Social Media and Mental Health: Top Tips for Brands & Marketers

Social media are interactive, digitally-mediated technologies. They facilitate the creation and sharing/exchange of information, ideas, career, and interests. They even cover other forms of expression such as virtual communities and networks.

Social media managers are responsible for the day-to-day management of these platforms. They are saddled with the responsibility of growing, promoting, and maintaining campaigns on these platforms.

In the course of going about these roles, they are put under tremendous pressure to succeed.

Some social media managers have suffered psychological and mental crises trying to be on top of their game. Some have been left depressed because they failed to achieve set goals.

Below are some strategies social media managers develop to maintain quality mental health.
 

Be careful with multitasking

Although multitasking appears all positive and seems like you'll achieve more with it, one side effect is that you can quickly burn out and suffer a loss in productivity.

It's best to have a carefully structured plan on how to go about your social media activities, including how and when to meet up your deadlines.

When this is done right, it makes you work time while reducing your stress level and all this leads to better productivity.
 

You do not need to follow everybody

Some people believe that you need to follow as many people as possible so you don't miss out on anything as a social media manager.

This might be true to an extent but not entirely so. Following too many people means getting too much information.

This information could be a source of depression at times when you're forced to maintain similar lifestyles to those you're following.

It's good to go over your feeds and clean them up at times. Accounts that do you no good should be unfollowed and this will at least give you less stress.

I understand that sometimes it's difficult to follow some accounts based on who they are. The mute button can be useful in this situation as your objective of not being bombarded with too much information will be achieved.

Follow accounts that contribute meaningfully to your aims and objectives. When you do this, you'll be exposed to content that matters.
 

Do not judge your social approvals by likes

Facebook introduced likes to its platform in 2009 and ever since, the expectations of social media users haven't remained the same.

There's a constant push for realizing as many likes as possible to be sure how socially approved your contents are.

When you fail to gain these in abundance as a social media manager, it keeps you in a depressed mood.

It's good to note that not all contents with the highest number of likes turn out to be the most successful. And likewise, some content with very low engagement turns out with great results.

All you need to do as a social media manager is to make sure your contents are top-notch and unrivaled in terms of quality. You will achieve your result with consistency and patience irrespective of the amount of engagement you are having.
 

Make sure your time spent online is productive

When logging into your social media platform, do it with a considerate intent to achieve a target. It might be a comment, like, a post or you just want to check how well your posts are doing.

Going online when you do not have anything relevant to do can be energy-sappy. On the other hand, being productive with your activities online keeps you fulfilled and it's good for your mental health.

If you notice that you find irrelevant feeds which prevent you from achieving your purposes, it's time to unfollow some people. Just ensure that your time spent online is worth your stress.
 

Follow accounts that make you happy

As long as feeds are concerned, they can be the deciding factor if you will be happy or not.

Going through your feeds should keep you happy instead of draining your strengths. It could be some inspirational account or industry leaders in your niche. Just make sure you enjoy it.
 

Automate your job as a social media marketer 

Managing a social media platform can be quite challenging because you need to monitor activities. One of the major problems you will face is monitoring comments by your followers and this can be tasking.

Some social media platforms, including Instagram, have done a lot to make this easier for you. You could block certain keywords or words from showing in your comments.

You could also block comments entirely on your posts if you do not require them. Taking advantage of some of these features can realistically reduce some of the stress associated with the job.
 

Monitor your time spent online

Most average social media users tend to spend as much as 6 hours daily online. This number could be much higher for social media managers.

Always make sure you are not spending more than necessary time on your social media platforms. There are several things you can do to keep them in check.

Some include:
 

• Setting up app limits: When specific time limits are set on your social media platforms, it aids you to limit the time spent on such platforms.
   

• You can use a monitoring app to analyze the time spent on various apps on your phone. It can even train you toward achieving your goals of spending less time online.
   

• Taking short breaks is recommended if you work long hours online. Just 15 to 20 minutes can just do you the magic.
   

• Setup bedtimes: Setting up bedtime and turning off your notifications can contribute immensely towards achieving these goals as well.
   

Summary

Social media management can be highly beneficial but sometimes, your mental health can be challenged. Take out time to plan your activities and how you intend to go about them.

The tips mentioned above will go a long way towards making sure you realize this ambition. If all these still do not help, then try taking a long break from it and regain your health.