It’s inevitable. Between tweeting and liking, pining and sharing, checking-in and Google “plusing” …there are a lot of places to be, be seen and be heard across social media. And, if you’re on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Foursquare, Google+, Pinterest and blogging to boot; keeping up “appearances” can become quite a challenge! It’s the modern-day version of an oft heard complaint: Doesn’t anybody stay home anymore?
When it comes to social media, nobody is “staying home” these days. Instead, we’re busy trying to be everywhere all at once. From my own experiences* in managing personal and professional social media pages and profiles, it’s an uphill climb from which fatigue can quickly set in. So, when social media fatigue comes calling, what does a social media manager do?
1) Retrench
Think about your social media strategy and reevaluate its “successes.” Gain a better understanding of how a social media platform can work for you or for your company. Just because Pinterest is now the third largest social network, it’s important to ask if it’s the right forum for you, your brand or your content. Is your strategy to canvass every platform? Does it make sense to do so? Do you have the manpower and resources to properly manage and maintain a presence on multiple platforms? Or are you spreading yourself or your company too thin- thereby losing the opportunities for success that social media would otherwise present to you? Knowing what “success” in social media means to you or your company will help you evaluate where you ought to be…not every social network does the same thing for the same audiences.
2) Revisit Content Development
A great resource for building content is often right under your nose. Participating in discussions on other blogs and forums can be an invaluable way to better understand what is top of mind for your target audience. Whether you’re gauging interest for a Twitter campaign or checking out what content people are recommending on Google+, it’s essential not to work in a vacuum. Spend more time listening and responding online rather than sitting in front of a solitary keyboard or in a conference room trying to generate compelling content.
3) Take a Social Media Sabbatical
The prospect of stepping away from your social media accounts for a week or even simply a day can be a truly frightening one. You worry about what you’ll miss or that you’ll promptly be forgotten and left behind. But sometimes, a sabbatical from social media is just the vacation you need to return refreshed and excited to pounce on new ideas with the enthusiasm and levelheadedness that successful management of social media engagement requires. Of course, not everyone or every social media team has the ability or capacity to completely “unplug,” and I’d be remiss if I didn’t caution against taking a sabbatical without first ensuring someone else is “minding the store.” If you’re worrying about what is happening in your absence, then the sabbatical and its merits will evade you.
4) Put Your Communities to Work For You
You’ve taken the time to build multiple social media communities, so why not- when appropriate- reach out to them and ask for assistance? The fact is, every one of us has been there and dealt with social media fatigue in our own way. So, while you can read what others have done just as you’re reading this post from me now, sometimes it’s better and far more valuable to engage with your own community and benefit from the interactions that can result. In short, while there are resources available, the best resource is in your own social network.
What resources or strategies for combating social media fatigue have you found and applied with success?
*The irony of this blog post, of course, cannot be lost upon me…I launched Social Outlier amidst a bout of my own social media fatigue and neglected to write for nearly two weeks. During that span of time, however, I was personally able to identify these strategies for combating social media fatigue and recommend them to you!
Social Outlier 