How to Avoid Social Media Burnout & Save Your Sanity

We’ve all been there: “I feel like I’m drinking from a firehose!” or “I put so much pressure on making our brand stand out from the crowd, I overthink everything and end up doing nothing.” These are two real quotes from clients I’ve talked to. As we gear up for the coming new year, it is timely to touch on a topic we are all constantly at risk of falling prey to: burnout.

Specifically, social media burnout. With the increase of video calls, constant scrolling, and simply living in a highly web-centric modern world, it is easy to feel inundated with content to the point where it affects our mental health. In the hopes of closing the year out strong with a healthy handle on marketing your brand instead of feeling like you’re limping to the finish line, here is a quick overview on burnout and how to bolster against it.

What is Burnout?

Burnout is not just stress either. According to Dr. Michaela Dunbar, clinical psychologist and founder of the wildly popular @MyEasyTherapy account on Instagram, social media burnout is a “form of online fatigue that can happen when you spend too much time on social networks.”

Thank you captain obvious, you might be thinking. What you might not realize is that the World Health Organization (WHO) officially recognized psychological burnout as an occupational phenomenon in 2019. It is an actual mental condition affecting one’s perception of life and work, making it hard to function and negatively impacting physical and mental health.

Although stress and burnout share some side effects, they are fundamentally different. While stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension often caused by situational (re: job-related) pressure — burnout is a state of emotional, mental or physical exhaustion incurred by extensive and repeated stress.

Signs of Burnout

The WHO lists three main characteristics of burnout: feeling depleted of energy/exhausted, increased feelings of negativity or cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy.

Individual signs may vary but there are a few common hallmarks to look out for including: trouble concentrating; decreased motivation; emotional, physical and compassion fatigue; and being easily irritated, frustrated, and overwhelmed.

Ways to Combat Burnout

For those working in social media like myself, or those who are at the very least responsible for marketing their brand on their own, limiting time on the apps can feel almost impossible. Have you ever closed out of an app just to immediately open it again and resume scrolling? (Guilty!)

Earlier this year, I wrote an article on knowing when it’s time to hire help — which of course is great, if and when your budget will allow it. Otherwise, I have some tips to help maintain a healthy (ish) work-life balance.

• Batch Create Content — This is my favorite tip and one I utilize most heavily. Not having to worry about “what am I going to post about today” is a big psychological weight lifted and can help lighten the day’s mental load. Decision fatigue is real and having a list of content ready to go for the month (or week) makes your days that much easier.

  Not only does content batching save you time, it helps with consistency (scheduled days for posts), and cohesive branding across all platforms. There are many ways to do this, but I like to keep it pretty straightforward. Gather all your photos/video, write all your captions, and assign days and times for each post which will help make it a habit.

  Creating a month’s worth of content in one day might seem like a daunting task, but think of the time you’ll save! If a month is too much, start with one week and build up from there.

• Use a Scheduling Platform — There are plenty of options when it comes to scheduling social media posts these days, all of them designed to make your life easier and save you time. Some popular options include Hootsuite, Buffer, Social Bee, Agorapulse, and Sprout Social to name a few.

  Depending on your situation, posting needs, and budget there will be a scheduling tool best suited for your needs. Most offer free trials or at least have a limited free version you can test out. Keep in mind though, it will take some time to learn these platforms in order to be able to use them to their optimal capabilities.

• Hire It Out — Chances are, social media is not your specialty. In today’s world, it is not uncommon for many people to feel like they need to “wear all the hats” when it comes to bootstrapping a business or brand. However, posting on social media takes time and energy away from what you do best, leaving less quality time for family and not much free time. Don’t let growing your business run you into the ground, delegating tasks is actually one of the best ways to efficiently scale up.

• Work with Time Slots & Engagement Goals — If the three points above won’t work for you, consider working smarter, not harder. Engagement on social media is one the the best ways to stick in your audience’s minds and increase brand awareness, but that doesn’t mean you have to be online all day. Dedicated a set amount of time, say 15-30 minutes each day at the same time to execute a defined list of activities. Whether it’s posting, liking, checking notifications, commenting or replying to comments, make sure you have planned what you’re going to accomplish rather than just logging on.
  

• Protect Your Peace — Don’t ever feel bad about unfollowing accounts or brands that make you feel bad or don’t line up with you or your brand’s values. This might seem like a no brainer, but oftentimes people feel obligated to follow old friends, or popular figures. You and your brand don’t have to follow anyone you don’t want to. If notifications low key bother you all day long, consider turning off or muting push notifications. You can also block or delete offensive comments or followers.

  If you do have to follow someone or some brand for work reasons, the mute button allows you to remain friends while not seeing their content. Your social media feeds, even for your business, should inspire you, make you laugh or smile, and leave you with positive feelings. Mindfully curating your online space/feeds is an important part of modern life.

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DasFort Media is a marketing agency specializing in content creation. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and burnout, maybe it’s time to pass the baton and let us take the social media wheel. We are committed to making your life easier while amplifying your brand with professional content. Want to know more? Don’t hesitate to reach out.