Just the other day I was discussing with a student the ominous presence of social media fatigue. What is social media fatigue? It can be different things to different people, but in general social media fatigue is the overwhelming feeling one gets when too much communication is streaming into one’s daily life through social media channels. The volume of incoming communication is such that a person feels they cannot act upon each individual piece. Every attempt to manage these communications either through an electronic folder or mental IOU system fails, buried beneath its own hulk. Responses to communications soon dwindle in number, and it’s often not long afterward that a fatigued person can begin to suffer social paranoia, wondering if they are damaging their relationships or being viewed as a flake for their unresponsiveness.
Has this happened to you or someone you know? These days social media is permeating almost every aspect of American life, and fatigue can set in on just about anyone. Yet for social media marketers, the onset of social media fatigue can be unnaturally common, and the stakes are higher because the fatigue can greatly impact job performance. While the average person may be able to turn off social media as easily as a light switch, it can be tougher for a marketer to unplug.
So how can marketers who practice social media stave off this most tiresome of annoyances? Below are listed several things I have found to be helpful during those moments when social media channels (and by extension, people using them) have my hairs on end.
1. Get back to basics
Everyone has a hobby or activity that they enjoy, and often these are long standing. You might call them “the basics,” or the simple things in life that we enjoy. Many people’s relationships with their hobbies or activities predate their usage of social media, and hence, do not involve its usage. I enjoy video games, and when fleeing fatigue I choose those games that A) are not played on a computer, and that B) do not include any other active players. Soon after defeating Dracula in a game of Castlevania I feel refreshed and ready to jump back into the social media mix.
2. Curate the flow of information
Sometimes the onset of social media fatigue is the result of our own mismanagement (or laziness) of our social media accounts. By taking 10 minutes out of our day to research how we can adjust certain settings in our social media channels we can effectively eliminate much of the communication clutter we’re dealing with. Google searches have answers, use them! Are those 300 Facebook friends causing your news feed to populate like a cash register? Try hiding updates on the least socially relevant half of those friends. Is the same thing happening in your Twitter account, but you dread the thought of unfollowing the throng? Why not set up your own Twitter list of selected individuals and just monitor that?
Are there too many reminder emails hitting your email box from your favorite social media website? Cut those reminders out by adjusting your account serttings.
3. Consolidate (or, release the battle axe)
Marketers often wear many hats, and often those hats take on digital form in the guise of multiple social media accounts or tools. Yet over time a hat can be discarded or merge with another into some strange chimeric headwear (think a peacock feather in a fur cap). When hats change or merge in real life, there are sometimes equal opportunities for the same to happen in social media.
This is akin to transferring contact lists from one email account over to the other. If one fan page is ending and another beginning, send out Facebook fan invites to encourage people to migrate from one fan page over to your new one. If one Twitter account has gone silent, encourage those followers to follow you where you are active on Twitter. With discretion, don’t be afraid to apply the battle axe to that old account that’s been sitting there doing nothing for awhile except collecting bits of communication you do not have time for or do not care to read. Remember: a social media account is a reflection of you and your brand whether it is active or inactive. What does inactive suggest about you and/or your brand?
4. Be transparent about your social media scheduling
Do people expect Larry King to be on television 24/7? No. Did anyone ever expect to listen to Casey Kasem’s Top 40 at any time other than Sunday morning? Not typically. Scheduling your activities can be helpful to both you and those you connect with through social media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and just about every other social media website allows for the static presentation of some information on a profile page. Why not inform everyone of when you are usually online and active on social media?
Do you typically log in mornings between 8AM and 10AM, or are you a night owl conducting your social business at midnight? Regardless, posting hours of social activity can help those you communicate with know when to expect a response from you over social media and when they might be able to sneak in some live chat time. The best part? You can have some peace of mind during the off hours knowing that even though you yourself are not broadcasting 24/7, your hours are.
These are a few things I have tried that at various times have helped me regain my social footing. What strategies for combating social media fatigue have you tried?
2 Responses
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Lynn Says:
There is a fashion principle that states, “all things end in excess.” I think this could be applied to social media. When it seems like we can’t do anything more online, a new opposite trend emerges. I think I saw this trend the other day at a local bookstore – puzzles! They were very challenging and creative puzzles. This trend may be the result of a need to connect and do something together that doesn’t involve electricity and a screen.
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Judelia Says:
The question I find myself asking is “who’s in charge here?” – me? or the info coming to me? I’m not willing to be “on demand” 24/7 and that can easily happen with the constant flow of info. So setting boundaries in when I’m available, what actually gets to me and then developing skills at skimming and sorting for importance has saved my sanity.
I wonder what other people have found to be helpful to mange the flood that can overwhelm us.
