced per annum. Thus, making efficient and productive performance an unachievable status for most social media marketers, along with the destruction of personal life.
Does that mean that the advancement in global digitalization is bound to be inversely proportional to a social media marketer’s performance? Is overcoming this increasing stress and avoiding these constant burnouts practically impossible?
Not exactly. If one tackles the situation the right way, staying firm and productive in this challenging field may become a piece of cake. Let us share with you the top 7 tested and tried methods of effectively dealing with social media burnout, especially for social media marketers.
Identifying a Burnout
Burnouts are usually quite loud about their presence. But if you still can’t figure if it’s a burnout that you’re putting up through, then analyze your situation scientifically.
Psychology Today defines burnout as a stressful condition wherein an individual may feel emotionally and physically exhausted, along with a constant feeling of ineffectiveness despite working excessively. Mayo Clinic further describes the identifying symptoms of this condition, including:
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Constant Headaches
- Weary feeling
- Detached feeling
- Inability to enjoy previously enjoyed activities
- Lack of energy
- Difficulty in concentration
- Stomach problems
- Unreasonable irritability at workplace
- Impatience
- Excessive unhappy feelings, etc.
Additionally, if you find yourself suddenly immersed in substance abuse, such as dependence on alcohol, then it might be an indicator too. Or maybe find yourself seeking more of some healing, exciting CBD dosage, then you’d know something’s going wrong somewhere. And if this condition exists simultaneously with those mentioned above, then without a doubt, your body is encountering a severe burnout and prescribing potential medications to itself.
How to Avoid it?
Now, let’s explore the essence of this post, i.e., the top 7 effective ways for social marketers to deal with social media burnout. Note that each of the seven ways mentioned below will require consistency to yield fruitful results. So, read on, and if you see it solving your problem, commit to it passionately (for your good!).
1. Stay Focused
One of the prime challenges that initiate the birth of burnout is social media distraction. As a social media marketer, it’s impossible to avoid coming across juicy content that captures your attention for good. You might end up spending a whole of 5 minutes on a discover-now video. But being at a job, each minute is precious, valuable, and supposedly dedicated to working. These two seem to be the two opposite sides of one story, and hence, cannot co-exist. So, to focus on the meaningful side, i.e., working, what you need to do is to train yourself mentally.
Once you login to all the relevant accounts, refrain from clicking on stuff that’s not relevant to your work. Although this may take time to get used to, it’s certainly doable and beneficial. Keep your focus on your target.
2. Set up a Schedule
Another effective way of avoiding burnout is to set up a proper timetable and abide by it. Allocate your 16 hours of the day wisely. The time you set aside for work, let’s say, it is 8 hours, divide it further into each of your to-do tasks. For example, you can set up an hour for checking mentions, post likes, followers, and answering customer queries. Following that, another hour for answering urgent emails and sending more. Similarly, another hour for drafting posts for the evening, weekend, or for the month for a given campaign. And so on.
Distributing your time this way will help you have a targeted, sorted, and decisive approach. Thus, helping you achieve more in a limited time frame without stressing out.
At times, lagging video calls and slow internet can mess up your entire schedule. So, do yourself a favor and upgrade your connection and equipment beforehand. As a social media marketer, the speed of the internet is directly proportional to your productivity, so make sure you have the best modem of 2020 in your system and that you’ve subscribed to a reliable internet provider.
3. …Inclusive of Breaks
Now, the wise allocation of 16 hours does not only mean dividing all your time between work-related tasks. You’re a human being, and to function efficiently, you need a break. So, make sure you divide it fairly between work and personal life and that you strictly abide by your clocking-off time. Also, even in between work, reward yourself with 15 minutes of break after one or two hours of constant, intensive work. Give yourself a break to eat, talk to loved ones, attend to your personal needs, chat with a friend, or listen to your favourite track. Block out the frenzy of work-thoughts in those specific 5-15 minutes. Do not take your work into your break time. And calm yourself, even if you don’t feel like it. Remember, it’s necessary to avoid the ultimate burnout.
4. … And Physical Activity
Did you know? Sitting throughout the day, or for more than 12.5 hours in one place, can lead to death. Yes, that’s true. Human beings were provided with four limbs and a fully functional body to engage in an equal amount of physical activity as that of mental activity.
Even if you sit in one place for six hours a day without getting up, then you may eventually suffer through depression or have a high risk of developing heart disease or fatal health issues. For this very reason, make sure your work-breaks include a bit of walking around or perhaps stretching.
5. Keep your Phone Clean of Work
Even if you set up a schedule and shut down your laptop at 5 pm sharp (or whenever it’s your off-time), you won’t be able to relax if you have your company’s accounts set up on your phone too. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube will keep buzzing, and you will keep checking. Trust us, the responsible social media marketer in you will not be able to hush the urge. So, avoid logging in the company’s accounts via phone (not even for emergency purposes!). Or, if that’s unimaginable for you, at least use third-party apps to lock these apps after a set time.
6. Or better, take a break from screens.
If you can’t erase your company from your phone, we believe, you can erase your phone and laptop from your life during your off-time – only for a limited time. Perhaps, in the late hours of the day, or the hours that you classify as your non-productive hours (the ones lacking high spirit and energy). Dedicate this time to family, friends, hobbies, and self-growth. In this way, you utilize this time too, and cancel the work-related pressure building up in your subconscious.
Plus, reducing screen time also comes with proven health benefits. According to the Vision Council’s report, two hours of screen time can lead to eye strain. It eventually causes neck pain, back pain, irritated eyes, and the development of headaches. Thus, adding to the physical stress, which contributes to the development of burnout in the long run. For this very reason, it’s essential to cut down screen time wherever you possibly can, especially if you’re a social media marketer.
7. Share the load!
Lastly, know your capacity. Acknowledge the fact that no man is an island and try not to take up more than that which you can deliver. If you happen to handle the social media activity of an entire company solely, discuss the matter with the authorities, and arrange a team to assist you. With the more helping hands under your able guidance, the company can communicate with their followers, stay more active, and cater to their audience across all platforms in a limited time. Thus, multiplying the benefits usually obtained through social media handles.
But if you’re already leading a team, then learn to relax! Distribute the pending tasks equally. And build strong communications with your team. So that you’re able to share their load on their bad days, and they can share your burden on your bad days.
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