Why social media managers sometimes need a digital detox, too.
With the rise of social media comes a rise in doom scrolling, stress, anxiety and burnout. To combat these feelings, many people have started taking a digital detox. While many social media managers feel pressured to be constantly online to stay up to date on the latest trends, scrolling for hours can be detrimental to their work, brand and creativity. A digital detox is beneficial for all, even those who manage social media for a living, and we have three reasons why a detox is likely needed for your team.
Constantly consuming media can block originality and creativity.
Think about how you feel after a long session of scrolling through social media. Do you feel inspired and energized? Not likely. Mindlessly scrolling through social media for hours on end, day after day, won’t help spark a new idea or inspire unique content.
How to inspire creativity
- Actively study a handful of posts. Identify what made them go viral and observe how users interacted with the content.
- Go for an unplugged walk, sit with your thoughts to clear your mind and open yourself up to new ideas and creative thinking.
- Create before you consume. Start your day by drawing, writing or brainstorming content and ideas before opening social media apps.
Following every trend can be detrimental to engagement.
If a trend does not align with your brand, don’t follow it! There are so many microtrends nowadays that it is virtually impossible to follow them all. Targeted, intentional content always will do better than random, frequent posts that don’t promote your product/service or connect to your overall mission and values. The same goes for replies and engagement on posts. Taking time to thoughtfully craft a comment or reply may even increase the longevity of a post and its engagement.
If you are constantly online for work, you’ll risk burning out.
When social media becomes your full-time job and you never take breaks, burnout is inevitable. Logging on to social media will start to feel like another item to check off your to-do list instead of a creative outlet. Spending all day, every day on social media can be detrimental to your mental health as your brain is overwhelmed with information, trends and emotions. Social media doesn’t sleep, and neither do the notifications.
You likely became a social media manager because you have a passion for the medium and its endless possibilities. Protecting that passion requires stepping away. By not doing so, your well-being and the quality of your content will decline.
Set a time to go on social media, and avoid opening the apps outside of that specified time. If a full detox seems overwhelming or unrealistic, start with a micro-detox (no social media on the weekend, before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m., etc.) and see how it goes.
Leave a Reply