8 Actionable Tips For Marketers to Prevent Social Media Burnout

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It’s happened to all of us; you click on your preferred social media platform and start scrolling, then suddenly realize you’re fed up with seeing other people’s dinners, funny cat memes, trolls winding people up, etc. There are just days, or sometimes weeks, when you can feel completely overloaded by some of the inanity that permeates all social media platforms. 

If you can experience boredom and dissatisfaction with your social media, can you imagine the feelings of people whose job involves working on social media? Social media burnout can be a very real issue for the many people who have responsibilities for marketing their companies and products across various platforms. 

In 2021, 91.9% of marketers working in organizations of more than 100 people were expected to use social media as part of their marketing tactics. Just what is social media burnout? Perhaps more importantly, are there ways to avoid it and help your marketing teams focus on the task at hand? 

What is social media burnout? 

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Burnout is a condition recognized by the WHO, and it’s included in the 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon. However, it’s important to note that it’s not a medical condition. In ICD-11, it’s defined as:

“Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job
3. Reduced professional efficacy

Burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.”

So, from that info, we can extrapolate that social media burnout is an occupational phenomenon that affects people who use social media for work. 

8 tips to help your marketers avoid social media burnout

Pace yourself

To social media marketers, there constantly seems to be a new app or automated tool that claims to make your job 100 times easier. It can also be tempting, especially if you’re new to social media marketing, to set up accounts on every platform going. Stop! Social media burnout ahead! 

It’s important to pace yourself. Take some time to prepare your tactics. What are your target demographics? Where are you most likely to engage with them? What sort of content do they prefer? By thinking about those questions, you’re less likely to spread yourself too thin and hit that social media burnout wall. 

Having a clear focus on how you market on social media means you’re more likely to experience good levels of engagement which, after all, is one of the primary aims of any social media strategy. 

Plan carefully

Let’s say your company has a new VoIP product launching. You know the launch date and target audience, and you’ve all the necessary info to prepare a marketing campaign: what the product does, its price point, how it compares to competitors and whether you need to include a guide on how to set up VoIP, etc. With all that info at your fingertips, you have the opportunity to plan carefully. 

While you may have that deadline for the launch date, it’s unlikely it’s the day after tomorrow. You have the time to plan ahead, both in relation to the content you’ll post and where you’ll post it. Let’s assume that your new product is aimed at the under-30 age group; you know that this age group uses Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok a lot, so you have your main three platforms. 

By the time you reach your launch date, you can have a detailed plan of the content you’ll use, a schedule for posting and backup plans if some things don’t work as well as others. Careful planning can be a major factor in avoiding social media burnout. 

Content creation

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Depending on the responsibilities of your role, you may be creating all relevant content, or you could be working with other people, such as videographers or graphic designers. Your content creation should be part of your “plan carefully” approach. By ensuring that the content you’ll use is ready well in advance of when you need it, you can help avoid stress factors. 

Of course, you can probably create or edit written content with little or no notice. However, you’ll likely be relying on a certain amount of visual content. That can take more time, and one big rule in the marketing world is never rush your graphic designers or video creators. Refer to online resources, like a YouTube guide, so you’re up to date on all approaches. 

So, when you’re planning out your overall marketing strategy, think carefully about what you’re going to post. How long will it take to film and edit a fantastic clip you can use on your chosen platforms? How long will it take the graphic designer to create a stunning ad? Factoring those times into your content creation plan is essential. 

Use UGC (user generated content)

Like it or not, consumers tend to be wary of original and branded content. They would far prefer to hear from their peers who are not being paid by an organization and who have actually used or experienced your products. In fact, nearly 80% of people say that UGC has a meaningful impact on their final purchasing decision.  

The other great advantage of using UGC is that it reduces your costs dramatically. Of course, you need to be careful to not use UGC without permission. If a user posts a video you want to use, contact them to ask if that’s ok. 

Another source of UGC can be competitions you run, so be sure to explain in the T&C that any pics or similar content they submit may be used as marketing material. 

If you’re using UGC as part of your marketing content, you’re reducing your workload. You’ll also likely find better levels of engagement. So this isn’t only reducing the likelihood of social media burnout. You’re getting better results too. 

Go green!

By going green, the idea is more about recycling old content in the place of creating new content. This is not a catch-all tactic; consumers would soon realize that nothing you post is original if you do nothing more than repurpose content. But there are some clever ways of reusing things you already have. 

For example, let’s say that a few months previously, you published the results of some market research you had commissioned. When you first published it, you simply listed the statistics that resulted from the research. Those statistics could be repurposed in the form of an infographic or other visual representation. 

You can repurpose almost any content unless it’s date sensitive (for example, an ad detailing a special offer with a set end date). Repurposing old content doesn’t only reduce your workload. You can also see how well the original content worked from your analytics, meaning you know that the recycled content should perform similarly. 

Efficient scheduling

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How do you schedule your social media content? If you track your scheduling with hastily scribbled post-it notes stuck around your cubicle, then you’re on the express train to social media burnout. The first thing to consider is when is best to post on different platforms, as that can vary greatly and should be the foundation of any scheduling plan. 

Your next step should be to start using an efficient tool to schedule all the content you plan on posting and a note of what platform-specific content will go on and when. By using a scheduler, you’re less likely to miss posting what may be crucial content, you can plan out your week well ahead of time, and greatly reduce the chances of work-related stress. 

Good tools and systems can make a major difference, so ask yourself questions like “What automated tools will help me?”, “What is autoML?”, etc. 

Remember to engage

It’s crucial to remember that social media marketing isn’t just about posting relevant content. It’s about engaging with your audience too. If you make a post about a product on Facebook and potential customers ask questions, they’ll soon go elsewhere if their questions remain unanswered. 

Set aside an hour a day for going through your posts and seeing what levels of engagement there are and whether people have left questions or comments. Those comments may also produce a source of UGC if, for example, someone has left a positive review or a video of them using that product.

Turn off notifications

You probably have a full workday, new posts to make, old posts to check on, analytics to look at, and future content to plan and create. The last thing you want is constant distractions from multiple notifications from the social media platforms you’re using. Just as IVR means less pressure on your call handlers, turning off notifications means less pressure on you. 

You’ve already set aside at least one hour per day to check on posts. It may even be worth splitting that time into two; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. You don’t need to immediately know that Derrick from Detroit liked or commented on your post, as you’ll be looking at it later. So turn off all your social media notifications. 

The takeaway

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Social media burnout is very real and may not only affect your marketing staff. It may also impact the company as a whole if your marketers “drop the ball” when it comes to their responsibilities. Employing some or all of these tips protects your staff from burnout and can help streamline workflows, meaning better efficiency and productivity levels.