The Results are In: Social Media and Self-Care
Earlier this week I asked other marketers to share their advice for coping with the effects of using social media all the time for work. I was hoping to uncover some wisdom that could teach me how to mitigate the “always-on” feeling that comes with being a social media manager, since my own approach to self-care with social media tends to mean not using it for fun or outside of work hours.
That’s what I really wanted to find out: Do others who use social media for a living still enjoy using it for fun? Is it possible to strike a balance?
So I asked the professionals who belong to The Daily Carnage Facebook Group (their daily newsletter is great, btw):
And the short answer appears to be…No.
Unsurprisingly, creating and enforcing boundaries appears to be the primary approach. About 97% of the answers I received were along the lines of shut that *$@% off when you leave the office:
Turning off push notifications was a common approach.
An easy way to keep work out of sight and out of mind:
Defending personal time was an issue for some.
While I was concerned about whether social could be fun again in my free time, I forgot that other social media managers feel pressure to monitor, update and attend to their accounts around the clock:
Some advice was super self-care-y:
But does anyone still think social is fun?
I asked if anyone felt like they posted less personal content because of their work, and the honest replies made me realize I’m not alone:
So I learned that I’m not the only marketer who feels blah about social media these days, and maybe that has to be okay. And as long as we can still find worthwhile accounts to follow, perhaps social media won’t seem like such a drag:
In conclusion: Follow cute dogs and turn off those notifications.